ABSTRACT
The island of Sri Lanka possesses a long history and a distinctive culture in which the Buddhist religion plays a prominent role. Lying close to the southern tip of India, Sri Lanka received Buddhist monks by the third century BCE, and sources suggest that the island's inhabitants quickly embraced Buddhist institutions and practices. Nurtured by contacts with Buddhist monks and monasteries in nearby South India, as well as being relatively free from strong Brahmanical influences early on, the Buddhist religion received the patronage of kings and rapidly assumed a dominant presence in the island. The impact of Buddhism in Sri Lankan history can be measured in two ways. One, there is a multitude of ancient Buddhist monasteries and archaeological sites throughout the island that testify to the long-standing and extensive presence of sites associated with Buddhist worship and practice. Two, there are numerous historical texts called vaṃsas (‘histories’ or ‘chronicles’) composed in premodern Sri Lanka that detail the religious history of the island and ensure that the sāsana, or the texts and institutions established by the Buddha, occupies a central place in historical narratives.
