Reading the Mahåavaòmâsa: the literary aims of a Theravåada Buddhist history

Vamsa is a dynamic genre of Buddhist history filled with otherworldly characters and the exploits of real-life heroes.

These narratives collapse the temporal distance between Buddha and the reader, building an emotionally resonant connection with an outsized religious figure and a longed-for past.

The fifth-century Pali text 'Mahavamsa' is a particularly effective example, using metaphor and other rhetorical devices to ethically transform readers, to stimulate and then to calm them. 'Reading the Mahavamsa' advocates a new, literary approach to this text by revealing its embedded reading advice (to experience samvega and pasada) and affective work of metaphors (the Buddha's dharma as light) and salient characters (nagas).