ශ්‍රී ලාංකේය සංස්කෘතික සංවර්ධනය කෙරෙහි සිංහල ව්‍යාඛ්‍යාත ග්‍රන්ථයන්හි දායකත්වය Contribution of Sinhala Exegetical Literature on the Development of Sri Lankan Culture

Abstract

This research is to find out the contribution of exegetical literature towards the Sri Lankan Cultural Development.  This research is carried out by focusing on four exegetical books namely, Dhampiya Atuwa Getapadaya  written during the Anuradhapura period, Dharma Pradeepika written during the Polonnaruwa period, Vishuddi Marga Mahasannaya and Poojavaliya written during the Dambadeniya period. The main objective of the research is to investigate the contribution made by exegetical literature towards the development of Sri Lankan culture.  The writing of exegetical literature took place during the Post Mahinda Era.  Even though this exegetical literature consists of many philosophical concepts, our focus was to study their contribution to Buddhist culture.  The arrival of Arahant Mahinda is the primary factor that established and spread Buddhism in Sri Lanka.  These exegetical literatures were looked at in four categories as native vs foreign and eastern vs western.  It was found that exegetical literature was composed to explain the problems of protected discourses of religious leaders.  Hence, literary works such as translations, commentaries, exegesis, compendiums, and narrations were primarily composed to explain the complex and complicated religious concepts to the general readership.  The methodology used includes collection of data using primary, secondary and retinue sources, categorization of data, analysis of data and inferring conclusions.  To fully develop the Sri Lankan Buddhist Era, the arrival of Arahant Mahinda and state intervention contributed mostly.  It is concluded that according to the theory of dependent origination, Buddhist teachings, philosophy and cultural concepts that are embedded in Sri Lankan life contributed to the cultural development.