Buddhism in Sri Lanka in the 17th and 18th Centuries: With Special Reference to Sinhalese Literary Sources

The book is organized into four principal chapters, followed by an epilogue, bibliography, abbreviations, and index. Chapter I examines the state of Buddhism in the sixteenth century, with attention to the reign of Parākramabāhu VI, the condition of religious buildings, the Buddhist Order, educational institutions, literary activity, political instability after Parākramabāhu VI, and the effects of Portuguese expansion. Chapter II presents the age of revival as a historical survey, tracing revivalist activities from Vimaladharmasūriya I to Vijayarājasinha and placing the Kandyan kings within the broader struggle to preserve Buddhist institutions. Chapter III studies the scope of the revival through religious literature, showing how Sinhalese literary works preserved, transmitted, and revitalized Buddhist learning during a politically unstable period. Chapter IV analyzes the Buddhist Order, its condition in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and the extent to which reform efforts succeeded or remained incomplete even during the revival associated with Välivita Saraṇankara.