The Classical Education and the Community of Mahasangha in Sri Lanka

The book is organized into six major parts. Part I studies the classical educational foundations of the Anuradhapura period and Indian influence, including the earliest pirivenas, Mahāvihāra, translation of Sinhala commentaries into Pāli, the Atthakathā period, bhāṇaka traditions, Abhayagiriya as an educational centre, Sanskrit as a medium of instruction, bhikkhunī education, memory learning, subjects of study, and Buddhist educational links with Nālandā, Valabhī, Vikramaśīla, and other Indian centres. Part II examines the oldest pirivenas from the third century B.C. to the tenth century A.D., the medium of education, the growth and decline of institutions, invasions, unification of the three nikāyas, Polonnaruwa-period mūlāyatanas and pirivenas, literary services, grammar, lexicography, Sanskrit, and the Polonnaru Katikāvata. Part III focuses on mahāsāmis and saṅgharājas who played key roles in classical education. Part IV analyzes religious offices, monastic regulations, ordination, katikāvatas, and institutional authority. Part V turns to the Kotte and later periods, including Vijayabā Pirivena, scholar-monks, lay scholars, foreign missions, decline, revival, and temple education. Part VI discusses patrons of the Sri Lankan community of bhikkhus, modern pirivena administration, prācīna examinations, government language policy, the Pirivena Education Act, curriculum, classification of pirivenas, regulations, and later educational reform. Overall, the work presents Sri Lankan classical education as a long-term civilizational system sustained by the Mahāsaṅgha, royal patronage, textual scholarship, monastic discipline, and institutional continuity.