The Mahavamsa’s Accounts of Yakkhas and Supernatural Beings
- Date of account
- 5th–6th century CE compilation, incorporating earlier traditions
- Location
- Sri Lanka, especially Anuradhapura
- Source
- model_recalled_reference
- Record updated
- 2026-10-10
Record summary
The Mahavamsa presents Sri Lankan Buddhist history through chronicles that include yakkhas, relic miracles, sacred interventions and encounters between rulers, monks and nonhuman beings. These passages are valuable for studying how political and religious historiography incorporates supernatural agents, but they are not neutral incident reports. The text’s chronology, sources and legendary elaboration have long required critical assessment. For apparition research, individual episodes should be isolated and compared with inscriptions, archaeology and parallel chronicles to determine whether they represent ritual legitimation, mythic history or local tradition.
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