Vamsa (Sanskrit:वंशम्,romanized: Vaṃśam) is aSanskrit word that means 'family, lineage'.[1][2][3] It also refers to a genre of ancient and medieval literature in Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism. This genre focuses on genealogies. They resemble the conventional histories found in the European literature, but differ as they predominantly chronicle myths and may integrate spiritual doctrines such as rebirths. Avaṃśam can be focussed on a dynasty, family, individual such as a saint, line of teachers of a particular tradition, or a place particularly of pilgrimage. Some of these texts are titled withvaṃśam as a suffix.[1][2][3]
The wordvaṃśam has ancient roots and refers to bamboo cane or sugar cane reed. According to Monier Monier-Williams, the term evolved to mean 'lineage', likely inspired by the periodic lengths of a cane, where one distinct segment follows the previous, grows, ends and is the basis of another. The word is found in the sense of "line of teachers", genealogy and family tree in theShatapatha Brahmana, as well as in Sanskrit grammar textAshtadhyayi byPāṇini.[3] A related genre of Indic literature is theCharita, which focuses on individualhagiographies.[4]
Vaṃśam appears in other Indic languages in derivative forms, such asbans.[5]
Buddhavaṃsa,Dipavaṃsa, andMahāvaṃsa are examples of Buddhistvaṃsas. TheBuddhavaṃsa chronicles the mythical lineage of 24 buddhas who preceded the actual humanBuddha as Siddhartha, and includes the Bodhisatta doctrines.[6] TheDipavaṃsa andMahāvaṃsa both are Theravada chronicles of the island ofSri Lanka presenting legends about the place from the birth of the Buddha to about the early medieval era.[1][7] According to Geiger, the Mahavamsa is likely based on Dipavamsa, these chronicles are of doubtful reliability.[8]
TheDāthāvaṃsa is the chronicle of the Buddha's tooth relic until the 9th-century CE. TheThūpavaṃsa is the purported legendary chronicle of the great stupa in Sri Lanka, mostly ahistorical stories from the 1st millennium. TheSāsanavaṃsa is Burmese text, written in 1861,[9] with a mythical description of central India from the 1st millennium BCE and thereafter, about the diffusion of Buddhism and its monastic institutions outside India.[10][1] TheSangītivaṃsa is a Thai text, composed in the 18th-century traces the Buddha lineage in India, Buddhism's purported migration from India and its history in Thailand, as well as the speculations of its decline.[1]
ThePurana genre ofHindu literature includes genealogies similar to the Buddhist texts. Each Purana describes thevaṃśa (lineage) and avaṃśānucharita (accounts of kings and sages). The two most prominent royal lineages are called theSuryavamsha and theChandravamsha, the solar and the lunar lineages of kings, families, and communities.[2][11] TheHarivamsa is the legendary genealogy of Yadavas and story of the Hindu godKrishna.[12] It is found as an appendix to theMahabharata.[13][14] The Puranas mention lineages of various creatures likedaityas,nagas, as well as the descendants ofprajapatis andrishis. Additionally there are two relatively newer royalvaṃsas, vaṃsas, theAgnivamsha[15][a][16] and theNagavamsha.[17][18][19]
The literature ofJainism includes theVamsa genre, such as its version ofHarivamsa.[4]