# Parākramabāhu I and the creation of the Gal Vihara inscription **URL:** \ **Category:** General Theravada topics\ **Created:** [February 23, 2026, 8:29pm UTC](https://classicaltheravada.org/t/parakramabahu-i-and-the-creation-of-the-gal-vihara-inscription/2214 "2026-02-23T20:29:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 21
**Author:** ![renaldo](https://classicaltheravada.org/user_avatar/classicaltheravada.org/renaldo/32/2033_2.png) [@renaldo](https://classicaltheravada.org/u/renaldo)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2026, 6:02pm UTC](https://classicaltheravada.org/t/parakramabahu-i-and-the-creation-of-the-gal-vihara-inscription/2214/21 "2026-03-02T18:02:41Z")
> [@RobertK](#): > > [2015.50914.A-Manual-Of-Buddhist-Historical-Traditions\_text bimala law.pdf](https://classicaltheravada.org/uploads/short-url/fllMCDRjYEusOv5TQYPKSPhCdXs.pdf) (3.5 MB) > the translation is here Wonderful, thank you for that, Robert. That is the 14th century text that H.R. Perera mentions above in _Buddhism in Sri Lanka: A Short History_, where he states: "… **Mahā Kassapa and a large congregation of monks who assembled at the Jetavana Vihāra at Polonnaruwa decided to compose exegetical commentaries since the existing sub-commentaries on the old Aṭṭhakathās were unintelligible.**" It’s wonderful that King Parākramabāhu the Great helped usher in such a period of literary activity. Without these reforms, not only would this period never have occurred, but we also might not have any Theravāda Buddhist lineage today. We know the Theravāda lineage was later reestablished in several Southeast Asian countries from the Sri Lankan lineage at various points in history. This occurred during periods when local monastic ordination lines had almost died out or become fragmented, and rulers sought to purify and revitalize the Saṅgha by importing ordination lineages from Sri Lanka, which was regarded as the authoritative source of Theravāda orthodoxy. History provides us with many examples. And, of course, throughout history, the favor was also very much reciprocal. I guess it all goes back to Contingency: > [@A Scientific Examination of the Non-Existence of an Almighty God](https://classicaltheravada.org/t/a-scientific-examination-of-the-non-existence-of-an-almighty-god/1751/5): > > To argue that history is contingent is to claim that every historical outcome depends upon a number of prior conditions; that each of these prior conditions depends, in turn, upon still other conditions; and so on. The core insight of contingency is that the world is a magnificently interconnected place. Change a single prior condition, and any historical outcome could have turned out differently… > > …Contingency demands that students think deeply about past, present, and future. It offers a powerful corrective to teleology, the fallacy that events pursue a straight-arrow course to a pre-determined outcome, since people in the past had no way of anticipating our present world. Contingency also reminds us that individuals shape the course of human events. What if Karl Marx had decided to elude Prussian censors by emigrating to the United States instead of France, where he met Frederick Engels? To assert that the past is contingent is to impress upon students the notion that the future is up for grabs, and that they bear some responsibility for shaping the course of future history.” > > —Thomas Andrews and Flannery Burke > > “What Does It Mean to Think Historically?” (2007) > > R R --- _[View the full topic](https://classicaltheravada.org/t/parakramabahu-i-and-the-creation-of-the-gal-vihara-inscription/2214)._