Institution
Mahavihara
The Mahavihara was the great monastery of Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka, founded by King Devanampiya Tissa in the 3rd century BCE after the arrival of the monk Mahinda. It became the stronghold of Theravada orthodoxy, competing with the Abhayagiri and Jetavana monasteries. The commentator Buddhaghosa worked there in the 5th century, and its monastic lineage was later carried to Burma and Thailand.
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See also
Cite this entry
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Mahavihara. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/mahavihara
- MLA
- “Mahavihara.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/mahavihara. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Mahavihara.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/mahavihara.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Mahavihara’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/mahavihara (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻