He was addressing a ceremony, participating on behalf of the President, organized by the Higher Education and Cultural Affairs Ministry to launch Volume Six of the Mahavansa relating to the modern period, at the BMICH, recently.

He said when the imperialists were boasting about their history, the Mahavansa enabled us to reveal to the world that we too possessed a proud history of more than 2000 years.The minister said that in addition to proclaiming to the world our long history, the Mahavansa also helped historians and archeologists investigating Indian history and excavating Indian monuments to correctly ascertain certain historical facts in India and to identify ancient monuments there. He said the identification of Emperor Asoka and the period of his reign was one such instance where information contained in the Mahavansa helped to ascertain facts of Indian history and archeology.

The minister added that Mahavansa served as a model for building a chronology of historical events in Thailand when such an undertaking was initiated during the reign of King Rama IV.On behalf of the President, the minister thanked all those who contributed to launch the latest volume of the Mahavansa relating to the modern period.