Vamsa () is a Sanskrit word that means 'bamboo, family, lineage'. 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. A 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 with as a suffix.
The word 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 text Ashtadhyayi by PÃÂá¹Âini. A related genre of Indic literature is the Charita, which focuses on individual hagiographies.
appears in other Indic languages in derivative forms, such as bans.
Buddhavaá¹Âsa, Dipavaá¹Âsa, and MahÃÂvaá¹Âsa are examples of Buddhist . The Buddhavaá¹Âsa chronicles the mythical lineage of 24 buddhas who preceded the actual human Buddha as Siddhartha, and includes the Bodhisatta doctrines. The Dipavaá¹Âsa and MahÃÂvaá¹Âsa both are Theravada chronicles of the island of Sri Lanka presenting legends about the place from the birth of the Buddha to about the early medieval era. According to Geiger, the Mahavamsa is likely based on Dipavamsa, these chronicles are of doubtful reliability.
The DÃÂthÃÂvaá¹Âsa is the chronicle of the Buddha's tooth relic until the 9th-century CE. The Thà «pavaá¹Âsa is the purported legendary chronicle of the great stupa in Sri Lanka, mostly ahistorical stories from the 1st millennium. The SÃÂsanavaá¹Âsa is Burmese text, written in 1861, 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. The Sangëtivaá¹Âsa is a Thai text composed in the 18th-century which traces the Buddha lineage in India, Buddhism's spread from India to Thailand and its history in the latter country, as well as an account of its decline.
The Purana genre of Hindu literature includes genealogies similar to the Buddhist texts. Each Purana describes the vaá¹Âà Âa (lineage) and a vaá¹Âà ÂÃÂnucharita (accounts of kings and sages). The two most prominent royal lineages are called the Suryavamsha and the Chandravamsha, the solar and the lunar lineages of kings, families, and communities. The Harivamsa is the legendary genealogy of Yadavas and story of the Hindu god Krishna. It is found as an appendix to the Mahabharata. The Puranas mention lineages of various creatures like daityas, nagas, as well as the descendants of prajapatis and rishis. Additionally there are two relatively newer royal s, vaá¹Âsas, the Agnivamsha and the Nagavamsha.
The literature of Jainism includes the Vamsa genre, such as its version of Harivamsa.