Buddhist Law beyond the Vinaya: Monastic Constitutions (katikāvatas) and Their Transformations in Colonial Sri Lanka

This article urges scholars to look beyond the Vinaya Piṭaka when thinking about the regulation of Buddhist monastic life. It makes this case by examining an understudied genre of vernacular legal texts that has influenced the regulation of monks in Sri Lanka for more than a millennium. Monastic constitutions, or katikāvatas, affirm the Vinaya’s authority in principle, while functioning in practice as stand-alone administrative codes. Promulgated by kings and monastic leaders, these constitutions aim to bring unity, discipline, and organization to particular communities of monks by consolidating and updating monastic legal principles “in accordance with the times.” Despite their historical and contemporary importance, monastic constitutions have not been studied comprehensively beyond the eighteenth century. This article fills that gap, charting transformations in katikāvatas from the late 1700s to the early 1900s, a period that saw the end of Laṅkan monarchy and the spread of British colonial control. Following a review of existing scholarship, this article demonstrates that during the nineteenth century a new type of monastic constitution gained prominence, which I call group katikāvatas. Through analyzing group katikāvatas, this article not only provides new insights into the practical adaptation of monastic law in Sri Lankan history, it also calls attention to the importance of Buddhist law-making more generally as a strategic activity undertaken by monastic collectives and their patrons in order to enhance and protect their reputation, independence, and material interests in changing social and political contexts.