The Pali Literature or Burma - Forgotten Books

ABBREVIATIONS

BEFEO. Bulletin de l’E’ eole Franpaise d

’Extréme Orient.

1901 , e tc .

Gandhavamsa. (J 1886. Index, 1896.

Journal of the Pali Text Society. London. 1882, e tc .

Journal of the RoyalAsiatic Society. London.

Pitakat thamain. Rangoon. 1906.

Pali Text Society.

Sesanavamsadipa. Co lombo. 1881 .

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

Students may consult with advantageI

,The whole of the Pal i Text Society

’s publications (for the older Pal il i terature) . Frowde . London, 1882, et c .

II. Translations of the same which have appeared in various languages(see the useful bibliography of works on Buddhism, by Mr.A. J. Edmunds ,in the Journal of the Pal i Text Society,

Particularly interesting for comparison of Burmese versions withPali are the translations of Jatakas from the Burmese

,by Mr. R. F.

St . Andrew St . John, in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society,years 1892, 1893 , 1894 , 1896. [Cf. the Jataka, translated from the

Pal i by various hands under the editorship of E. B. Cowel l. 6 vols.Cambridge

,1895 , e tc .]

III. Bibl iographies and Catalogues as follows1 . Bibl iographies.(a ) General. Scherman (Professor Oriental B ibliograp hy.

( ! uarterly ) Berl in,London

,Paris

,andNew York.

(6) Indo -Ch ina. Cordier (Henri ). Essai d ’une bibliograp hic ales

ouvrages relatifs a la p resqu’ile indo-chinoise. Premiere p artie

Bir manie ct Assam . Toung Pao, série 11 , vol. vi.(c) Burma. Ire land (Alleyne) . The Province of Burma , a rep ort

p rep ared for the University of Chicago (with extensi ve bibliography).Houghton

,Mitfiin

,Co. Boston andNew York, 1906.

2. Catalogues .(a ) The catalogues of Pal i and Burmese MSS. and printed books in

the Oriental Department of the British Museum.

(b ) The same in the India Office Library.

(0) The alphabetical l ist ofmanuscripts and books in the BernardFree Library at Rangoon, by C . Duroiselle . This collection offersan excellent field for research

,be ing under the care of Professor

Duroiselle,who

,in his large and intimate knowledge of Burmese

l i terature,stands alone among Palists.

(d) Catalogues of Pal i and Burmese MSS. in the BibliothequeNationale, Paris.

IV . Finally, a few examples may b e given from the mass of Pal i andBurmese books in the Bri tish Museum. They consist chiefly of editionsof celebrated Pal i works, commentaries by Burmese authors, antho logies,and translations into the vernacular. The descriptions are borrowed fromDr. Barnett’s catalogue.

Canonical War/cs. Suttapitaka (entire) . Edited by K0 Aung MinHsaya and others. 1904.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

Cariyap itaka, with Burmese exegetical commentary. Mandalay,1899 .

Milindapafihavat thu . Burmese translation from the Mi linda.Rangoon, 1882 .

Abhid/zamma . Abhidhammat thasangaha, of Anuruddha, followedby Sumangalasam i

’

s Tika-Kyaw or Abhidhammat tha-vibhavani in

elucidation thereof, and copious Burmese commentary. Rangoon,

1898.

Manim edhajo taka Kyan. A Burmese treatise on Buddhistpsychology, based on the Abhidhammatthasangaha, and i llustratedfrom Pal i texts. Maulm ein, 1882.

Sankhepavyakarana. Burmese epitome of Abhidhamma doctrineas codified in the Ab hidhammat thasafigaha, i llustrated from Pal itexts. Rangoon

,1899 .

Paramat tham edhani Kyan. Treatise on the four condi tions of theabsolute. Illustrated from Pal i Texts . Rangoon

,1895.

Grammar. Maharupasiddhi, with Burmese interpretation. Rangoon,1906.

Nvadi -Moggallana. Pal i treatise on Grammar,by Sangharakkhita,

based on the Grammar of Moggallana, with Burmese ni-esaya .

Rangoon,1900 .

Alankara-nissaya. Being the Sub odhalamkara of Sangharakkhita

in Pali,with commentary. Rangoon, 1889 .

Dhatvat thudipaka. Treatise in Pal i verse on the significat ions of

Pal i roots,by Aggadhammalamkara, with Burmese commentary.

Rangoon,1899 .

Law. Navadhammasattha,byHsin-pyu -mya

-shin,king ofToungoo .

A Pal i digest of nine law-books. Law of Inheri tance. ‘

Edi ted withBurmese translation. Akyab , 1894.

Veda . Makaranda bedin le t yo Tika,commentary on the

Makaranda-bedin,handbook of astrology. Mandalay, 1905.

INTRODUCTION

TH E Pali li te rature of Burm a owes i ts exi stence to the Palili terature of India . I t is many years since the latter was

first explored by the great scholars and pioneers—Fausboll,Lassen

,Rhys Davids, Trenckner, Childers , O ldenberg—whose

reward has been a gain to Oriental learning vast enough tocontent even them . With time a part of the mate rialdisc overed has been brought within the reach of studentsby cri tical editing . Buddhistic li terature is imm ense inquantity and bewildering in varied interest

,and it was never

more difficult than now to avo id being too much of the

specialist . But the student of Buddh ism who limits himself

to one language or looks for solut ion of all quest ions in one

lite rature risks slipping into an orthodoxy of his own .

A sounder principle has long gu ided Buddhist studies ;modern research has gone forth

,like As’ oka ’ s missionaries

,

to Further India , China , Japan , Tibet, Siam ,and French

Indo -China,armed wi th patience as they were with conviction

,

as resolutely determined to learn as they were to te ach .

There is need nowadays to seek further in Burma,or rather

,

need to be bette r acquainted wi th what has already beenfound there . Among the countries in which the ideas and

traditions of Buddhism are inseparably bound up with thePali canon Burma possesses a special interest which we hardlyfeel in the case of Ceylon , for Burma shows how the leavenof Indian thought worked in a race and idiom having noneof the close relationship with India which we recognize inall that i s most characte ristic of the lite rature of Ceylon . Wemay say that the essentially Indian genius

,the psychological

subtleties,and high thoughts of Buddhism have forced the

Burmese language to grow,deepen

,and expand continually .

When Burmese was at last raised (in or about the fourteenthcentury) to the level of a literary language , i t was by theaddi tion of a great body of Indian words necessary to expressideas beyond the scope of that picturesque vernacular. Being

X INTRODUCT ION

an agglutinative language,Burmese lacks the force , te rseness,

and delicacy that Pali owes to its nominal and verbal inflectionsand i ts power of forming elaborate compounds . Thus beforethe translating period

,authors of Burmese race had studied

Pali and learned to use i t ; ever since the twelfth century ithas been a tradition of Burmese scholars to produce literarywork in Pali

,and it i s with this work only that we are now

concerned.

A survey of the Pali literature of Burma is not quite a newundertaking. In the year 1879 a report on the subj ect was

drawn up for the Government of India by Dr. Emil Forchhammer

,Professor of Pali at Rangoon , who had begun a

tho rough search for manuscripts in monasteries and privatecollections , and who se premature death cruelly cut short a workfull of promise . This and other reports of Forchhamm er

, onthe archaeological remains of Arakan and Burma , are Government publicat ions and his studies of Buddhist law (publishedby Sir John Jardine with his own valuable Notes, 1882—3 , andin the Jardine Prise Essay) are now extremely rare books , andthe stores of knowledge they contain are no t available at everym oment . And we ought also to profit by the labours of thatbrilliant and far-seeing scholar Minayeff, to whom we owethe discovery and publication (to mention only one work) of

the Gandhavam sa Book History written in Burma,a short

but interesting account of the earlier Pali literature of Ceylonand Burma . The Gandhavam sa i s unfortunately very sparingof details , and gives us little information as to the period ofthe works it enum erates , but its help is most useful in settlingsome questions of authorship and place . Minayeff, who usedthis book for his No zwelles Recherches sur lo Bouddhisme ,

does not offer any conclusion as to its date , but from comparison with the Sasanavam sa and a still more modern Burmesework , the Pitakat thamain 1 it appears to be a sevente enth century production .

For both the early and modern periods (from the twelfth to

1 I have to thank Professor Barnett for bringing to my notice this usefulBurmese bibliography of Buddhist works.

INTRODUCTION xi

the nineteenth centuries) we find great help in the Sasanavarnsa,

1 which,happily , observes the good traditions of Burmese

chronicles and cares for chronology .

2 It enables us at least

to ske tc h in outline a connected sto ry , while but for this recordwe could only enumerate works of doubtful date and mentionau tliors without knowing what period in the growth of theircoun try and Order had brought them fo rth . The Si sanavam sa

,

though a very mine of interest as compared wi th the arid little

Gandhavam sa ,has i ts limi tations. It is confu sed , rambling ,

and prej udiced . The author,a high ecclesiastic of Min-don

min ’ s reign , belonged by all his convictions and tradi tions tothe Sihalasangha,

an important school or’

se c t having , as thename shows

,a close connex ion with the fraternity in Ceylon .

As for the other commun i ties , who se spiritual forefathersrefused to look on the Mahavihara, that famous monastery ofthe old commentators

,as the very centre and hearth of

orthodoxy, they interest him only moderately. He will some

t imes dismiss one of their authors with the driest , curtestmention of the man and his book , while he will delight uswith details and anecdotes of more orthodo x writers . Itwould be interest ing to have the picture filled in for us bya biographer influenced by the old Talaing tradi tion , thetradi tion , that is , of Lower Burma . For this school , known as

the Mrammasangha (fraternity of Burma) , maintained thatthere was no need to have recou rse to Ceylon for teachers inthe unbroken ‘ line of descent ’ from the ancient missionaries .This question

,almo st impossible to settle with certa inty

,after

the vicissitudes that the Buddhist Samgha had seen in bo thc ountries, divided the Order in Burma wi th a sharp line of

1 This text (edited for the Pal i Text Society in 1897 b y the presentwri te r) has supplied much material for the fo llowing chapters. Othersources have been used t o verify or correct where i t has been possible.The who le of the Sasanavam sa

’

s li te rary information, as far as i t concernsBurma

,is given in the course of the present work.

2 I have thought it best to adopt throughout this essay the chronologyof my two principal Burmese authori ties, Pannasam i and the author ofthe Pitakat thamain. Bu t Imust remind the reader that their (traditional )starting-po int, the N irvana of the Buddha, is no longer placed by scho larsat 544 B .C. but some sixty years later. See article by Dr. Fleet, JRAS.

,

Apri l,1909

,The Origin of the Budd/zanareha .

xii INTRODUCTION

partisanship . Therefo re we must beware of considering the

Si sanavamsa a complete record of monastic work . Neverthelessthe author ’ s own poin t of view i s instruct ive, and we have noright to say that he does no t try to be impartial . And if wefo llow only his guidance in our choice Of the books to explorewe must arrive at some knowledge of what i s

,after all

,Of the

m o st interest in such researches ; we can see the intellectu aldevelopmen t of Burma through Buddhism and the adap tation

of the non -Indian mind to Indian culture , with the conception

Of science and the standard of literary art evo lved in thatadapting pro cess .We canno t

,Of course , do j ustice to these questions in a sho rt

sketch . The efi ec t Of Indian Buddhism on Burmese life andliterature has many manifestations . We can in stance someas widely apart as codified law and religious art. In theremote past we find both Brahmanic and Buddhistic sources OfBurmese written law. And the religious art of the countryis by no means wi thout i ts problems (for example , the extent

of Mahayana or‘ Northern ’ influence) , which those who are

masters Of this subj ect are gradually solving for u s.

I SO thesubject spreads in its fascinating complex ity

,i f we will let it

,

far beyond our simpler theme ; but it must suffice for thisessay to follow (if wi th less serene confidence) the way markedOut by the devout and simple scholars Of Burm a , who haveleft us a literature derived entirely from the Pali canon andrepresenting almost invariably the Hinayana 2 traditions of

Buddh i st belief .Beginning with the study Of the language consecrated in

Ceylon as the instrument Of the highest teaching,then com

m enting and compo sing in Pali and at last interpreting thatteaching in their native tongue

,the Burmese monks have left

us a complete revelation of their mind . Neither the sculpture,painting , legends, plays, customs , nor law-codes Of the Burmese ,

1 See p . vi i .2 This Buddhist phrase

,

‘ the lesser vehicle,

’may b e employed as

a convenient term for the tradi tion as Observed in the southern countriesearly won to Buddhism,

a tradi tion more sober in i ts legend and somewhatmore austere and practical in i ts morali ty than the Mahayana (or schoo lof the greater

INTRODUCT ION xiii

significant as they are , could serve to show us what theirreligious li terature alone unfolds—their manner Of grapplingwith an abstract subj ect .Buddhism ,

as any other Indian system would have done,

gave them a large opportun ity. They did their best wi th it .But=Buddh ist theories demanded an effort Of abstractiondoubly severe for learners whose first lesson in philo sophy

was learned with the se theories . ‘ In India , where certain

o f the Upanisads belonged to a yet earlier phase of thoughtthan the doctrines Of Gotama , men

’ s minds were prepared forBuddhi st conceptions . A philosophical language was alreadyformed in which the teacher or the di spu tant could lead hishearers step by step in an idiom they knew to conclusionsnot unfamiliar to their minds . But in Burma the grammarOf the Buddhi st te xts first had to be studied

,and when the

great legend Of the Founder was learned and the code of

the Order had grown familiar, there was still a new worldto conquer, a new science to m aster . After the Sutta andVinaya there was the Abhidhamma to interpret . Here pe rhapswe shall find the Pali compositions of Burmese authors lessinteresting than their translations into Burmese .The Sanskrit comm entaries compose d in India on Buddhist

texts are enlightening in proportion as the student is famil iarwith all Indian philosophies and can point ou t parallels andcontrasts ; the Pali commentaries of Burma naturally only leadus back to the Sifihalese and Indian models they faithfullvcopy. When we leave Pali and come to Burmese interpretationsof Abhidhamma te x ts we feel that we follow our commentatorsin a (to us) somewhat dark adventure ; bu t yet the effort of

these authors in their own vernacular is interesting as aneffort to do more than recite the consecrated words of theirancient masters . Here is the key to the sense really givenby the Burmese to Indian abstractions

,the key not to be

found where they u se the exotic and tradi tional Pali form .

A friend has suggest ed to m e a compari son be tween these studies inBurma and the gradual mastery by Bede and Alfred and their fo l lowersin England of the philosoph of Paul and John. It was not until Wyclif

’stime, s ix centuries after B e

,that these abstract questions were discussed

in English .

xiv INTRODUCTION

By it we have access to some curious treasure , rewardingthe search Of the scholar familiar with the Burmese tongue

,

provided he be a Palist and (be i t said without impiety)endowed with two of the Buddhist ‘ perfections the power

to spend himself and be very patient. Knowledge Of thePali comm entaries Of Burma is the natural beginning of thi sattractive enterprise , but by no means the end.

The commentaries , though the most important part, are notthe whole of the Pali literature . The technicalities Of Indiangrammar have attracted Burmese authors from an early period .

The work Of the famous Kaccayana i s all but canonical amongthem

,and the procession of his followers and commentators

stretches through eight centuries Of literary history . Thequalities of mind innate in the quick-witted Burmese racewere lent to the service Of the Word so religiously respected .

The Pali scriptures had not been a hundred years in Uppe rBurma before a grammar—the Saddaniti—was composed inPali that called forth the wondering admiration Of the scholars

of Ceylon , though Ceylon was certainly the forerunner andmodel of Burma in exegesi s.Again

,the practical side Of monastic life was a subj ect well

within the scope Of the Palists of Burma . We have verynumerous examples of work in this field

,from the time Of

their first controversy on Ordination in Narapati’

s reign

(A.D . 1 167—1204 ) till the present day.

In the secular domain the Pali language has been employed

(as we should expect) where solemnity was called for or thesense of an antique tradition was needed to support authority ;for instance , some important law-codes exist

,and others

probably existed,in Pali versions. Pali is also the language

chosen for the collections of maxims known as the ‘ Niti’

l ite rature , and for various chronicles (we can instance theRajavam sa, Sasanavam sa, and Gandhavam sa) .Finally we come to the very limi ted province Of Pali versein Burma . Here and there among our authors we catcha glimpse of scholars who have a touch of the poet in themand some Of the poet ’ s ambition . We do not know that theyever approached the favourite theme of the poets Of all ages.

INTRODUCTION XV

If they did,the chronicles have passed it over in silence.

A love story sometimes forms part Of an edifying narrativefrom Pali sources ; but the love lyric i s the undisputed realmof the poets Of the vernacular. Ji takas and other morallegends were the material usually chosen for the Palist towork upon . Sometimes the beauties of a city or the gloryOf the reigning king were extolled with all the author ’ sresources Of pro sody and imagery . But scholarship in Burma

has not produced poets worthy to rank with those of Ceylon .

The fo llowing pages are but a sketch, and perhaps a sketchwithout colour. Our purpose i s not to describe again theoutward asp ect Of the temple, the monastery, and the village ,very vividly presented to Western readers by learned andsympathetic writers from Bishop Bigande t onwards . SO

manyEuropeans have come under the charm of Burma—Of

the Burmese people, their life and religion —that there is noneed to do more than recall to readers the names Of the writers ‘

who have made that charm a familiar thing to us . We havechosen for our study the less well-known subj ect Of the Palibooks Of Burma . The authors were the ancesto rs and mastersOf the monks of tod ay, through whom we know those Old-tim e

scholars and can still see , as it were, a far-off picture of theirlives

,their schools , and their work .

See the Bibliographies,p. vi i .

THE PALI LITERATURE OF BURMA

CHAPTER I

THE CLASSICAL PALI LITERATURE—ARRIVAL OF THE PAL I

TRIPITAK A IN BURMA

Burma,under which name we may conveniently

,if no t quite

accurately,include Pegu

,Arakan , and Martaban, has been the

home Of Buddhism for many centuries . No Buddhist countryhas kept the antique faith more sheltered from change . Yeteven the chronicles Of monasteries and such strictly ecclesiasticalworks as the Sa

'

sanavamsa‘ cannot unfold their quiet tale

without a necessary mention of rivalries and wars betweenthese neighbouring states, when the balance went down firston the side Of Burma

,then Of Pegu

,when Mongol armies

marched on the Burmese capital , or the Burmese king marchedinto Siam . Rulers changed and the fortunes Of the Fraternitywith them

,but the doctrine and the tradition sufi ered hardly

any alteration , and the countries of Further India developed anintellectual life which was before all the product Of Buddhistideas and the work Of Buddhist monks . For Burma the firstlanguage of abstract thought was an Indian language ; therat ional and moral force which

,fo r a large body of the

Burmese people,broke down the thraldom Of ancient super

stitions, was inspired by India . By the predominance of

Buddhist influence in Burmese culture Burmese studies belongrightfully to the great field Of Indianism .

We must, though the subj ect has already been fully andadmirably treated by others , remind the reader here Of theform in which the Buddhist doctrine , enshrined in a canonOf scripture , was conveyed to Further India .The language was Pali , the literary dialect closely allied toSanskrit. Pali i s usually called by the Burmese the mdgad/zabhdsd

1 See Introduction.

2 THE PALI LITERATURE or BURMA

(idiom Of Magadha) or malabhdsd (‘ the original language

but this identification Of Pali with the spoken dialect of

Magadha i s now known to be incorrect. It seems needlessto add any remarks about the Pali literature , since its capacitieshave been described and

,better still , proved by the authors Of

scholarly and beautiful translations which everyone nowadayshas an opportunity Of reading .

3 But a few words on theclassical books may be in place .

The Tmp ita/ra.

The Tripitaka (Pali, Tip itaha) , to use the now familiarBuddhist name for the three great groups Of canonical texts

,

the Vinaya , Sutta , and Abhidhamma p ita/{as baskets i sknown in Burma in the Pali recension consecrated in Ceylon .

The Abhidhamma and Sutta Pitalcas.

For some remarks on the last of the three collections,the

Abhidhamm a, the reader i s referred to Chapter IV of this essay .

As to the Suttapi taka,the first thing we observe on looking

into characteristic collections of Pali - Burmese MSS . andbooks is that Of the great Nikayas claiming to be the wordof the Buddha (the Anguttara, Maj jhima

, Digha, Samyu tta,and Khuddaka) the D ighanikz

'

rya i s the best known , the moststudied, the most frequently to be found .

4 On the reasonfor this preference we can only ri sk a guess . The D ighanika

'

ya,

though containing the long (dig/ta) discourses, i s the smallestOf the collections and hence the easiest to study . It i sa principle of the Burmese to avoid all unnecessary pains

1 The ancient kingdom OfMagadha was the region now called Bihar.2 The late lamented Professor Pischel (in a valuable paper on fragmentsOf the Buddhist canon found in Chinese Turkestan) speaks of the tradi tionthat the Magadhi was the language of the first age Of the world and spokenby the Buddhas

‘

:‘ Es ist b egreiflich dass m an spater die Magadhi mi t

dem Pali identifiz ierte . Dass aber der Palikanon Spuren eines al te renMag adhikanons aufweist is la'ngst erkannt Worden (R. Pischel, Sit z ungsberi chte der kO'nigl. preuss. Akademie der Wissenschaften, Mai

, 1904,p. See also Oldenb erg

’

s edition of the V inayap itakam ,Introduction

,

and the Preface to Professor E. Miiller’s Pal i Grammar.3 See Bibl iography.

4 This is confirmed by information Mr. Shwe Z an Aung has kindlysent me .

THE PALI LITERATURE or BURMA 3

and trouble . Without any disrespect to Burmese Buddhists ,it is natural to suppose that they have chosen the shortes ttask , especially when we remember that the Dighanikayacontains suttas Of great imp ortance .

I For example , we findthere the Brahmajala Su ttanta, dealing with the Sixty- twoWrong Views the Sémafifiaphala, on the Fruits of the AsceticL ife the Mahfisatip at thfina, on Self-mastery ; and, chief Of all ,the Mahzi p arinib b a

’

m a Suttanta, on the Buddha’ s last discourse s

and death , that is , on the supreme moment in the history of

the Order,since it was then that the Buddhist earngha became

the guardian of the departed Master ’ s teaching . On theWhole the essential doctrines, as the Burmese Buddhistconceives them

,are to be found in this collection and the

commentaries .The Khuddakanikz

'

iya calls for a word of not ice here . Thiscollection contains among other texts the Dhammapada

,the

Su ttanipata, and the immortal Jfitaka book, which , as might

b e expected from its character , has become part Of the popularas well as the scholarly literature of Burma . Very nearlyconnected with i t i s the Paritta, a good example of ancientwisdom and piety crystallized into a tali sman .

Mahap arittam.

The Paritta or Mahiip aritta, a small collect ion Of textsgathered from the Suttapi taka , is , to this day, more widelyknown by the Burm ese laity O f all classes than any otherPali book . The Paritta

,learned by heart and recited on

appropriate occasions , is to conj ure various evils physical andmoral . It has naturally come to have the usual value Ofcharms and exorcisms , a value hardly religious in the Buddhistsense of the word . But some Of the miscellaneous ex tractsthat make up the collection are of a purely religious andethical tone . The best example Of these i s the famous

1 The DIghanikaya was chosen by Professor Rhys Davids for his

selection Of typical suttas trans lated under the title Dialogues of Buddha .

The suttas instanced above have also been translated elsewhere. See the

useful bibliography by Mr. Al bert J . Edmunds, Journal of the Pali TextSociety, 1902-3 .


Mangalasu tta1of the Su ttanip fita, verses in praise of the holy

life,uttered by a deratd (local divinity) , who came to pay

homage to the Buddha in the grove Of Je tavana.

The use of the Parit ta is said to have had the B uddha ’ ssanction .

2 There is an example Of this practice (by acknowledged saints) in the well-known legend Of Sona and Uttara ,As’ oka ’ s missionaries to Lower Burma . Their first act onarriving was to vanquish the demon (yak/shim) who spreadterror in the land by devouring at their birth all boys bornin the king ’ s palace . The victory of the holy men wasaccomplished by the Parit ta.

3 We find another illustrationin an interesting little incident related Of Je tavana, a Burmesemonk and famous teacher Of the si xteenth century. WhenJe tavana believed himself at the point Of death he thought

of one whom he considered fit to be his successor . At thatmoment the monk on whom his thoughts were fixed dreameda strange dream Of a dead man

,which , on waking , he related

to the novice lying near him . A p aritta was then pronouncedby one Of the monks to avert any evil foreshadowed by thedream .

4

In the days of Anoratafi’ the first notable king in authenticBurmese history (who reigned in the eleventh century) , wehear Of the Paritta turned to a dangerous use . Corrupt andcynical monks proclaimed i t an easy means Of disembarrassingman ’ s guilty conscience from all wrongdoing even to matricide .But Burmese Buddhism has

,on the whole

,kept exorcism

within the bounds Of a superstition,contrary no doubt to the

true doctrine , but not grossly transgressing the ethical codeOf the religion .

Burmese tradition adds to the fifteen ancient tex ts of theKhuddakanikziya

6 four other works—the Milindapanha,7 the

1 See Fausb'

Oll’

s edi tion of the Su t tanipata, p. 45 edition, 1884Glossary, and translation

,SBE. , vol. x, pt. i i .

2 See Milindapafiha (ed. Trenckne r) , pp . 150 fit , and Rhys Davids’

translation ( ! uestions of King Milinda), SBE. ,xxxv

,pp. 213 ff.

3 See Sas,p . 38. Sas ,

p . 101 .

5 See below, p. 12.

6 Khuddakapatha, Dhammapada, Udana, Itivut taka, Su t tanipata,

Vimanavat thu,Petavat thu , Theragatha, Therigatha, Jataka, Mahaniddesa

,

Pa7

ti

§amb l

g

idamagga, Apadana, Buddhavam sa,Cariyap itaka.

cc a ove.

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Mfilasikkhz'

i and Khuddasikkhfi, was composed at an earlyperiod, ‘ and these with the Dvematiké , consisting of the

Bhikkhupatimokkha and Bhikkhunip

fi tim okkha (the ancientrésumé of the code for monks and nuns respectively) andthe Kankhzi vitarani (commentary on the Pfitim okkha) , wererec ognized as sufficient Vinaya knowledge for those who couldnot study more .2 In modern times the above are called the‘ Four Smaller Vinayas ’ , and are studied by those who havenot t ime for the complete Vinaya .

3

In Burmese Pali collections we find no less frequently thanthe Paritta Of the laity the Kammavaca Of the MendicantOrder. These texts have a purely ecclesiastical use

,though

it would be a mistake to call them ‘ ritual ’ . The first workof the first Buddhist mission to Burma was undoubtedly toreceive into the Samgha believers wishing to renounce theworld . For those

,be fore they entered on fu rther studies

,

a knowledge of the sacred word in Pali would probably beginwi th the formal and rigid language Of the Kammavaca ,

and this association lends a touch of interest to someextremely wearisome matter . First

,the formulas of the

p abbayj’

d (renunciation) and up asaznp acta (ordination) musthave become familiar . Then the ordinary course of monasticlife included various ceremonies, each Of which had i tsprescribed form for the presiding theras . The bhikkhus

taking part were silent,unless dissenting from what was

proposed , but in cases where they had offended, acknowledgedtransgression Of the rules aloud.

The Kammavaca cannot,of course

,be called li terature

,but

it must be noticed as a text represent ing the immovabletradition Of Old days in Burma . The ceremonies Of admissionto the Samgha and so forth have continued to modern

1 They were wri tten in Ceylon. See Wickremasinghe , Catalogue ofSinhalese MSS. in the BritishMuseum

,Introduction.

2 Professor Barnett has po inted O ll tAtO m e that the compilation most

re cently re -edited in Burma (by Esaya U Pye ) as Dvematika contains theBhikkhu andBhikkhuni atimokkha

,the Kammakammavinicchaya, extracts

from the Parivara and)

other Vinaya texts, and a Patimokkhuddesa,

Burmese notes on the Patim okkha.

3 I owe this information to Mr. Shwe Z an Aung’s kindness.


times,accompanied by the ancient formulas ; and in the

histo ry of the Order we find that some lively movementsin literature and one most important mission to Ceylon weredue to ceremonial questions, particularly the question ofconsecrating boundaries (simd) .

1 For this last was a formali tyon

”which the validity Of ordination and thence the ‘ legitimatedescent ’ Of teachers depended , and such consecration has alwaysbeen considered in Burma of great importance to religion andthe religious reputation Of a region or community.

In all these texts we find the same conventional characterand monotonous repetition .

2 Even the MSS . in which theKammavacas are handed down suit the tex t s . The thick ,square lettering

,pompous and decorative

,the shining lacquer ,

and heavily gilded,silvered

,or ivory-plated leaves

,bear a like

ness to church-property wherever found. Yet we should notforget that they are the texts Of a religion that has knownneither al tar nor sacrifice , and if in Burma the system hasdeveloped clerics and a hierarchy, i t has never had a privilegedpriesthood .

The Vinaya has led to mention OfThe Commentaries—The Burmese tradition as to the great

commentators follows the Sifihalese,which places Buddhaghosa,

Dhammap z'

ila,B uddhadatta

, Ninagambhira, Kassapa,and

Ananda in the fourth , fifth,and sixth centuries A.D .

3 Theearliest atthahathds (commentaries) and ti/cds (sub-commentariesor glosses) on the three p ita/sac are associated With these names .Equally famous and authoritat ive i s the compendium of

doctrine known as the Visuddhimagga (‘ Path of Purity ’

) byBuddhaghosa. As for the fam iliar story of Buddhaghosa

’

s

career,4 the Burmese adhere closely to the Sifihale se version ,but though the scene of this almost incredibly prolific

1 The boundaries in question mark the enclosure within whichceremonies such as ordination can b e properly performed. The Observanceof these bounds is very stri ct, and a ceremony carried ou t in a placeunfit ted for consecration is not val id.

2 As in law-books all the world over,’ says Professor Rhys Davids, who

has , in his w ide experience, plumbed the depths of Vinaya and law bo th.

3 Sits , pp. 33, 34 Pitakat thamain,pp . 21 ff.

See the article on Buddhaghosa. by T . Foulkes, Ind. Ant,vol. xix ,

pp. 105—22.

8 THE PALI LITERATURE OF BURMA

writer ’ s great commenting feats i s always considered to beCeylon

,he has been gravely claimed by the Talaings as a native

of ThatOn .

1

Dhammapfila2 wrote at Kaficip ura (Conj everam) in the

Dekkhan,the region with which , according to their ancient

records,the Talaings kept up active communication . Know

ledge Of Buddhist texts in Lower Burma was derived,

Forchhammer thinks, from Dhammapala’

s country .

3 We donot know Of any works written in the Talaing country itselfduring the fifth , sixth , and seventh centuries, a period Of greatliterary activity in Ceylon and South India .Most of the well-known tikas were written in Ceylon ,4 andworks such as the commentary on the Ne ttipakarana andanother ent itled Saccasankhep a Compendium Of the TruthBette r known , perhaps, than any other in Burma is the twelfthcentury compendium Of the Abhidhamma known as theAbhidhammatthasangaha, also of Sinhalese origin . TheseOld exeget ical books , which we shall find again and again inour progress through Burmese literature

,must be known at

least by name before we can discuss the work Of the scholarsOf Burma .Some obscurity hangs over the beginnings Of Buddhistculture in Further India . According to a well-establishedtradition Indian Buddhism moved from the south coast—thatis , from the region called in the ancient chronicles Suvannabhumi—northwards

,while some archaeological and linguistic

evidence allows us to suppose that i t also found it s way throughthe mountain passes Of the North .

6 But it was certainly not

1 Modern Burmese scholars have abandoned this bel ief. See Foulkes ’Buddhaghosa (Ind. Ant , vol. xix, pp. 1 13,2 Gandhavamsa, pp. (50 , 69 Forchhamm er, List, pp . vi, vi i .3 Forchhammer

,Jardine Priz e Essay, p. 27.

4 Si s, p . 33 . Vide Minayefl

’

, Recherches, pp . 273 , 274. The fi lms are

sometimes mentioned in Burmese l ists under co llective titles. The mostimportant tihas Of Dhammapala are known as the Linat thap pakasani (seeGV.

, pp. 60 , Pitakat thamain, pp. 32,33 .

5 Forchhammer, Essay, p . 25. See also SVD . (Sasanavamsadipa) ,verses 1 194 and 1 220.

6 See Taw Sein KO , The Origin Of the Burmese Race ’ (Buddhism,vol. 1

NO . 3, p . 445) also Prel iminary Study Of the POSU 8 Daung Inscription

(Ind. Ant , vol. xxi i , p. 7) Phayre , H istory of Burma , pp. 3,4, 14 R. C.


in the upper valley of the Irrawaddy that the Pali literatureo f Burma had i ts origin . This gift the Burmese owe to theirmore advanced neighbours , the Talaings of Ramafifiadesa

,now

c alled Lower Burma .The o rigin and history of the MOD or Talaing people

,who

were to be (unwillingly as it happened) the messengers of thepurer Buddhism

,need not be discussed here .1 The point from

which we start i s their acceptance Of Buddhist teaching fromIndia and the rise of a body of learned monks in Rfimafifia whopreserved the ancient Doctr ine and D iscipline and conveyedthem to Upper Burma , where both had long been forgotten .

We say forgotten , for Burmese authors will not admit thatthey were new-comers .2 But the tradition that no less thanthree out Of the nine missions sent ou t by As’ oka went to UpperBurma in the third century B .C .

3 looks like a piece Of the

T emple, ‘ No tes on Antiqu i ties in Ram annadesa ’

(Ind. Ant , vol. xxi i ,pp . 37 if. ) A. Griinwedel, Buddhistische Ifunst in Indien , pp. 132, 136, 138 .

1 For views Of different authori ties on this subject see Rep orts on the

Census of Burma,189 1 (Eales) and 190 1 (Lowin) . The Talaing chronicles

and inscriptions are rich in material for study, material which we are

less and less l ikely to unearth as time goes on,for this ancient language

i s fast disappearing from Burma,and students Of i t are unfortunately

very few.

2 It is certa in that the acc ounts Of Burmese chroniclers do not supportForchhamm er

’

s bel ief that there was no Burmese civili z ation to speak oft il l the Talaings conquered the upper country. Nei ther Taw Sein KO

(Ind. Ant,xxi i i

,p. 258) nor Phayre (History of Burma ,

p. 3 ) take thisview. I have not ye t discovered Forchhamm er

’s reason for concluding

that there was so great a di fference between the two countries,though

t he southern provinces were more eas ily access ible from India than UpperBurma.

3 The well-known names Of the regions visited by the m issions arec arefully displaced by the Burmese, t o cover re gions in Further India.See Sasanavamsa

,Introduction, pp. 3 ff , and note by Dr. Burgess

,

Fabri cated Geography (Ind. Ant , 1901 , vol. xxx , p. As an exampleo f the sources from which we may hope to add much to our knowledgese e the Maunggun Gold Plates

,by Tun Nye in, an acc ount of two go ld

plates found in a brick in the year 1897 at the vi l lage Of Maunggun in the

Prome district. The insc riptions on the plates consist of quotations fromt he Buddhist scriptures . They are in the Pal i language, and are writtenin characters which i t is be l ieved were in vogue in the first century A.D .

,

when the kingdom Of Prome (Sirikhet tara) was in the z eni th of i ts power.T he alphabet corresponds to a large extent with that used in the

insc riptions of Pagan in the fourth and fifth centuries,and several Of

the le tters also resemble those of the South Indian class Of alphabets ’

(Ep igrap hia Indica, vol. v , p . The two plates are now in the

British Museum.


national pride that i s so inventive in these matters,and can

only be quo ted as an ‘I

uncorrob orated legend 1

We must seek a safe starting-po int for our history Of thePali literature

,and we find it in the eleventh century A.D . At .

that t ime the Pali scriptures were introduced to Upper Burmaby Talaing teachers . The existence of a strong Buddhistcommunity in the maritime provinces longbefore this date is very probable . It has been supposed thatIndian colonies were already flourishing in Talaing territory

,

from Chittagong to the Straits (Forchhamm er) , at the time of

the Asokan mission . If so , the early missionaries brought theteaching Of Gotama to a country where Indian religion andcustoms had already made a home , and whether they wereOpposed or no t 2 they could be understood ; and in time thedoctrine of the Buddha prevailed .

There i s no elaborated ancient Pali chronicle for FurtherIndia to be compared with the Maha

'

vam sa and Dip avamsa Of

Ceylon ,3 but there are allusions in these works which throwsome light on the religious history of Pegu and Arakan . TheBurmese chronicles are of more recent date

,and help must b e

sought from monuments which do no t always yield up theirsecret readily. But we may safely say that events in Indiaand Ceylon greatly affected religion in the marit ime provinces

(Rfimafifiade sa) . Refugees from the countries where Buddhismwas persecuted or declining , as in India after the eighthcentury

,without doubt strengthened the Buddhist element in

1 Forbes,Legendary Histor of Burm a and Ara/can

,p . 10. The

researches Of Forchhamm er an other scho lars who have fo llowed him in

this subject since 1890 have been summed up lately ( 1908) by Mr. C . C .

Lewis in the Imp erial Gaz etteer of India . He says “ A close study of

the inscriptions and native histories has revealed the fact that as thereligion

,letters

,and civi lisation of Upper Burma were influenced by

Magadha, Nepal , Tibet , and China, so those of the Talaings of LowerBurma were affected by Ceylon, South India, and Cambodia (Article‘ Burma ’

,in vol. i , p. 28

,Imp erial Gaz etteer of India , Provincial Series,

Calcutta,2 ‘According to the Talaing legend the Buddhist missionaries on theirarrival m et with great Opposition from the local teachers—probablyBrahmins—being denounced and reviled by them as heretics.

’—Forbes,

Legendary History,p . 10.

3 See on these chronicles Dr. Wilhelm Geiger, The Dip avamsa andMahavamsa (translated by Ethel Coomaraswamy) , Colombo , 1908.

THE PALI LITERATURE OF BURMA 1 1

the Talaing country.

1 Captain Forbes,who follows the Talaing

record, says Of the early days following the Indian mission :Gradually the new doctrines gained ground, pagodas arose, andthe faith of Buddha or Gandama established i tself in Thatone ,to flourish amid all vicissitudes for over two thousand yearsto the present day, on the spot where the great Thagya pagodalifts its worn and ancient head, probably the Oldest architecturalmonument Of Buddhism in Burma . ’ 1

When a religious reform in the eleventh century drewCeylon and Burma together Anorata, 3 king Of Burma , freshfrom vigorous measures against heresy in his own country ,agreed with Vij ayab zihu , king of Ceylon , on the Pali te xtswhich were to be accepted as representing the true teachingof the Buddha. Afterwards , in the reign of Parfikramabfihu I ,a council was held (A.D . 1 165) in Ceylon to revise this agreement and settle all such questions .4

We shall see that from the eleventh century onwards newrecruits press into Pali scholarship . And whence ? Not onlyfrom the Talaing country but from Upper Burma

,an advance

which was directly due to the action Of the strenuous Burmeseking . The reforms with which Anorata’ s name is associatedwere greatly needed

,

5 and had important results .

1 Sir R. C . Temple po inted ou t some years ago that Suvarnadvipa’ was

the ‘ heaclquarters Of Buddhism in the East ’ in the tenth century. Hegives a reference to a passage in Sarat Chandra Das’ Indian Pandits inthe Land of Snow,

where we find m ention Of an Indian ‘ Northern ’

Buddhist’s visi t to Chandrakirtti, head Of the Order at Suvar nadvipa.

The visitor was Dipankara SrijfianaAtira (Ind. Ant,vol. xxi i

,p .

2 Forbes,Lege nda ry History, p. 10 .

3 The Anawrata of Forbes ’ History.

‘ The date of the commencementOf his reign is uncertain

,as the chronicles differ from each other (Legendary

History ,p. 221 Phayre , History of B urma ,

p . Cf. Duroise lle,Bulletin

de l’

Ecole Frangaise d’Ea'

tréme Orien t, tome v , p. 150.

1 Kern,Manua l of Indian Buddhism

,p. 132 (Grundriss der Indo

Arische nPhilologie u nd Alterthumshunde, vol. i i i , pt. vi ii) . The Sasana

vamsa (p . 61 ) says : ‘ Jinacakke ekasat thadhike p aficasat e sahasse casam pat te kaliyuge ekasattatadhike tisate sampat te Anuruddharaja rajjampapuni .’ Anuruddha became king in the year 1571 of religion (l i t. ofthe Buddha cycle) and the year 371 Of the kaliyuga (the common era

,

beginning 638See 85s , p. 56. The Sasanavamsa agrees in certain deta ils with the

Burmese chronicles from which Forbes drew his account , which is asfo l lows : ‘ It would b e difficul t to decide what the system Of rel igion thatat this time prevailed in Burma can b e termed. It was certainly not


A religion 1 which a Buddhist from the South would havescorned to call religion comple tely possessed the region overwhich Anorata ruled , and the Burmese king himself, withmistaken piety

,supported it in default of a better. A com

munity numbering many thousands Of m onks with theirdisciples flouri shed on the popularity Of their debased doctrine ,teaching the laity that the worst crimes need bring no retri

b u tion if the guilty man recited (or engaged some one to recite)an appropriate p aritta.

2 The tyranny Of these monks went sofar as to exact from parents the handing over Of either sons ordaughters to the teacher before giving them in marriage .3

But in course Of time a Buddhist from the South was in

Anorata’

s counsels, and a sweeping change was brought about.

Arahanta, a Talaing monk from ThatOn (the Sudhammap ura

of the Pali chronicles) , became the king’ s preceptor and adviser,

and used all his great influence to break up the supposed orderOf Samonas (ascetics ) . In spi te Of the credulity Of the peoplehe succeeded

,for he had convinced the king. But even when

Brahmanism. The native records state that K ing Sawlahan bui lt fiveho llow temples. In each temple was placed an image resembling neithernat nor para. To these

,m orn ing and evening, food and spiri ts were

Offered, and so they were worshipped and propitiated. The priests orteachers Of this religion are called the thirty great Arees and theirdisciples. Their doctrines are represented as a complete subversion Ofall moral law. They taught , i t is said, whosoever shall commi t murderhe is freed from his sins by repeating a prayer or invocation whosoevershal l kill his parents

,b y repeating a prayer he is freed from the punish

ment due to the five greatest sins. These teachers also were addicted to

the practice of gross immoral i ty.

’

(Forbes, Legendary History,p . 22 ;

see also Phayre , History of Burm a,p .

1 A form of Naga-worship , according to Burmese histories , had alreadyprevailed for some five centuries in Pagan before Anorata’s access ion,while Buddhism i tself had been corrupted by the Tantric system, whichis a mixture of magic, witchcraft, and Siva-worship ; and this Tantri cBuddhism apparently perco lated into Burma through Bengal , Assam,

and

Manipur,and all ied i tself with the northern schoo l prevai ling at Pagan ’

(Taw Sein KO , Introduction of Buddhism into Burma ’ Buddhism,vol. i

,

NO . 4, p . The statements of the Burmese histories are a help, butthe chrono logy needs careful si fting .

2 See above.3 The Sasanavamsa gives no further explanation. The mention of sonsas wel l as daughters prevents our concluding the custom mentioned to b ethat prevai l ing in Cambodia

,where Inarriageab le virgins were yielded

up to a bonz e before the marriage ceremony (see article by P. Pelliot ,Mémoires sur les Coutumes du Camb odge Bulletin de l

’

Ecole Franpaised’Extréme Orient

,tome i i

,p.

CHAPTER II

THE RISE OF PALI SCHOLARSHIP IN UPPER BURMA—THESADDANiTI—CHAPATA AND THE SiHALASANGHA—LEARNINGAT PAGAN (ARIMADDANA) IN THE TWELFTH

,THIRTEENTH ,

AND FOURTEENTH CENTURIEs

Though the Burmese began their literary history by

b orrowing from their conquered neighbours, the Talaingsand not before the eleventh century— the growth of Palischolarship among them was so rapid that the epoch followingclose on this tardy beginning is considered one of the best

that Burma has seen . The works then produced supplied thematerial or afiorded the favourite models for much Of thePali-Burmese literature Of later t imes .The causes Of this speedy maturity are easy to trace .

Ramafifia was conquered . Relics,books, and teachers had

been forcibly carried to Burma . Instead Of suffering by

transp lation the religion of the Buddha seems to haveflourished more vigorously in its new centre . The Burmeseking had conveyed the whole state and dignity of the conquered

Sudhammap ura to his own capital , and even his captiveManchari helped to add to the religious splendour of Pagan .

1

About Manohari a curious little legend is related} perhaps

t o show that his religion needed purifying , notwi thstandingthat he had scorned the Burmese as heretics . It i s said that

he possessed a magical power by which fire issued from hism onth when he spoke . Thus

,whenever he came to pay

a vassal ’ s duty to Anorata, the flames burst forth , to thegreat terror of his liege

,who anxiously applied a religious

c ure to the dreadful prodigy. FOOd was taken from a holyshrine , and after due homage it was given to Manohari to

1 CalledArimaddana in the Pal i chronicles. A temple exists at MyinPagan

,2 mi les south Of Pagan, bui lt by Manohari (or Manuha) in

1059 A.D. See Taw Sein K0 in Archaeological Survey of Burma (quoted inBu lletin de l

’

Ecole Franpaise, tome i i i , p .

2 Si s ,p. 64.

THE PALI LITERATURE OF BURMA 15

eat . The flames appeared no more . Manohari, filled with

awe at the lo ss Of his magical attribute , sold one Of his royal

gems and devoted the price to two great images Of the Buddha ,which are said to exi st to the present day .

1

An orata,mindful of Arahanta ’

s coun sels , was , above all ,e ager to enrich his ci ty with the sacred texts . Those broughtfrom ThatOn had been stored in a splendid pavilion 2 and placedat the disposal of the Sangha for study . Not content withhis large sp oils, the king sent to Ceylon for more copies Of

the Tip itaha, which Arahanta afterwards examined andcompared wi th the ThatOn collection .

3 SO the ground wasprepared for the harvest that soon followed . Anorata did

not live to see the firstfruits Of his husbandry, ‘ but , if wec an accept the date Of the Pitakatthamain

, the first essay ofa Burmese author in Pali scholarship was made in theyear 1064 A.D . , during the reign of Kyansittha, a son OfAnorata.

5

Kyansittha was the founder Of the celebrated Nanda6or

Ananda temple and vihfira (monastery) at Pagan . The legendgoes that the temple was designed from a vision Of theNandamula cave in the Himalaya granted to the king byeight saints Of that region ,

who journeyed through the airdaily to receive Kyansitthz

'

i’

s hospitality. These miracu lousvisits are of smaller interest to us than another

,less sensational

t radi tion Of the holy place . At this monastery Dhammasenfipati

1 85s,p. 64 .

2 Pali, Ba tanamaye p asdde (Sas ,p. The libraries Of the ancient

monaste ries were mostly bui ldings apart.3 853 p. 64. The Sifihalese chronicles say that a common canon for

Burma and Ceylon was arranged by Anorata and Vijayabahu the Great(see appendix to Mr. Nevill’s manuscript catalogue Of his co llection, madein Ceylon and now at the Bri tish Museum) .

4 M. Duroiselle mentions inscriptions which establish 1059 A.D . as theyear of Anorata’

s death No tes sur la Géographie apocryphe de la

Birmanie’Bulletin de l

’Ecole Franga ise, tome v, p.

5 Some rel igious foundations Of Kyansit thaare dated 1059 A.D. (Bulle tin ,

tome i i i , p. His Pal i name is Cha t taguhinda (Sis ,p. 75 Forbes

,

Legendary History, p . 23 Phayre , History of Burma,pp . 39 , 281

Pitakat thams in,p . M. Duroiselle expresse s some doubt as to the

exac tness Of Phayre’s dates for the eleventh and twelfth centuries.

‘1 Described in Sir Henry Yule’ s Mission to the Court of Ava

,p. 36 , and

Craufurd’

s Journal of an Embassy to the Court of Ava , p . 1 14.


wro te the Kiirikz'

l,a gramm atical work

,in Pali .1 This modest

little metrical treatise has lived bravely through some eightcenturies and was last republished a few years ago .

Dhammasenfipati composed two other works , the Et imasam i

dipani (or Etim z'

isam idip ikz‘

i) and the Manoha'

ira.

2 Beyondthe bare mention Of these last two titles , and the statementthat the author wrote the K5rik5 at the request Of themonk Nainagambhira, the Gandhavam sa leaves u s withoutinformation . Nainagambhira Of Pagan is perhaps the theramentioned in the Pitakattham ain as the author Of the religiouswork Tathe

'

tgatup patti.

During the reigns Of Anorata’

s immediate successors learningtook firm root at Pagan , and in the year 1 154 the monkAggavam sa completed the Saddaniti

,a grammar Of the

a taha, described as the most comprehensive in ex istenceIt established the reputation Of B urmese scholarship in thatage and the fame Of the author to the present day, for theSaddaniti i s still republished in Burma as a classic . It consist sof aphorisms on Pali grammar divided into twenty-five

p aricchea’as or sections. It i s very interesting to see that in

the second part Of the work , the Dhfitumalfi (‘Garland Of

the grammarian gives the Sanskrit equivalents Of the Pali forms .Aggavam sa was tutor to King Narap atisithu (A.D . 1167

a powerful and peaceable monarch,whose reign was the most

prosperous epoch in the history Of the kingdom Of Pagan .

‘1

According to the Gandhavamsa,Aggavam sa was Of Jamb udip a

1 GV. ,pp . 63, 73 . Dhammasenapati is called an aeariya ( teacher) in

Gandhavamsa,but in Forchhammer

’

s List the author Of Karika and

Karikatika is put down as a Burmese nobleman Of Pagan bearing thehonorary title Of Dhammasenapati. It is l ikely that he was known asa man Of rank and importance before he entered the Order

,and perhaps

he threw himself into serious studies while sti ll a layman. We shall findsuch cases later.

The Gandhavamsa (pp. 64, 73) is my only authori ty here. The curioustitle Et imasam idipani appears to have no meaning whatever and may b e

wrongly copied (perhaps for Ehimayasamdip ani).3 C . Duroiselle

,Bu lletin

,tome v

,p. 147, note. The Sasanavamsa

mentions another learned monk of Pagan,sometimes called Aggap andita

and sometimes Aggavarnsa, with whom our author might b e confused.

Aggapandita, who l ived in the thirteenth century, wrote the Lokup pat tip akasani (see Pitakat thamain, pp. 60

,4 Forbes

,Legendary History, p . 24.


(strictly meaning India , but with Burmese writers oft enBurma) .

1 Forchhamm er mentions him among the famousresident s in the retired monastery on the northern plateauabove Pagan

,

‘ the cradle of Pali -Burmese literature . ’ 2

The Saddaniti was the first return gift of Burma to Ceylon .

A few years after its completion the thera elder Ut tarfi'

j ivaleft Pagan and crossed the sea to visit the celebrated Mahii

vihiira,3 taking wi th him a copy of the Saddaniti, which was

received with enthusiastic admiration , and declared superiorto any work of the kind written by Sinhalese scho lars .

U ttarfij iva was accompanied by his p upil the novice Chapata,

‘

whose name was destined to eclipse , for a tim e at least , eventhat ofAggavam sa. He received ordination from the Sanghain Ceylon

,and lived in its midst for some years

,ardently

studying the doctrine as handed down in the Mahaviha'

ra,

and,we may suppose

,mastering many ancient te xts of high

authority which had not yet found their way to Burma . Histalents and forcible personality were just the other elementsneeded to make his stay in the sacred island important for theliterary histo ry of Burm a.The works usually ascribed to Saddhammaj otipala, otherwiseChapata , represent the second stage in the m onastic scholarshipof his time and coun try .

The Suttanidde sa or Kac cayanasu t taniddesa i s a gramm aticaltreati se explaining the sutras (aphorisms) of the Indiangrammarian Kaccayana.

5 Forchhamm er-6 mentions the Sutta

niddesa as a work , originally ascribed to Kac cayana, introduced

1 CV. ,pp . 67

,72 ; see also SVD ,

verse 1 238 Fausboll,Cat. Ind. 1115352,

49 .p2 Forchhamm er, Rep ort (Pagan), p . 2 .

3 This famous and ancientmonastery is said to have been founded by theK ing of Ceylon, Devanamp iya-Tissa

,for the there. Mahinda

,Asoka’s son .

Or Chapada, so called after the village where he was born, near Basse in(Pal i , Kusimanagara) . In reli gion his name was Saddhammaj otipalaSas

,

5 FOPTKac cayana se e the edition of E. Senart

,Paris

,1871 ; for MSS.

consul t Fausboll’s Catalogue of Mandalay JUSS. in the India Ofi ce Library,pp . 45—8 c f. Forchhamm er

,List

,pp. xx, xxi . For editions produced in

Burma and Ceylon see Bri tish Museum Ca talogue of Sanskrit and PaliPrinted Boo/cs

,1892—1906.

6 Jardine Priz e Essay, p . 34.


by Chapata into Burma . The Si sanavam sa, Gandharam sa, andSi sanavam sadip a give Chapata as the author, and say thathe wrote at Arimaddana (Pagan) .

1 The Gandhavam sa addsthat he composed the Su t taniddesa ‘ at the request of

’ hispupil Dhammacari .

His other well known work is the Sankhep avannanz'

i .

According to Forchhamm er’

s sources 2 Chapata introducedthe Sankhepavannanii from Ceylon and transcribed it fromthe Sinhalese into the Burmese Talaing alphabet , but theSi sanavam sa, Si sanavam sadipa,

and Gandhavam sa state thathe composed it. According to the Gandhavam sa it was theonly one of his eight works that was written in Ceylon . Asto the basis of this work , i t appears , from the t itle given inthe MSS .

,to be a commentary on the Abhidhammatthasangaha,

then recently wri tten by a Sinhalese thera,Anuruddha. In

arrangement the Sankhepavannanfi follows the Abhidhamma

t thasangaha, being divided into nine p ariee/zedas.

3

The Simi lankara or Sim i lankfiratika, a treatise on boundariesand sites for religious ceremonies

,i s a commentary on a work

by the Sinhalese thera V50issara.

4 Ano ther work on monastictopics is the Vinayasam u t thanadipani, written , as the favouri teformula has i t

,

‘ at the request of ’ Chap ata’

s preceptor.5 TheVinayagfilhatthadip ani, again , i s an explanation of difficultpassages in the Vinayap itaka.

6 The Namacaradipani (‘ on

ethics ,’ according to Forchhamm er

,but classed by the Pitaka

t thamain as ‘Abhidhamm a’

) may be of Chap ata’

s composition .

It was , at all events , introduced by him into Burma .7

The Gandhisara or Granthise'

ira8 i s evidently an anthology

or manual for study condensed from important texts. The

1 Sims,p . 74 CV . ,

pp. 64, 74 Sasanavamsadipa, verses 1247—8cf. Pitakat tham ain , p. 66.

2 Jardine Priz e Essay, p . 35 .

3 Oldenberg , Pa li MSS. in the India Ofi ce , JPTS. ,1882, p. 85 Fausb oll,

Ca t . Maud. MSSC, JPTS. , 1896, p . 39 . The Pitakat thamain mentionsSankhepavannanaunder the heading Ab hidhamma p .

4 Pitakat thamain, pp. 43,49 CV. ,

p. 62 SVD . , verses 12 , 13.

5 CV. , pp . 64,74.

F.TH. ,p. 44.

7 Forchhamm er, Essay, p . 35 F.TH.,p . 45.

8 Gandhisara in the Gandhavamsa, p . 74 .


remaining works ascribed to Chapata,the Matikat thadip ani

and Pat thanaganiinaya, treat of Abhidhamma subj ects. 1

It would b e rash to say, wi thout careful comparison of theli terature of the two countries

,that

,even at that early period ,

the Burmese Sangha showed a keener interest in the Abhidha

'

mma than the Sinhalese,but this was certainly the case

later.2 The schoo l or sect founded by Chapata and known asthe Sihalasangha (or Ceylon sangha) of Burm a was probablyabsorbed in monastic questions . For Chapata had returned toPagan

,a missionary of Sinhalese o rthodoxy . Deeply imbued

with the be lief that the Mahz'

ivihara alone had kept thelegitimate ‘ line of descent ’ 3 unbroken from teacher to teacher,and that valid ordination could only be received in Ceylon , hewished to confer the up asamp add on the Pagan brethren who,never having visi te d the sacred precincts , were still outside thepale . To fulfil all condi tions required by the Vinaya hebrought with him four companions 4 qualified like himself.

The li t tle group was to be the nucleus of the new Order inBurma

,the rightfu l heirs of the one tradition .

But this claim was stoutly oppo sed in some of the monasteriesof Pagan . The tradi tions of the South co untry and ofAnorata’sgreat Talaing teacher were still flourishing . Arahanta

,it

was claimed,had be en in the ‘ direct line ’ from the ancient

missionaries Sona and Uttara ; his disciples had been qualifiedto receive and hand on the up asamp add, and the Mahaviha

'

ra

i tself could confer no better t itle . The older commun ity therefore declined to be drawn into Chap ata

’

s fold,and he

,having

the then reigning king on his side,was powerful enough to

make them appear the seceders,while his followers refused all

1 The Pitakatthamain (p . 37) m entions another, the Visuddhimagga

ganthi, on difficult passages in BuddhaghOsa’s Visuddhimagga.

2 An observation to this effect is made byMr. Nevi ll , whose informationwas supplied, for the most part, by Sinhalese monks we ll versed in the Pal il i te rature of their country .

3 This line is established by the learning of ‘ right doctrine from the

teacher and direc tor chosen by the novice ; the teacher must b e dulyordained and himself a pupil of ano ther such

,and so on in dire ct ascent

to one of the disciples of the Buddha.

4 Rahula, Ananda, Sivali, and Tamalinda (Sas .

,p . Five was the

smal lest number of which a Chapter (for acts of the Sangha) couldc onsist

,according to the Vinaya .


association wi th them in ceremonies.1 But King Narapatisithu was a Buddhist of the old magnificent school

, and

though he believed devoutly in Mahavihara orthodoxy, heneither persecuted nor neglected the communities that deniedit. The ruins of old Pagan still witness to his bounty towardsthe different Sanghasfi of which the Arahanta sect (called , todistinguish i t from Chapata

’

s Ceylon school,the Mramma or

Burma Sangha) was the most important . Names of grammarians follow close on one another at thi s period . Schism shad indeed arisen , but the time had not yet come for worksof 190 18121 176, and the good monks of Pagan were busy enrichingthe new store of learning in the country . In the workof Saddhammasiri, the author of the grammatical treatise

Saddatthabhedacinta,3 we catch a glimpse of a culture that

recall s Aggavam sa. Saddhammasiri’

s grammar i s based partlyon Kaccayana

’

s Pali aphorisms and partly on Sanskritauthorities . The Sasanavam sa tells us that Saddhamm asiri

also translated the Brihaja into the Burmese language .4

He was probably among the first to use Burmese as a literaryinstrument .5 If the work mentioned i s the astrological

Brihaj jataka6 i t could not have put a great strain on the

resources of the Burmese idiom (even before the immensebody of Pali words added later had come to the aid of thevernacular) , so the feat was no t a surprising one . But thethera’ s knowledge of Sanskrit i s an interesting point . It i s

1 See the Kalyani insmip tions (edi ted by Taw Sein K0 ), Ind. Ant ,vo ls. xxi i and xxi i i .

2 Fraterni ties from Ceylon, from the conquered Hamsavati,from Siam,

Camboja, and probably Nepal and China,sojourned in Pagan.

’—Forchhammer

,Rep ort (Pagan) , 1 2 .

3 CV.,pp . 62, 72 ; Fausb oll, Ca t . Maud. MSS. , pp . 47, 48 ,

Forchhammer

, List , p. xix.4 Sas.

,.p 75 . So

yeva thera Brihajam nama Vedasat tham pi maremma

bhasaya p arivat tesi.’ Cf. Pitakat tham ain

,p. 68 .

5 M. Duroiselle mentions inscriptions in Burmese of the tenth and

eleventh centuries,containing words of Sanskrit derivation, and he

expresses the be l ief that Sanskr i t was known in Burma before Pali,

which,so shortly after i ts im portation from That6n (at the epoch of

the n’était connu que de l

’élite des mo ines ’ (Bulle tin,

tome v , p .

6 Of Varaha Mihira ; see Weber, Indische Litera turgesc/zie/z te, 2nd cd.,

pp. 277, 278.


apparently one of the few Palists of his time who was notchiefly devoted to the study of the language .The Gandhavam sa mentions a grammar

,Lingat thavivarana

by Subhfitacandana,who was followed by Nanasagara with

Lingatthavivaranap p akiisaka and U ttama with Lingat thavivaranatikd. These three doctors were all of Pagan .

1 ALingat thavivaranavinicchaya} by an author who se name isnot mentioned , i s apparently based on Subhfitacandana

’

s treatise ,or explains difficult passages in i t . U ttama

,the author of the

Lingatthavivaranatikz’

nfi also wro te a scho lium on Bala'

vat z-

ira,

the well-known grammar by Vfic issara of Ceylon .

4

Another of the Pagan grammarians,whose work has been

studied for centuries and republished in recent times,was

Dhammadassi, a novice (sdznanera) in the Order 5 when hecomposed his well-known treatise Vacavzi caka or Vac cavz

'

icaka .

A commen tary on i t was written by Saddhammanandi .

6

From the Saddatthabhedacinta of Saddhamm asiri spranga number of commentaries of which the best known is theMahatika7 by the thera Abhaya of Pagan . Abhaya

’

s namereappears as the author of the Sam b andhacintatika

'

,

8 a commentary on the Sam b andhac intfi of Sangharakkhita.

9

Forchhamm er places bo th Saddhammasiri and Abhaya in the

1 CV . ,pp . 63 , 67, 72 , 73. The F.TH .,

p . 72,ascribes Lingat thavivarana

and the tika to Saddhamm akit ti of Sagaing .

,.p p

3 CV ., p p . 63 , 67 ; For

°

,chhamm ei Rep ort (Pagan) , p . 2 , Forchhamm e r

,

List,xxi i i ; P.TH.

,.p 70 .

4 Dhamm akit t i in Forchhamm er’s List Vac issara III India Office MS.

,

e tc . See Cat. Maud. JIISS. ,p . 46.

5 Set s ,p. 75 .

6 See Fausb'

oll, Ca t. Maud. MSS. ,p . 50, for commentary and tikas on

Vac cavacaka. They are entitled Vac cavacakavannana, Vac cavacakat ika,and Vac cavacakadip ani. Saddhammanandi is the only author mentioned.

In Forchhamm er’

s List (p. xxi i ) these works appear without names ofauthors cf. F.TH. ,

p. 71 , according to which the Vac cavacaka was wri ttenat Pagan by a thera, ‘ name unknown, ’ and the tika b y Saddhammanandi.

7 CV. ,pp. 63 , 73 ,

Forchhamm er, Rep ort (Pagan) , p . 2 ; L ist

,p . x ix.

The commentary in the Mandalay Co llection at the India Office Is calledSaddat thabhedacintadipani ; v. Fausb

'

oll, Ca t . ilIand. MSS.

, p . 50 .

8 MSS. ,p. 50 Forchhammer

,List

,p. xxi

P.TH ,.p p 69 , 71 .

9 The Samb andhacinta, on syntactical relation ,is probably of the twelfth

century. The author was a scholar of Ceylon, better known by his famousSub odhalamkara , on the art of poetry, and the Vu t todaya, on prosody.

THE PALI LITERATU RE or BURMA 23

fourteenth century .

‘ Unfortunately the Sasanavam sa and

Gandhavam sa, usually careful to give us the birthplace or

residence of our authors , rarely give us their exact date .Without a close comparison of the texts one with another,or a minute study of the chronicles of monasteries, we mustbe c ontent with conj ectures as to the order in which thescholars of Pagan should appear in literary history. But wemay perhaps venture to place mo st of those just mentionedin the twelfth and thirteenth centuries . Before passing on

to the later period of Pali literature at Pagan it will be wellto look for a moment at the state of the Burmese Sangha , or

rather Sanghas .Narap ati

’s impartial benevo lence had secured a peaceful life

and means of study for all those who sought them , but itcould not prevent discord between the communities ; andwhen Chapata died

,hi s school—the Sihalasangha— spli t into

four factions,each fo llowing one of the four theras who had

come with Chapata from Ceylon .

The dissensions (for they can hardly be called schisms in theusual sense of the word) that arose within the Sihalasangha,once stronger and more united than the other sects in Pagan ,were not

,i t seems

,caused by questions of dogma . At all

events , the Sasanavam sa tells u s only of the personal reasonsfor which Rahula separated himself first from his colleaguesand they in their turn parted company.

Rfihula’

s defection was the gravest m atter . The story is thathe fell desperately in love wi th an actress at one of the festivalsgiven by King Narapati . His brother-theras entreated andreasoned with him in vain . Finally, they prayed him toleave the country, and Spare his commun ity the scandal of

his ‘ return to the lower life ’ . He then took ship and wen tto ‘ Malayadip a

’

,

2 and in that country became preceptor to1 Forchhamm er

,Jardine Priz e Essay, p . 36.

2 Sets , p . 66 . The reading chosen b y Minayeff in his transcript of thetext

,and

,after some hesi tation

,by the present writer in edi ting the

Sasanavam sa,was Mallarudip a

’. The MS. corrects to Malayadip a. The

episode is inte resting. The reading Malaya is confirmed by the Kalyaniinscriptions . See Taw Sein K0

,

‘ Remarks on the Kalyani Inscriptions,’

Ind. Ant , xxiv, p. 301 . The ancient Malayadesa (an Indian colony) wasin the Malay Peninsula (v . Fournereau , Le Siam ancien

,p.


the king , who wished to be instructed in the Vinaya . Theend of Rahula ’

s story is curious . Under him the king studiedthe Khuddasikkha1 and the tika on the same ; afterwards, w iththe largess that his grateful pupil bestowed on him

,the thera

abandoned the Order and lived as a layman .

This little history is no doubt told for edification morethan for its human interest

,like the story of Ananda

,whose

transgression,less dramatic than Rfihula’

s, was also againstmonastic discipline . Narap ati had presented the three theras ,Sivali, Tamalinda, and Ananda, each with an elephant .Ananda, wishing to give his to his relat ions in Kaficipura,

was preparing to ship it from Bassein (Ku simanagara) , whenthe others remonstrated with him

,pointing ou t that they

,in

a spiri t more becoming to followers of the Buddha , had turnedtheir elephants loose in the fo rest. Ananda argued thatkindness to kinsfolk was also preached by the Master . Neitherside would be persuaded

,and Ananda was cut off from the

community.

Sivali and Tamalinda afterwards disagreed on another questionof conduct. Tamalinda had recommended his disciples to thepious laity for gifts and other marks of consideration

,an action

of which the Buddha had strongly di sapproved.

2 Af ter someuseless admonishing , Sivali refused to have any further intercourse with Tam alinda, and formed a sect of his own . Thisvery simple account of the origin of the four factions in theSihalasangha is not qui te satisfying , but as an example of

monastic traditions in Burma it has a certain interest . Besides,

even such fragments of the personal history of theras somet imesgive us a glimpse into the course of studies and scholarship intheir day .

In the meantime,as ou r list of authors shows , literary work

went on at Pagan . After Narapati, the next keen patron of

1 A compendium of the Vinaya written in Ceylon, edited by ProfessorE. Mul ler (JPTS. , Tikas on this text were composed by Bevataand Sangharakkhita, both of Ceylon (ride F.TH. ,

p .

2 85s,p. 67. It is here called by a techni cal name, vacim

’

ii iia tti. For

pronouncements in the Vinaya on this subject,see Vinaya, v, p . 125

(Oldenb erg’

s edition) , and compare i i i , pp . 227,256

,etc .


learning was Kyocva or Kya-swa .‘ The works produced under

his auspices were chiefly grammatical , but the Abhidham

m atthasangaha was also one of the principal subjects of study ?

We should expect to hear that the students of Pali grammarwere chiefly monks

,eager not only to understand the ancient

texts thoroughly, but to master the classic language , in order

to compo se in it themselves . But gramm atical knowledge wasby no means limi ted to the monasteries . We have alreadyheard of the learning of Narapati

’

s minister . In the time of

Kyoc va, too ,there were grammarians at the king ’ s cour t .3

Indeed,Kyocvd i s said t o have insisted on general diligence

around him ,while he himself set the example by writing the

Saddab indu and Paramat thab indu ,both gramm atical works .4

A litt le work on Pali cases , entitled Vibhat tyat tha, i s ascribed

to his daughter . 5

The Mukhamattasara,

6 ano ther grammatical work of thisepoch

,was wr itten by Sagara

,called Gunasagara in the

Gandhavam sa,

7 which states that Sagara wrote a tika on his

own work , at the request of the Sangharaja (Head of thewho le Order) , who was King Kyoc va

’

s preceptor.

1 Kyaswa succeeded Jeyyasinkha A.D . 1 227 (Phayre ) , or A.D. 1 234

(Barnett) . Pagan is described in a florid thirteenth-century po em,the

Manavulu -Sande saya, wri tten in Ceylon, ed. L. D . Barnett (JRAS. ,

April,1905

, p .

For an example of studies, see the pathetic l ittle story of the

monk Disapam okkha. who p uIs ued knowledge so fervently in his old

age (beginning with Kac cayana and the Abhidhammat thasangaha) thatin time he as tonished the chie f theras by his learning, and was chosen b ythe K ing to b e his dcariya (Sas , p.

3 Pali grammar was a popular study at that time even among womenand young girls. A quaint and inte resting passage in the Sasanavam sa

,

reproduced by Minayefl'

in the Reclaerclies (Sas ,p. 78 B echerclz es

, p.

describes how busy mo thers of fami l ies in Arimaddana (Pagan) snatchedtime to learn.

Saddab indu is ascribed to Kyaswa, and dated 1234 in the Pitakat

t hamain,pp. 45 , 70. See also CV .,

pp. 64, 73 ; Sas ,p. 76. Saddab indu

has been ascribed to Kyocva’s preceptor. A commentary entitled

Linat thavisodhani was wri tten by Nanavilasa of Pagan (Nevill) . The

t ika on Saddab indu ,called Saddab induvinic chaya, in the India Office, is

by Sirisaddhammakit timahaphussadeva (r ide Fausb é ll, Cat . Mand . MSS. ,

p. A aka on Paramat thab indu was wri tten at Pagan by the theraMahakassapa (Pitakat thamain

,p .

5 Sas,p. 77 (see Preface to Subhut i

’s edi tion of the Abhidhanap p adip ika,

2nd cd.

, Colombo ,

6 Sas.,p. 76 CV. ,

pp. 63 , 67, 73.

7 Gunasara in Forchhamm er’

s List,p. xxiii.


A Vibhatyattha was written , probably at Pagan , by thethera Saddhammanana early in the fourt eenth century.

1 Saddhammafiana was the author of a more important work on

metrics , the Chandosfiratthavik{Isini 2 (or Vu ttodayapafic ikii ,

being a commentary on Vu t todaya) ,3 and the Chap accayadipani,

also on pro sody .

4 Saddhammanana was not only a Palist,but

a Sanskrit scholar,and translated the Sanskrit grammar

Katantra (Kalfip a) into Pali .5

The Gandhatthi, by Mangala,i s a grammatical work

,

probably of the fourteenth century , and written at Pagan . Ata somewhat later period

,but also at Pagan

, Sirisaddhammavilésa

composed a Kaccfiyana t ikfi, entitled Saddhammanfisini.6

So far, the production of learned works in the communi ties

of Burma seems to have gone on steadily , in spi te of sectariandifferences

,which

,after all

,would affect grammarians less

than experts in the Vinaya . But a change had come overthe fortunes of the Order in the thirteen th century. ThePagan dynasty fell in 1277 7 under the assaults of Mongolinvaders from the north

,while nearly at the same time a successful

revol t in the south completed the overthrow of the Burmesepower . Shiin rulers established their capital at Myinzaing

(Khandhap ura in Pali) , and the glory of Pagan , where thevery temples had been torn down to fortify the city againstthe enemy , was never restored.

The Sé sanavam sa tells us that many monks set tled atMyinzaing , but no books w ere wri tten there .

1 Forchhamm er,Essay, p. 36 Fausb oll

,Cat . rl[ and. rllSS.

,p . 50.

2 Forchhamm er, Rep ort (Pagan) , p . 2 Essay, p . 36 Fausboll,Ca t.Aland.

JISS. ,pp . 51 , 52 ; Forchhamm e r

,List

,p . xxi i i Pitakat thamain

,p . 74.

3 Vut todaya, a twelfth -century work by Sangharakkhita,wri tten in

Ceylon ; published by Fryer In JAS. Bengal , 1877.

4 Forchhamm er, Essay, p. 36 .

5 For remarks on the Katantra of Sarvavarman and the connectionbetween this system and that of Kaccayana, see Weber

,Indiseiie

Litera turgesc/u'

chtc,2nd ed.

,p . 243 , and Kuhn .

6 Forchhamm er,Rep ort (Pagan) , p. 2

,and Inst

,p. xx. The MS. of

Sirisaddhammavilasa’

s work in the Mandalay co llection is called Kaccayanasara Tika (Fausb ij ll, Cat. Aland. MSS.

,p. The Kac cayanasara

was composed in the Talaing country (see below, pp . 36,

7 Forbes, Legendary History, p . 25 Phayre , History of Burma ,pp. 51 ,

53,54 Colonel Burney

’

s translations from Rajavam sa,JAS. Bengal

,vol. i v,

pp. 400 ff.


In 13 12 a Shim king Sihasfira founded Panyz'

I (Pali, Vij ayapura) , where , with a new era of peace and safety for the Order,came a revival of l iterary act ivity. In Sihasfira

’

s reignSirimangala or Sirisumangala, one of the most diligent of hisfrate rni ty

,busied himself with commentaries explaining the

gramm atical construction of the Samantapa'

sidikz-

I (Buddha

ghosa’

s commentary on the Vinaya) and the Abhidhamma

commentaries,also ascribed to Buddhaghosa, At thasfilini, and

Samm ohavinodani. l This is a good example of revivingmonas tic industry in that day. And i t i s qu ite curious to seein the new court and under the new dynasty a return to thetraditions of Narapati and Kyaswa . An important officer of

state (a catarangabaldmaeca, to give him his Pali title) underKing Kittisihasfira 2 wrote a samvannand ( commentary) on

Moggalldna’

s well -known Pali dictionary,the Abhidhfinap p a

dip ikd.

3 The same official wrote t ikfi s on the Koladdhaja atthe request of the thera Pfisfidika, and on the Dandip pa

karana .

4

Ano ther essay on Pali grammar,writ ten at Panye

'

t underKittisihasura

’

s patronage , was the much- studied Saddasfirattha

j élini (or Jai lini) of Nfigita, otherwise Khantakakhipa, a monkof Sagu .

5

A tikfi on the Vu ttodaya of Sangharakkhita5 was writ ten

(at Pagan according to Forchhamm er,7 at Panya according to

the Gandhavam sa5) by Navavimalab uddhi, otherwise Cu lla

1 F.TH. ,p . 40.

2 Came to the throne A.D . 135 1 (Kyoaswa IV in Phayre’

s H istory ofBurma

,pp. 60 , 282) Sas

,p. 88.

3 Se e Fausboll,Ca t. Mand. MSS. ,

pp. 46,51 .

4 CV .,pp. 63

,73 Sas ,

p . 88 . The ti tles last ment ioned do no t suggestgrammar o r Buddhist doctrine, but other branches of learning— astro logyand poetics . (See Appendix. )

5 The uaint nickname Khantakakhip a came from a l i ttle adventure ofNagita

’s

(

lioyhood, when he was not m ore serious than most boys. He

was so unwilling to be taken to the monaste ry, and resisted so obstinate ly,that his father lost patience with him

,and threw him bodily into a thorny

bush See Sas,p. 88 ; CV .

,p . 74 ; SVD.

,verse 1 249 ; Forchhamm er,

List, p . xx. There is a commentary on this work at the India Officeentitled Saramafij fisa. O ldenberg

,Pa li MSS. in the India Ofi ce Library,

p. 102.

6 85s ,pp. 34, 75 .

7 Re ort (Pagan) , p . 2 List , p. xxii i .5 GVZ

,p. 67 the Pitakat thamain (p. 74) says at Pagan.


Vimalab uddhi, author of a work called Abhidhammap annara

sat tha'

na,

l explaining some passages of the Abhidhamma. Inthe Gandhavam sa aVu ttodaya tika

’

i i s ascribed to a Vep ullab uddhi

of Pagan , who appears again 2 as the author of (a) a tikii on

Saddasa'

ratthajnlini ; (b) a Paramatthamanjnsn (metaphysical) ;

(c) a tika'

t on the Abhidhammatthasangaha, called Dasagan thi

vannann(or Dasagandhivannand) and (d) a tike-

I on Vidadhi

m ukhamandana.

3

Another treatise , the Atthabyfikkhyana (exege tical or

grammatical ) , i s mentioned as the work of a Culla-Vaj irab uddhion one page of the Gandhavam sa, and put down to CullaVimalab uddhi in another. Now among the Sinhalese authorse num erated in the Sa

'

sanavam sa4 we find a Nava-Vimalab uddhi

,

author of an early tikii on the Abhidhammatthasangaha anda Cnlab uddha, au thor of the Atthabyakkhyana, whereas theonly work allowed by the Sfisanavamsa to the Burmese CullaVimalab uddhi i s the Vuttodaya

- tika'

,and to Vep ulla the

Vacanatthaj oti.5

Possibly the confusion in the Gandhavam sa arises from theauthor ’ s ignoring the Sinhalese thera Vimalabuddhi (carefullymentioned by the Sfisanavam sa in a passage referring alsoto Vimalab uddhi of Pagan) . The name is absent from theGandhavam sa list of theras of Ceylon , 5 while the three , NavaVaj irab uddhi, Vep ullab uddhi, and Nava-V imalabuddhi, are allput down as Jam budip ika

'

(i.e . belonging to Burma) and theirwork as composed at Pagan

,except in the case of Nava

Vimalab uddhi, who wrote , according to this account , atPanyfi.

These small bibliographical puzzles,which we are not willing

1 CV . , pp . 64,74, not mentioned in the Sasanavamsa

2 There is an al ternative reading, Vimalab uddhi, but the edi tor (Minayeff) ,

fo llowing no doubt the best MSS. ,has preferred Vep ulla in these passages

o f the Gandhavamsa.

3 Apparently the Vidagdhamukham andana (on riddles) of Dharmadasa( see Appendix) .

4 Sas,p . 34.

5 75 ; the Vacanat thaj otika, gloss on Vu t todaya, ascribed to

Vep ullab uddhi, is probably a fourteenth-century work Forchhammer,

Essaé

, p. 36 Fausb b ll,Ca t. Mand. MSS.

,p. 5 1 .

5 V .,p . 67.


prince Sativa or Thado -m in-bya in the year 1364,fall of the Shan rulers of Panyn

'

and Sagaing .

1

As the delta region had no t been without a literary historyafter the Burmese conquest in the eleventh century

,

now turn back to earlier times,before following the progress

of learning in both Lower and Upper Burma from thecentury onwards .

1 Phayre , History of Burma,pp . 63 , 64 Ind. Ant

,xxi i

,p. 8 .

CHAPTER III

B UDDHISM AND PALI LITERATURE IN MARTABAN

AND AT PEGU C ITY (HAMSKVATI) FROM THE TW ELFTH

To THE FIF'

I‘

EENTH CENTURY—DHAMMACETI AND THE

KALYKNI INSCRIPTIONS -LITERATURE IN UPPER BURMAERoM THE FO UNDATION o r AVA (RATANAPU RA) To THE

END o r T HE SIX'

I‘

EENTH CENTURY

l . Pegu

Buddhist learning in Rfimafinade sa , the Talaing country ,m ay have been greatly impoverished by the carrying away

of tex ts and scholars from Sudhamm ap ura a t the time of

Anorata’

s successfu l raid, but we do not po sitively know thati t was so . Indeed

,a country so easy of access from India

,

Ceylon,and Indo -China must have continued to receive new

c ontributions to its intellectual store ; the northern rulers ,professing Buddhism themselves , could have no mo tive fordiscouraging students or pilgrims from abroad, and i t is notlikely that the Order suffered in any way from the Burmesepower established in the south afte r the fall of Thatiin .

However,the first literary personage of a anna that we

m eet in the Si sanavam sa i s Sérip u t ta , afterwards namedDhammavilnsa, a twelfth century author . ‘ SErip u tta was bornat Padip aj eyya ,

near Dala (oppo site Rangoon) , and enteredthe Order late in life . He was still a novice (sdmanera)when he went to Pagan 2 in the reign of Narapati- si-thu andreceived the up asmnp add ordination from the thera Ananda ,one of the four who had accompanied Chapata returning fromCeylon . Being thus inducted into the Sihalasangha, Szi rip u ttacould claim to be in the direct line of descent ’ , to use theecclesiastical phrase , from the ancient teachers of the Mahivibnra . He b ecame one of the leaders of the sect .

1 See Sir John Jardine’s Notes on Buddhist Law,i v Preface to Forch

hamm er’s translation of the Wagaru Dhamma tha t,p. 5 ; Forchhammer,

Essay, pp. 29 , 35.

85s ,p.


It i s said that the king heard of the aged monk ’ s learningand ho liness and thought of appointing him royal preceptor

,

but before summoning Si rip u tta he sent some court officialsto find ou t what manner of man he was . When they returnedand described him as extremely old and feeble (some say, wi tha slight deformity as well) , Narapati was unwilling to put onhim the labour and fatigue of being the king ’ s dcariya, andcontented himself with honouring the thera in other ways .Si rip u tta was afterwards sent to his native country to

‘ purify religion ’ there , which (in the Snsanavansa) meansthat he was to represent the Sihalasangha in the south .

This was duly done by Si ripu t ta, who settled at Dala andhanded on the Maht

-

Ivihnra tradition to his pupils . Theestablishment of the Ceylon school in the Talaing country i ssaid to date from that tim e . It i s interesting to remembe r inthis connection that

,according to the Mahnvam sa, an earlier

generation of scholars in a anna had supplied teachers tothe Sinhalese fraternity , when theras of Sarip u tta

’

s countrywere called upon , in Vijayab z

'

ihu’

s reign (A.D . 1071 to

come over to Ceylon and restore learning there . l Si rip utta

probably lived till the year 1246. I t i s difficult to distinguishhi s religious works (if he composed any) from those of theother Sz

'

irip uttas of that epoch .

2 His most interesting work ,from the historical point of V iew

,was neither in grammar,

Vinaya,nor Abhidhamma, and is not mentioned in the Si sana

vam sa or in the Gandhavam sa. SZiripu tta, or Dhamm avili sa

(to call him by the name conferred on him as a title of honourby Narapati ) , i s known to be the author of one of the earliestlaw codes of Burma .3

1 Kern,Man. Ind. Buddh ,

p . 132,note (reference t o Mahav. ,

IX,

2 See Sas , p . 33 ; CV. ,pp. 61 , 66, 67, 7 1 Forchhammer, List, pp. v,

vi i i . Two Sarip u t tas are mentioned in the Gandhavam sa l ist of doctorsof Ceylon, one among those of Burma. Tikas on the Angut taranikaya,Majjhimanikaya, the

t ’

Saratthad1pani, and a t ika on i t were written inCeylon by a Sarip utta of the reign of Parakramabahu I (A.D . 1 153

a contemporary therefore of Sarip u t ta of Dala.3 Taw Sein K0 says : ‘ The dates of birth and death of Dhammavilasa

as well as of the completion of his Dhammathat are unknown. Even theSasanalamkara, compiled as late as 1832 A.D . by the learnedmonk MaungDaung sa dé

,Archbishop of K ing Bodop

’aya at Amarapura, is si lent on

these points (Ind. Ant , xxi v, p .


Dhamm avilzisa’

s code stands at the beginn ing of a seriesof Pali and Burmese Buddhist law te x ts

,which are of the

greatest in terest as disclosing , to quote Forchhammer’

s words,

‘ the practical effect of a religious system upon the socialand p olitical growth of the Talaings and Burmans.

’ l Thequestion of the remote origin of these codes i s a fascinatingand diflic ult one .

Whe ther the Brahmanic (caste and sacerdotal) elementwas eliminated from them by later Buddh i st lawgivers

, or

whether they, with all their essential Buddhistic features , goback to ‘ the law of Manu as it ex isted in India prior to theascendancy of Brahmanism ’

,cannot be decided without

a complete knowledge of the oldest law-codes of India . Andfor our present purpose it must be enough (however unsatisfac tory an enough to say that the Talaing monk Sz

'

irip u tta

or Dhammavilasa was the author of the oldest dhammasatthaknown by name to future generations in Burma .The Dhamm avilfisa Dhammathat 2 was the basi s of late rcodes

,Pali and Burmese , which took this title ; and the

Talaing influ enc e ,

3 to be recognized by the presence of aHindu element , i s visible in the Pali codes till the eighteenth

centu ry .

While Dhammavila'

lsa and his pupils were establishing the‘ succession of theras at Dala , a like movement took placein Martaban (Mu ttima) . The Opposit ion be twee n the Sihalasamgha and the other se cts, which had been manifested so

keenly at Pagan,was thus continued in the south . The

queen ’ s two precep to rs,Buddhavamsa and Mahfinnga, had

1 See the Jardine Priz e Essay (Forchhammer) and translations of legaltexts

,accompanied by valuable introductory remarks and no te s published

in Sir John Jardine’s No tes on Buddhist Law,Rangoon

,1882—3 .

2 Forchhamm er did no t succeed in finding the original Pali Dhammavilasa Dhamm athat . He mentions a commentary compo sed about1 656 A. D . ,

and a Burmese vers ion by Nandamala, made at Amarapurain 1768. Essay, p. 29 se e also Notes on Buddhist Law, part iv Preface totranslation of the Wagarudhammathat on marriage and di vorce, p . 3.

3 Another example is the Wagarudhammathat,an important code drawn

up in Talaing by Wagaru, king of Martaban (A.D . 128 1 The Palitranslation was made at the end of the fifteenth century. See Notes onBuddhist Law

,vol. i i i, p. xi .

34 THE‘

PALI LITERATURE or BURMA

visited Ceylon,had gone through a course of instruction

,and

received re -ordination at the Mahz'

ivihnra.

l On their returnto Martaban they separated themselves from the other communities, and a Ceylon sect was formed .

Afterwards , for many generations , a scholarly rivalry existedbetween Pegu and Burma , of which we shall hear somethingin the later history of their literature . Possibly Talaingauthors may have been drawn together then by a bond of

nationality stronger than the ties of sect, but the Siisanavam sa

makes the distinction chiefly between the Sihalasamgha therasand the members of the Arahan tagana, whose direct descen twas denied by those of the Mahz

'

w ihiira tradition .

Our Pali chronicle says little about Martaban and nothingabout Wagaru

,who , however, reigned wisely for twenty-two

years . We can only suppose that he did not protect theSihalasamgha wi th any particular zeal . A historian of theTalaing country and the old tradition could fill the gap andgive us more details of the progress of learning in the south .

But we know that the well-being of the Order depended on thestate of the country, and it i s probable that the Si sanavamsa

leaves out very little that is of importance in the list,though

a singularly short one , of works written in Rfimanna duringthe two centuries between Dhammavilfisa

’

s long life and therevival of religion connected with the name of Dhammace ti

in the fifteenth century. The SIR—111 8 , whose growing power

in Burma had broken down the old Pagan dynasty, were no t

disposed to leave Martaban and Pegu in peace? The Z imme

She—Ins had also pushed westward . Changes of rulers and the

skirmishing warfare around the unstable thrones of the smallsouthern kingdoms must have deprived the monasteries ofmuch valuable patronage

,even if the monks were left nu

disturbed . For nearly every mention of important literarywork in chronicles like the Si sanavam sa i s accompanied bymention of some royal o r wealthy patron . And this neednot surprise us or force us to conclude that the Order was

1 Set s ,p . 42.

2 See Forbes , LegendaryHistory, pp . 26,27 ; Phayre , History of Burma ,

pp. 65 if.


at any time in slavish dependence on royalty and riches .Li terary work required a more spacious , convenient vihcira

than was needed for the simple round of the mendicant’ sordinary life, besides a whole library of sacred te xts. Tosupply all these and other necessaries of scholarship wasa highly meritorious act, and rich laymen were as eager to

acquire merit in such ways as the monks were content toacc ept their gifts . But, still, there were times when , as thechronicles say , ‘ religion was dimmed.

’

The briefer a literary history is , the more we need to beclear as to the chronology of the works chosen to illustrate i t .But often this is only placing together fragments by guesswork . We are glad to meet any evidence of the state of

scholarship at a given period , such as the Talaing inscriptionsfound by Forchhammer near the Kumfirace ti pagoda in Pegu .

Forchhammer observed that these inscriptions (which recordthe contributions of pious people to the rebuilding of thece tiya and a vihdra) are in more ancient lettering than thoseof the Kelasa pagoda in the same region . These latter canbe dated with certainty as fifte enth-century , and Forchhamm er

believed the older writing to belong to the beginning of thefourteenth century , ‘ when with the rise of Wagaru, King ofMartaban , a new impulse had been given to native learning , andBuddhism again had attained to exclusive predominance on theshores of the Gulf of Martaban .

’ 1

A south-country author who doubt less belongs to thefourteenth century is Medhamkara

,who wrote the well-known

Lokadip asfira. The Si sanavamsa tells us that he was thepreceptor of ! ueen Bhaddz

’

i, the mother of Se tibhinda, the kingreigning at Mut timanagara (Martaban)

? Medhamkara had

gone through a course of study in Ceylon,and lived afterwards

1 Fo rchhammer,Notes on the Early History, etc . ,

i i,p. 8. Forchhammer

mentions elsewhere an important sect founded in the south by Buddhavam sa (afterwards known, for the confus ion of future Burmese chroniclers ,as Culla-Buddhaghosa) . He also had sojourned in Ceylon and heldSinhalese views of orthodoxy. Jardine Priz e Essay, pp. 64

,65.

2 Sas.,p. 42. Set ibhinda , or Binga-u, began to reign A.D . 1348

,and

assumed the title Hsin-hpyu -shin (possessor of a white elephant) . He

made Martaban his capital.


at Martaban .

l The Lokadipasnra is described by Oldenberg asa collection of chapters on different subj ects , arranged accordingto a cosmological scheme ’

. The chapters deal with differen tstages of ex istence—in hell , in the animal kingdom ,

among the

p retas (ghosts) , and so forth , and the subj ects are illustrated bylegends.Ham sz

'

wati (Pegu city) , the capital of the kingdom of Pegufrom the middle of the fourteenth cen tury

,also had its learned

theras ; the Apheggusara, written at Ham snvati by a scholarwhose name i s no t mentioned in the Snsanavamsa ,

deals wi thAbhidhamma topics?Some important grammat ical work was also done in thesouth—and at the ill-fated ThatBn—by the thera Mahayasa

of that city. Neither the thera nor his books are mentionedin the Si sanavam sa

,though the Kacc ziyanabheda and Kac cn

yanasara not only became standard texts for commentators andstudents in Burma , but have since been bette r known in Ceylonthan works of Burmese grammarians u sually are .The Kac cfiyanabheda, also called the Kac cfiyanabhedadip ikn,

deals with the grammatical te rminology of Kacca-

Iyana ; theKaccnyanasara, as the title shows , i s a résumé of or textbook onthe teaching of that great grammatical authority .

A tiknon Kac c ziyanasara was wri tten byMahfiyasa himself ;3

1 Fausb till, Ca t. Maud. MSS. , p . 42 ; O ldenberg, Pali MSS. a t India

gyfice

,p. 1 26. The Gandhavamsa calls the author of Lokadip asara,

ava-Medhamkara (Medhamkara, the younger). The Medhamkara who

appears in the list of the theras who worked at Pagan is probably not

the same.2 See Sas ,

p. 48 also Forchhamm er,List

,p . xvi i i , where Apheggupatho

and Apheggusaradipanipatho are mentioned. The Gandhavamsa is si lentabout this work . In Nevill ’ s MS. Catalogue

,Apheggusaradipam is

described as an anuti/ca deal ing with matter in the Ab hidhammat tha

vibhavani. Cf. Fausboll, Cat. Maud. MSS. p . 39

,where the author

proposes to give the subtle and profound sara (essence) of ‘ al l the books ’The Apheggusaradipani , according to the Mandalay MS , was composedat Hamsavati by the a

'

eariya of ! ueen Sivali. He was Mahasuvannadipa,the son of Parakkamab ahalaraja.

3 For Kaccayanabheda and Kac cayanasara see SVD.

,verse 1 250 ; CV. ,

p . 74 ; Forchhammer, List, pp. xx and xxi,where tlie author is called

Rasa of Thatone . The name Mahayasa i s given by Nevi l l on Sinhaleseauthori ty. In Fausb

'

oll’

s Ca ta logue, p . 47, the name is Rassa ; in CV .

,

p. 74, Dhammananda ; the Pitakatthamain (p. 69 ) says that Mahayasa

was the author.

38 THE PALI LITERATURE or BURMA .

of the blood royal , and came first from Burma as a simplemonk

,one of two who had aided the flight of a Peguan princess

from the Burmese Court. This princess,married against her

will to the King of Ava , was aft erwards the famous ! ueenShin-sau-b u . When she assumed the sovereignty in Pegu

(1453 A.D .) the sometime monk Dhammace ti, who had sodevo tedly befriended her

,became her chief minister and late r

her son-in-law and successor.‘ Dhammace ti was not only aprotector of the Order he had quitted, but a reformer in theorthodox sense. Something of the ecclesiastic reapp ears inthe monarch ’ s attachment to the Sihalasamgha, an attachment

to which the celebrated Kalyani inscriptions bear witness .These inscriptions

,fo und in a suburb of Pegu city

,were

carved on stone tablets by order of Dhammace ti, and are avery interesting chapter in the Pali records of Buddhism .

They relate how the king determined to give the Order in

a anna a duly consecrated place for ceremonies , and how ,

after earnest study of authoritative texts,he sent a mission

to Ceylon with this obj ect . The monks sent by him receivedthe up asamp ada o rdination afresh from the Mahfivihnra

fraternity within consecrated boundaries on the Kalyfini River,near Colombo , and on their return consecrated the enclosurein Pegu , henceforth known as the Kalyz

-

Inisim ii? Within these

boundaries the ap asamp add could be conferred as from thedirect spiritual successors of Mahinda

,the great missionary to

Ceylon,and thus the link was restored in the ‘ succession of

teachers ’ broken (said the Sihalasamgha docto rs) in Rfimanna.

1 See Phayre , History ofBurma,p. 84 ; Forbes, LegendaryHistory, p. 32.

2 See Taw Sein Ko ’s Preliminary Study of the Kalyani Inscrip tions ofDhammaceti, 1476 A.D. The ceremonial [for consecration of a stunt] hasbeen interpreted in various ways by the commentaries and scho l ia on theMahavagga, such as the Vinayat thakatha, Sarat thadipani, Vimativinodani,Vinayatika by Vaj irab uddhi thera, Kankhavitarani, Vinayavinicchayap akarana, Vinayasamgahap akarana, and the Simalamkarasamgaha andthe object of the Kalyani Inscriptions is to give an authori tative rul ing on

these varied opinions and to prescribe a ceremonial for the consecration ofa stunt which shal l be in accordance with what i s laid down by GautamaBuddha

,and which at the same time shall not materially confl ict with the

interpretations of the commentators ’ (1nd. Ant , xxi i , p . The simd

is described in this article as a boundary formed by pits filled with waterthe appropriate Kammavacaare chanted as the consecrating ceremony.


We must no t forget how vital this matter appeared to BurmeseBuddhists . The Order

,in so far as such questions had gained

importance for i t , was somewhat less of a free fraterni ty andmore of a church and the point of view taken by the monkswas an ecclesiastical one . The part taken by the king isworthy of notice .In the case of the Kalynnisim zi Dhammace ti used his royalauthority to support hi s own deep conviction , and, as oftenhappened in i ts history

,the orthodox Sangha had the temporal

power to some extent at its service. Not that the Sangha inBurma has ever claimed authority over consciences (i.e . theright to persecute) . It has been as all other truly free associations , and, with t ime , has known divi sions and developedfactions

,and a sect has sometimes had powerful supporters

who were not content to stop short at a moral ascendancy overman . The perfect tolerance inculcated by the religion washard for some of these strenuous minds to accept

,and e ven

Dhammace ti,though he was far indeed from being a despo t in

religion , was anx ious to establish orthodoxy in his kingdom .

The Kalyiini inscriptions show us to what degree a religioussuperiority over the rest of the community was claimed bythose who had received the Ceylon ordination and were calledthe Sihalasam gha .

An interesting li terary point i s the mention of the standardauthorities on Vinaya subj ects at the time , ‘ and details as tothe instruction required for novices and monks . These treatisesare mostly of Sinhalese authorship .

Besides those of an older period we hear of the well-knownVaj irabuddhitikfi (sometimes called the Vinayagandhi orV inayaganthi) , a t ikz

-

I or explanation of difficul t passages in

1e .g. the Sarat thadip ani mostly by Saripu tta of Ceylon (Sas ,

p . 33 ;Fausboll, Ca t. Maud. MSS.

,p. the Vimativinodani by Kassapa , of the

Tami l country Dam ilarat tha] (Sas ,p . 33 Ca t. Maud. MSS. ,

p. the

Vinaya tikaby aj irab uddhi (Si s ,p. 33 CV .

,p. the Vinayavinicchaya

byBuddhadat ta of Ceylon (Sis ,p. 33 ; CV. ,

p . 59 ; Ca t.Maud. MSS. , p . 18)the Vinayasamgaha b y Sarip u t ta of Ceylon (Sas ,

p. 33 Ca t.Maud. MSS.

p . The Sim alamkara pakarana of Chapata was a. resul t of the Talaingthera’s studies in Ceylon. Two Vinaya treatises ( the Patimokkhavisodhani

and Simabandhani tika) may belong t o this period, but neither dates norauthors are mentioned. See P.TH . ,

p. 44.


the Vinaya commentaries. The author, Mahnvaj irab uddhi of

Ceylon,was a contemporary of Dhammac e ti, to whom he sent

a Copy of his work .

§ 2 . Buddhist L iterature in Panyci ( Vgayap ura) , Ai'

a (Rataua

p ara) , Tauugu (Jeyyaoaddhaua) , and Laos.—Ariyavamsa.

Grammar, Poetry, and Abhidhamma in the fifteenth and

sixteenth centuries.

We must now follow the rather faint track of Burmeseliterary history from the t ime of the revolt and separat ion of

the Southern provinces .The chronicles of Burma tell us of a continual strugglebetween different dynast ies and the hostile races they rep re

sented—Burmese,Talaing

,and Shzin . The She

—Ins, forced

southward and westward by the Mongol armies of Kublai Khan ,had become a powerful element in Burma in the thirteenthcentury.

‘ They had penetrated to the south , and the Talaingpopulation had accepted in Wagaru a ruler who was probablyof half-Shan ex traction . In Burma the King of Pagan

(Kyaswa) was deposed in 1298 by the three Shz’

in governorswho se territories surrounded his diminished and enfeebledkingdom . The three , being brothers , held together and foundedthe dynas ty that reigned at Myinzaing (Khandhap ura) ,

2 Panyzi

(Vij ayapura) , and Sagaing (Jeyyap ura) till the prince Thadominbya

, who was believed to be of Burmese royal race , madehimself master of Upper Burma and founded Ava inAva (Ratanapura) , though no t always of great importance asa capital

,remained a religious and li terary centre for many

generations of authors . It i s no t necessary for our presentpurpose to look further into the records of war , revolts , counterrevolts

,marriages

,and murders of those times, except when

such events are connected with religious history and, by a rarechance

,the name of a saintly celebrity or the title of a book

1 Forbes, Legendary History, p. 28 ; Phayre , History of Burma,p . 52.

2 Sas ,p. 8 1.

‘ The three brothers,having deposed Kit titara in the

year 664 of the Kaliyuga, se t up their rule in Khandhap ura.

’

3 Phayre , History of Burma,p. 62. 85s ,

p. 90,‘ in the year 722 of the

Kal iyuga.’

THE PALI L ITERATURE or BURMA 41

can be rescued from the tangle . The city of Ratanap ura didnot entirely supersede Pagan

,Panyzi , and Sagaing in reli gious

importance . From all we can learn about the place and da te

of the Pali works possible to place between the founding of

Ava and the middle of the sixte enth century , i t seems that

schdlars were always to be found busy in the monasteriesnear the chief cities . However turbulent the times may havebeen

,the reigning families protected the Order and loaded it

wi th bounty. Their example was followed by men and womenof rank and wealth .

‘

The Si sanavam sa gives us a glimpse into the life of a monastic

scholar of those days in the story of Ariyavam sa, a celebratedteacher and author of the fifteenth century ? Ariyavam sa, whowas of Pagan and a member of the Chapata sect, settled inAva in the reign of Narapati (1442 Before he becamefamous he went to Sagaing to study grammar with the learnedthera known as Ye -din (

‘ the water-carrier The chroniclertells us how Ye -din came by his name . Either to restrainhis own inclination for talk or because he found the brethrentoo talka tive, he was in the habit of keeping his mouth filledwith water when others were present . When the young monkfrom Pagan first arrived at his monastery there seemed littlehope that the silent Water-carrier would discourse to himon grammar. B ut Ariyavam sa was not to be discouraged .

He came daily to the uihdra, performing all the services of

a di sciple for Ye -din , till the latter broke his silence to askthe reason of the thera ’ s visit. Ariyavam sa craved leave tos tudy wi th the famous dcariya, since , though he had studiedmany texts

,he had no t grasped their meaning , and , till then ,

up adesa ( exposit ion ) of other masters had not helped him .

Ye-din was touched and consented to give some of his time tothe inquirer, and then explained the Abhidhammatthavibhfivani 1

1 See the very interesting co llection, Inseri tions 0f Pagau , Pinya ,and

Ana , edi ted by Taw Sein K0 and translatedBy Tun Nyein of the BurmaSecretariat ; Bangoou 1899 . The list of worksmentioned In an inscriptionof 1442 A.D. is very valuable for the chronology of works that we could no t

o therwise date. See Appendix to this chapter.5 858 . pp. 9 5 ff. 3 Phayre , History of Burma

,p . 285 .

5 Commentary on the Ab hidhammat thasangaha.


to him with various methods of exposition Ariyavamsa wassoon able to tell his preceptor that, thanks to his teaching ,hi s pupil had grasped all the knowledge he had missed tillthen . The dcariya then charged him to do his part in helpingothers by W riting a commentary on the text he felt best fittedto expound . Ariyavamsa chose the Abhidhammatthavibhz

'

ivani,

and composed a commentary on it entitled Manisfiramanjfisn.

While writing it he submitted it , chapter by chapter, to thecritici sm of his fellow-monks

,reading it aloud to them as they sat

assembled on up osatha days in the courtyard of the Punnac e tiya.

A very charming little anecdote i s told of his readiness toaccept correction . On one occasion a monk seated in theassembly twice uttered a loud sound of disapproval duringthe reading . Ariyavam sa noted the passages that had calledforth these protests

,and also found out where the obj ector

lived . Returned to his own cihdra he carefully reviewed hiswork and found two things to correct—a fault of composition

(repeating the same explanation twice) and a fault of gramm ar

(a mistake in the gender of a word) . He corrected them ,

sent for the other monk,and mildly asked him what fault he

found with the work that had cost the writer the intense labourof long days and nights to compose . The other replied bluntlythat there was little fault to find ; the book was perfect as to i tswords and sense

,but he had observed two faults , an unnecessary

repetition and a wrong gender,and he would not let them pass

without protest . And Ariyavam sa rejoiced in hi s heart andtook off his garment of fine cloth and gave it to the other,saying , ‘ With this do I pay reverence to thy kn owledge . ’

Few as the words are , there shines through them the scholar’ s

clear and simple soul.Ariyavamsa lived and wrote for some time at Sagaing , buttaught afterwards at Ava

,where the king was sometimes among

his hearers. One o f his mo st important later works was anotherAbhidh amma study entitled Manidipa , a tika

'

t on the Atthasnlini‘

1 Commentary on the Dhammasangani of the Abhidhamm ap itaka. See

Forchhamm e r, List, p. xvi i i CV.

,pp. 65 , 67, 75 Sas. , p . 98 ; Fausboll,

Ca t. Maud. MSS.,p. 34. F.TH. (p . 40) gives 1442 A.D . as the date of the

Manidipa.


of Buddhaghosa. He also composed a grammatical treatise , theGandhzibharana,

‘ and a study of the Jntaka, Jntakavisodhana.

These works were composed,according to the old scholarly

tradition,in Pali ; but Ariyavam sa was a teacher no t content

to write only for the learned. He stands ou t in the Si sanavaIrisa

’

s record of literary theras as the first name connectedwith a metaphysical work in the vernacular . He composed anatthayojand or interpretation in Burmese of a comm entary calledthe Anu tikfi on the Abhidhamma

? The Gandhavamsa attributesanother work entitled Mahnnissara 3 to Ariyavam sa, but therei s no mention of it in the Séisanavam sa.

Ariyavam sa may have been still living when a new writercame to Ava whose talents gained him the favour of the king ?

This was Silavam sa, of Taung-dwin-gyi, who had already composed a poetical version of the Sum edhakathn,

5 a poem entitledBuddhfilamkfira, and another , apparently on his native city

,

dignified by its Pali name Pab b atab bhantara. Silavamsa wasthirty years of age when he came to the capital . The king ,after the manner of royal patrons of religion

,established him

in a ‘

vihara where other honoured teachers had lived beforehim

,and there he lectured on the sacred texts . He

,like

Ariyavam sa, laboured to spread religious learning by inter

p re ting Pali tex ts in the vernacular. A Burmese atthayoj aud

of the Nettipakarana,5 and ano ther edifying work , the Pare

’

i

yanavatthu , prove that he was not merely a poet , though theauthor of the Snsanavam sa seems rather inclined to reproachhim for his attachment to verse .

1 The Gandhabharana (otherwise Ganthabharana or Gandabharana) wasstudied and glossed by well-known Burmese scholars of the sixteenth andseventeenth century, and re -edited among standard works recently.

2 The work generally known as the Anu tika was wri tten by Dhammapala to supplement the ori ginal tika (of Ananda) on the Abhidhamma.

See the Sasanavamsa’s l ist of commentari es composed in Ceylon (Sas , p .

3 I am not sure that thi s word should not be Mahanissaya (chiefcommentary or gloss in Burmese) ; the work would probably b e the

at tha oj ana, of which mention has been made above.‘1

ntiya-m in-khaung or Sirisudhammarajadhip ati, who began to reignA.D . 1470. Sea , p. 98

,

‘ the year 842 of the Kaliyuga.’

Phayre , Historyof Burma , p. 285 .

5 The story of the ascetic Sumedha form s part of the Introduction(Nidana) to the Jataka commentary. See Fausboll

’s edi tion of the Jataka,

vol. i , pp. 2- 28.

5 See pp. 5,8.


Another poet of Ava , Rat thasnra,1 born in 1468, composed

metrical versions of the Bhnridattajntaka? Hat thipnlaj zi taka,5

and Sarnvaraj ti taka,4 besides a number of other poems . He

may have been a good verse-maker and the tone of his poemsreligious

,but he comes under the same mild censure as his

brother-poet. In fact,the old-time chroniclers (p ortiud) exclude

these two from the succession of theras precisely because theyno t only wrote verses but recited them , and instructed theirpupils in the same art of recitation . The Si sanavamsa gravelyexplains that this i s a question of discipline too large to betreated in the chronicle

,and we are referred to a modern

Vinaya treatise,the Up osathavinicchaya, for details . The

composing and reciting of poems was apparently a transgressionof the religious rule (sihhhdp ada) concerning singing anddancing. Taking part in or looking on at such performancesi s forbidden to monks (samaud) and all those under temporaryvows who have undertaken a stricter self-denialthan the ordinary layman .

5

Silavam sa and Rat thasiira were probably not the only poetsof the monasteries in those days , but unfortunately suchauthors are far less likely to find mention , at least in religiouschronicles

,than the grammarians and expounders of Vinaya

and Abhidhamm a.

The Kdyaviratignth‘

c

-

I mentioned in the Gandhavam sa,5 but

not in the Si sanavam sa, perhaps belongs to this epoch . It i sdescribed as a beautiful Pali poem of 274 verses on the subj ectionof sensuality ?

1 85s ,p . 99 ,

‘ in the year 830 of the Kaliyuga.’

2 Jataka,No . 543 . See Fausb

‘

oll’

s edition of the Jataka with its com

mentary, vol. vi , pp . 157- 219 .

3 Jataka,No . 509 . Fausb 611

,iv, pp. 473—91 .

‘1 Jataka,No. 462 . Fausb b ll, i v, pp. 130—6.

5The Buddhist lai ty are only bound to observe five fundamental rules

of conduct, whereas the Order observes te n. A layman may bind himselft o keep eight of the ten on the U p osatha days (occurring four timesa month ). See Kern, Man . Ind. Buddh , p . 70 ; Childers

’D ic tionary of

the Pali Language (articles Silam’and Up osatho

6 C V.,pp. 65 , 75 .

7 A tika on i t is ascribed to a monk of Pakudhanagara (Pegu citySee the BritishMuseum Ca talogue of Pa li MSS. and Mr. Nevi ll’s note onthe Copy in his collection.


Order,but the commentaries on the Vinaya (for example, the

Kankhnvitarani of Buddhaghosa) left it doubtful whetherthe juice of the palm and cocoanut trees could lawfully bedrunk by the religious or no t . Some maintained that suchj uices were lawful if drunk as they flowed from the tree

,

others denied it,as some commentaries spoke of the elements

of intox ication ’ latent in the seed, and the dispute continuedtill the thera Mahfip arakkama,

‘ seated in the midst,

’ settledthe question . According to his j udgment, which was acceptedby the disputants

,the juices in question might be drunk , but

only fresh from the tree . Mahap arakkama afterwards treatedthe whole subj ect in a work entitled Sure

—Ivinic chaya (Decisions

c oncerning Intoxicants) .It would seem that religion was not long or greatly in

danger at Panyfi, as the Si sanavam sa assures us that manyauthors wrote there ? Only two names are given

,however

Saddhammaguru , the author of Saddavutti, and Vijitiivi,celebrated for two grammatical treatises, a Kaccz

'

iyanavannana,

or commentary on the Sandhikap pa (section treating of

e uphonic combination of let ters) of Kac cdyana’

s grammar,

3

and the Vncakopadesa, still recognized by Burmese scholars .The Va

'

cakop adesa treats the grammatical categories froma logical point of view ’

(Oldenberg) . These familiar namesare missing from the Gandhavam sa. The MS . of a tikn on

Viicakop adesa in the India Office4 gives the date of this

treatise as A.D . 1606. In 1530 began a more auspiciousepoch for the Order . A warlike and able ruler , Ta -bin

shwe-hti , succeeded Mahnsirij eyyasura as King of Taungu .

5

Ta-bin-shwe-ht i conquered Pegu,where he not only pro

te c ted religion but added to his own glory by his magnificentfoundations. In his reign a revolut ion overthrew the Shin

1 Sas , p . .81 2 85s,

.p 90.

3 Fausboll, Cat . Maud. MSS. , p . 45 ; SVD . ,

verse 1242 . The Vacako

p adesa Is mentioned without thepauthor’s name in Forchhammer’

s List,

xxi i .p1 Oldenberg, Pali MSS. in the India

gfice Library,

p. 104. The c om

mentary on Vacakop adesa, by another Ij itavi, was wri tten at Sagaing.

The two works and the author are mentioned F.TH.,p. 71.

5 1530 A.D .,Phayre , History of Burma

,p. 93.


prince reigning at Ava,who had cruelly persecuted the

monks,and before many years the Shan rule succumbed

before Bayin Naung . Ava was taken by the Burmese underthis famous soldier ’ s command in 1555.

Bayin Naung, ‘ one of the most striking figures in the

histbry of Burma , the sometime general and vice-regent of

Ta-bin-shwe-hti and successor to the throne,united Burm a

and Pegu into one empire and carried his conquests into theNorthern 811511 States, Laos and Siam . He was a zealousBuddhist

,zealous

,indeed

, to intolerance , and forced an outwardprofession of Buddhism on all his subj ects , nat ive or foreign?Nevertheless

,all we hear of him in the Si sanavam sa i s that

in 1578 ‘ the Lord of many white elephants then at theheight of his power but near his end , appointed his son regent

of Lao s and sent the thera Saddhamm acakkaszimi with him to‘ purify religion ’ in the conquered province . A few names

of scholarly monks and their works are associated w i th Laosin this period . Nnnavilnsa wrote the Sankhyei p ak

nsaka

,

‘ and

Sirim angala a tiki'

I on that work and the commentaryMangaladipani. A thera whose name is no t mentioned wrotethe Up pei tasanti.

5

At Ham séivati som e work was done in the way of comm enting on the Abhidhamma. The thera Saddhammfilamkzi rawrote the Patthnnasfiradip ani, and Mahnnam a a t ikzi entitledMadhusei rat thadip ani.

5 These works are mentioned withoutany date in the Sfisanavam sa, which by the way, differingfrom the Pitakatthamain

,gives Ananda as the author of the

1 The Branginoc o of the Portuguese. We have not only Oriental butEuropean te stimony t o the magnificence of his reign.

2 See Phayre , History of Burma,pp . 108 fi

’

.

3

Sas ,p. 51 .

‘1 Nanavilasa wro te the Sankhyap akasaka at Ayuddha, P.TH.,p. 61 .

5 A work consulted b y Minayeff andmentioned in his Recherches. AsDr. Barnett has po inted ou t to m e

,from this title (Sanskri t Utp t

’

t tas‘

anti)the work would appear t o treat of ri tes or charms for ave rtIng evil omensor public calami ties. For santi, in the sense ofexpiatory rite, see Sadvimsabrahmana (Prap. v) , edited by H . F . Ee lsingh, Le iden,

1908,cf. p. 5 1 below

andAppendix.5 S58 .

,.p 48 : pp . 40

,41 . In the late st edition (by Hsaya U

p e,Rangoon, 1908) the author

’s name appears as Mahananda

THE PALI LITERATURE OF BURMA

last-named, a tika on the Abhidhamm a. The Pitakatthamain

places both in the reign of Bayin Naung .

The Order never again suffered from a ru ler in Burma asin the evil days under Thohanb wa. From the ‘ time whenthe Shan rule was finally demoli shed by Burmese kings , morefavourable days began for religion . The seventeenth centurysaw some further changes

,which we shall note as we proceed

a religious literature in the vernacular , in the Burmeselangu age itself

,grew up round the older tex ts , but the

earlier traditions of Bali scholarship always found faithfulfollowers.

CHAPTER IV

THE SEVENTEEN'I‘

H CENTURY—PEGU AND UPPER BURMATHE SCHOLARS or AVA AND SAGAING—TIPITAK ALAMK ARA

,

ARIYALAMHARA,AND OTHERS

By the year 1617 Burma and Pegu,welded into one empire

by Bayin Naung’

s conquests , had already been separated onceand forced into a second union by the conqueror ’ s grandsonMahadhammaraj a .

1

Pegu ci ty (Ham savati) , as in Bayin Naung’

s time,was the

capital,and we can understand the Burmese king ’ s popularity

in the south when we learn (but no t from the Sasanavam sa)that he had succeeded in breaking up the audacious ruleof the Portuguese adventurer Philip de Brito , whose government of Pegu had been carried on with the methods of

a brutal buccaneer . De Brito,wi th wanton disrespect for

the country ’ s religion,had destroyed pagodas

,and we cannot

suppo se that b e spared monasteries or libraries. We do not

know if even the Buddhist monks interceded for him whenhe was vanquished by their cham pion

,taken prisoner

,and

condemned to an agonizing death .

There i s no record in the Sa'

isanavam sa of Pali worksproduced in this reign . The doings

,literary or otherwise

,

of the Sangha of Pegu are probably not well known to theauthor of our Burmese chronicle . Perhaps

,too , he is influenced

by a certain rivalry in scho larship which made the Talaingmonks unwilling to believe in the learning of Burma , whilethose of the upper country we re equally sure of their own

superiority .

2

It i s almost touching to read in the Sasanavam sa the reason

(as it first appeared to the good monks of the south) why thekings of Bayin Naung

’

s dynasty preferred Pegu as the royalresidence , even after union with Burma : As for the monksin Burma

,there are none expert in the sacred texts and

learned in the V edasatthas. Therefore,hearing this

,the

1 Phayre , History of Burma , p . 1 28.

2 Sara , p. 106.

E


Kingl sent a message to the thera dwelling at the Four

storied Vihfira,2 saying :“ Send hither to Ramafifia some

Mendicants,from thirty to forty years of age , expert in the

sacred texts and learned in the Vedasatthas.

” So the therasent Tip itakalamkara, Tilok

alamka'

ra,and Tisasanzilamka

'

ra,

with thirty Bhikkhu s. When they arrived at Pegu the Kingbuilt a wizard for them on the Eastern side of the Modhoceliya, and gave i t to them . And on Up osatha days hesummoned those monks of Ramafifia who were expert in thesacred text s and learned in the Vedasatthas

,and commanded

them to hold a discussion wi th the three theras . And themonks of Ramai

‘

ifia said “ Formerly,indeed , we thought there

were no monks in Burma expert in the sacred tex t s andlearned in the Vedasat thas. But 10 ! these Burmese monksare exceedingly expert and learned .

” It seems to have beena triumph for Burma .An interesting point in the little story is the mention of the

Vedasastras side by side with the Buddhist sacred texts . Itis clear

,from the list of works given to the libraries of Burmese

monasteries 3 and from various allusions in the Pali literature,

that Brahmanic works were studied in the ribdras, and weknow that some were translated into Burmese . But this branchof learning was considered inferior . There is a mention inthe Sfisanavam sa of two monks living in the reign of Mahi

dhammara'

ija‘ who gained the king ’ s favour by their aptitude

for s tate afiairs. They were redasati/zakoridd too—expert inthe Vedasat thas—and therefore

,no doubt , acute and useful

advisers ; but the Order disapproved of them . They are

p arig/atlzpaiip attisu mandd—weak in the sacred doctrine andpractice . They j ourney to Pegu and disappear at once from

our sight . They have no place in the succe ssion of therasBut the Vedasattha experts were probably innocent enough

of any religious interest in the hym ns and sacrifices of theBrahmanic cul t

,and they were certainly not Vedic scholars

1 Ukkarnsika, otherwise Thadodhammaraja, succeeded Mahadhamma

raja 1629 A.D .

2 A roya l foundation at Sagaing on the Irrawaddy.

3 Se e Appendix. 4 Came to the throne A.D . 1606.


in the Indian pandit ’ s sense of the words ; for the Vedas ofthe Burmese , as Forchhamm er explains

,are a co llection of

Brahmanic tex ts on astrology, medicine, and‘ science ’ generally

,

such as the Sfiryasiddhfinta (astronomy) , Laghugraha (astrology) , Dravyaguna (medicine) , besides Tantraszi stras (manuals

of magic) and Kamasei stras (manuals treating of love) .1 Some

o f these , especially the last, cannot by the greatest stretch of

lib erality be fitted into any scheme of monastic learning ; and ,indeed

,we do not

’

hear that the Buddhist monks ever madeuse of them or the Brahmanic te xt s compo sed for the practiceof magic . That, in all its branches, was, the province of theprofessional Brahmans, of whom there were always som e , saidto be experts in the Atharvaveda, in the service of the king.

2

But there are works reckoned as Vedasatthas in which themonks found food for study, and ‘ Veda ’ subj ects which theythemselves delighted to handle

,either in Pali or the vernacular.

For a king ’ s dcariya must be able to discourse on ethics andpo li ty , pronounce moral maxims , and give advice . TheRajaniti,Lokaniti, and Dhammaniti represent this sort of literature 3

modelled on Sanskrit originals . The wi se fables of the SanskritHitop ades

’

a have also found favou r with Buddhists . Again ,

c ertain Sanskrit grammatical works became famous in FurtherIndia , and lex icons such as the Amarakosa . We have seen howstoutly the theras grappled with Pali gramm ar

,and we can

imagine the sober j oy with which a copy of the Am arakosa “

would be welcomed in a wh im library.

1 See Jardine’s Notes on Buddhist Law,pt. i v, Introduction by E. Forch

hammer,p . 17 . Also Forchhamm er

,Rep ort (1879 pp. 6 fi

'

.

2 For instance, when Anorata was battled in his attempt to take Thaton,the charm which rendered the city impregnable was found ou t by the

king’s attendant Brahmans.3 See James Gray, Ancient Proverbs and Maxims : The Niti Litera ture

of Burma ,pp . 1 19 , 141 , and R. 0 . Temple, Journal of the Asiatic Society

o f Bengal,vol. xlvi i pp. 239 fi

’

.

4 On t he famous dictionary of Amarasimha see Z achariae, Die indisclien

Worterb z‘

i c/ier.

‘Amara,’ says Z achariae , war ohne Z weifel ein Buddhist,

’

though this can b e inferred only from his dedi cation and his placing ofthe names of Puddhas before the Brahmani c divini ties

,and not from any

special ] Buddhistic matter in the rest of the work, v. Die indisclien

Worter u’

clier,Grundriss

,Band i

,Heft iiiB ,

p . 18. The Pitakat thamain

( p. 73 ) is cautious on the subject, and only states that the Amarakosa wascomposed at Benares b yAmarasimha.


We shall have to return presently to the question of the

Brahmanic element in Buddhist Law .

‘ As for other Brahmaniccontribu tions to the literature of Burma

,they were naturally

accepted by the fathers of Burmese scholarship,as there

could be no reason for cultivating Buddhist medicine or

Buddhist arithme tic . As far as we know a t present thefathers were sage enough not to study the gems of Sanskri t

poetry .

Let us now glance at certain features in the seven teenthcentury li terature , features which may be traced clearlv

enough for our purpose in a brief notice of the best-known

authors .First

,we find that many of the distinguished teachers

of that time wrote in both Pali and Burmese . Some,for

instance,Varabhisamghanfitha, author of the Manikundala

vat thu ,and one of his contemporaries

,author of the Sat ta

rfijadhammavat thu , wrote their edifying tales only in thevernacular

,or at least produced nothing noteworthy in Pali .2

Se condly, the devotion of the Burmese scholars to the study

of Pali grammar , style , and prosody bore fruit in works of

which the Ra

'

ij indarzi j zibhidheyyadip ani i s an instance . Itwould not be quite fair to call any thera a court poet, but oncertain occasions theras composed Pali verses adorned w iththe traditional compliment and eulogy of royal patrons . Thus ,when Ukkam sika was consecrated and took the title Sirisudhammarfijam ahzidhip ati, the thera Ratanfikara wrote theRaj indarfijfibhidheyyadipani ( on the naming of kings) tocommemorate the ceremony .

3

Mahadhamm araj a and Ukkam sika were both generous tothe Order , and mention of monasteries founded by them o ccursoften in the religious history of the seventeenth century.

Some of these foundations were associated with well-known

1 Vide J . Jardiue and Forchhammer,Notes on Budd/list Law also

Introductory Rem arks, Notes, pt. i i i , p. ix, for the supposed prevalence ofSanskri t learning in the courts of the earl y kings of Prome and Pagan.

2 Sas , p. 105. These authors belong to the time of Mahadhammaraja,1606—29.

3 85s ,p. 102 F.TH.

, p. 58. Ratanakara was acquainted with Sanskri trhetori c and poe tics.


take up Vinaya questions, and the result was the Vinayalamki ratTIkfi, one of those numerous works composed by therasof high authority to keep the old tradit ional discipline pure.The list of Tip itakz

-

Ilamkzi ra’

s works shows varied learning,

but he is remembered chiefly as an Abhidhamma scholar anda saint . He was a chosen adviser of Ukkam sika

,and

‘

one

of hi s works is called Responses to the king ’ s questions . ‘

The theras of Sagaing at this period seem to have takenthe lead in Abhidhamm a studies . One of these

,the thera

Tilokaguru , toiled for many years at tikfis and supplementarytikas (anutilrd) on various texts. After dealing very thoroughlywith the t

'

t tukatha2 he composed a tikfi on the Yamaka .But his great feat was a tikai on the Patthana , the mostimportant book of the Abhidhamm ap itaka.

3

Tilokagaru i s but one example . The Sagaing monasteries alsoproduced a number of Burmese uissag/as (interpretations or paraphrases ) on Abhidhamma texts during the seventeent h century .

But it i s not easy to distribute these Works aright amongtheir several authors

,Whose Pali names are but an indifferent

help to accuracy . There were at least four Ariyzi lamkfirasnoted for scholarship . The monk mentioned in the Si sanavam sa

as the second Ariyalamka'

ira (pupil of the great thera whowas equal to Tip itakz

’

ilarnkzi ra i s probably the scholar of

whom Oldenberg remarks that the Burmese are indebted tohim for the version of a great number of Pali works . Thoseascribed to this Ariyalamkz

'

nra are : (1) Interpretations of

the Atthasfilini of B uddhaghosa, the Sankhep avannana of

Saddhammaj otip z'

tla,4 the Abhidhammatthavibhavam of Suman

1 See Bulletin,tome v

,p. 167.

2 See the Pitakat thamain,p . 41 .

3 The most important, that is, i f we place ourselves at the po int of viewof the Burmese Ab hidhamma. students of that day. Mrs. Rhys Davids, towhose rare ability and patience we owe a scho larly edi tion of a part of

this text,remarks

,

‘the aim of the work seems to have been more a series

of exercises in a logic of terms and relations than any attempt to enunciatemetaphysical proposi tions (see Introduction to the Dukapat thana,edited for the Pal i Text Society by Caro line F. Rhys Davids , pp. x—x iv ).The Patthana is also called the Mahapakarana (Great Treatise). It

consists of twenty-four sections,and in manuscript amounts to over a

thousand leaves. See Forchhamm er’s Mst,p. xv.

See above, p . 18,Chap . II.


gala,

l and the VibhaI'

Iga of the Abhidhammap itaka?(2) A

Pali tikzi on the Kac cayanabheda, entitled Saratthavikasini.

(3) Ariyfilamkara was careful to add a Burmese version to

what we should nowadays call hi s revi sed edit ion of Kaccayana’

s

This work was done mostly in the Dakkhinavana i'i/zdra

,

or Monaste ry of the Southern Grove,near the Rfijamanicfila

ce liya at Sagaing . Ukkam sika had built four monasteries ,one on each side of his famous pagoda

,

3 and presented themto thera s learned in the sacred tex ts . Another grammarianin residence on the west side produced an edi tion of theNyzi sa,

4 ‘ adorned ’

(as the Pali phrase goes) , and set forthwith various methods of explanation .

5

The Nyz'

Isa was taken up again in the reign of Sirinandadhamm araj a

- Pavaréidh ip atirfija (A.D . 1648) by the king’ s

prec epto r,Dathanfiga of Sagaing . His commentary is entitled

Niru t tisfiramafij fisfifi

We here come across a mention of Pagan , onc e the flourishingcentre of grammatical studies . The thera Jamb udhaja (orJamb udip adhaja, as the king named him ) was one whom

Ukkamsika had delighted to honour. He was of Pagan , andwas first brought to the king ’ s notice by Tip itakalamkara.

7

The works asc ribed to him are Samvannananayadipani, Niru t ti

samgraha (grammar) , and Sarvaj fia'

nyayadip ani (grammar andphilology) .

8 Jam b udhaja, author of the little grammatical

‘ 1 See Oldenb erg’s Ca talogue of Pali MSS. at the India Ofi ce

,pp. 81 , 82,

84 , 85 , 88—90

,1 23

, 124. Sumangala is also known as Sumangalasami and

his work as the Tika-kyaw.

2 The Vibhanga is se cond in order of the seven Abhidhamma books .Mrs. Rhys Davids po ints ou t that i t may b e considered a sequel of theDhammasangani , and was probably u sed, like the latte r, as a manual forstudy. For other remarks on these studies see the valuable introductionto the Pali Text Society

’s edition of the VibhaI'

Iga (ed. C . A. F. RhysDavids), 1904.

3 The Kaung-mhu-daw pagoda, 5 mi les from Sagaing.

See above, p . 21 . Sas ,pp. 106 , 1 10 Pitakat thamain

,p. 124.

Se e p. 1 1 1,SVD .

,verse 1 241 Pitakat thamain

,p. 65. A work with

a nearly s imilar t itle (Niru t t imafijfisa), mentioned in the Gandhavam sa

(pp . 60 and is a tika on the Cullaniru t t i of Kaccayana.

1 85s,pp. 1 15

,1 16.

3 These works are mentioned by Nevi ll , who saw them in Ceylon. He

dates them 1652 A.D.


treatise called Rfipabhedap akiisani, is probably this sameJambudip adhaj a .

‘

The Abhidhamma seems to have had less attraction for himthan for mo st of his noted contemporaries

,and he devoted

himself to the Vinaya,of which he translated text and com

mentary into Burmese . But Maniratana, a writer of the sameperiod

,i s an example of a life spent in interpreting the

abstruser side o f sacred learning to those who were onlycapable of reading the vernacular. The Sz

'

isanavamsa mentionstranslations by him of the fo llowing works—the Atthasaliniand Sammohavinodani (Buddhaghosa

’

s commentaries on theDhammasangani and the Vibhanga) and the Kankhavitarani

(Buddhaghosa’

s commentary on the Pfitim okkha of the Vinaya) ;this last seems to have been Maniratana

’

s only departure frommetaphysical studies . Then

,turning to the later exponents of

the Abhidhamma,he translated the tikfis Abhidhamm attha

vibhfivani and Sankhepavannana into Burmese .Another thera

, Saradassi, of the same place (Nayyinyua,in the Ava district) , was the author of some works equallycharacteristic of the time . His Gfilhat thadipani (explainingdifficult passages in the seven books of the Abhidhamma)

2

and the Visuddhimaggaganthipadattha, a book of the samenature on Buddhaghosa

’

s Visuddhimagga, are in Pali . Healso translated the Ne ttip akarana into Burmese , not to shirkhis part in opening up the Pali tex ts to readers withoutlearning. If he is a little less shadowy to us than some ofhis fellow-authors it is because , with all hi s grasp of abstrusequestions

,he had

,for a time at least

,leanings that greatly

displeased the stricter brethren . He lived in the village itself,

and indulged in luxuries such as a head-covering and a fan .

But we are to ld that he afterwards renounced all those practicescontrary to the discipline and went into retreat in the forest .The middle and latter part of the seventeenth century werenot peaceful times for Burma . The country was harassed byChinese raiders

,rumours and evil omens troubled the people

,

1 Fausb oll, Ca t. Jlfand. MSS. ,p . 50.

2 85s , p . 116 ; see Forchhammer’s List

,p . xxvi

,and Fausboll, Ca t.

Maud. MSS. , p . 35 Pitakat thamain, pp. 39,40.


the tute lary ( leaatd of the towns were said to be departing ,and religion was dimmed Great efforts were made to

conj ure these and other ills by the practice of religion ;the local gods were conciliated with ofierings, and

‘ merit ’ ,in the Buddhist sense

,was acquired by new religious founda

tioub. When Mahfipavaradhamm arfijalokfidhipati came to thethrone in 1651 he built some monasteries , according to thecustom of his predecessors

,and presented them to distinguished

theras . The most eminent among these was the Aggadhamma

lamkara , already mentioned, who translated several Pali text sin to the vernacular .He first paid the usual homage to Kaccs

'

iyana, but by writinga Burmese translation inste ad of a Pali commentary ; afterwards he translated the Abhidhamm at thasangaha, and then ,as if continually seeking heavier and heavier tasks

,the patient

scholar toiled through translations of the Mi tikfi (of theDhamm asangani) , the Dhatukathzi , the Yamaka , and thePat thfina.

‘ The last task alone would have served a lessdiligent man for a lifetime , but Aggadhamm zi lamkfira probablyhad earnest student s to' satisfy. There is no doubt about hisreal devo tion to his subj ect .This prodigious worker was no t entirely given up to the

sacred tex ts . Circumstances made him a court historian . Hec ame of a family of oflic ials, and no doubt was be tter fittedthan most Palists of his day to carry out certain royal commissions. The last of hi s works that .we find mentioned inthe Si sanavam sa i s a Rfi

javam sasankhep a, a summary of theo flic ial Rajavanisa, or a short chronicle of the kings . Thishe undertook at the request of his protector, Mahzi p avara

dhammarfijalokfidhipati.’

Under the auspices of the nex t king, Naravara,

3 the theraT ej odipa, disciple of Tilokaguru ,

composed a t ika’

z on theParitta .

‘ It i s the only literary event noticed by the Sfisanavam sa in this reign , which , in fact, only lasted a few m onths .Under Naravara’

s successor Sirip avaramahfidhammarei j zi5 a

thera named Devacakkobhasa comes upon the scene, whose1 SasH, p 1 11 .

”Set s . p . 1 12 ; Pitakat thamain

,p . 220.

3 Mahasihasuradhainmaraja.

‘ 853 . , .p 115 .

5A D . 1672.


influence with the king was evidently great,for the usual

reason—he was learned in the Vedasatthas. The usualm ild reproach follows—he was ‘ weak ’ in the knowledge of

the sacred texts.1 Nevertheless,his system of Abhidhamma

teaching was recommended to the Order by the king . Devacakkobhasa made his pupils study and recite the Pat thfina (wesuppose in Pali) . Not only the monks of Burma but those ofPegu were made to study the Patthz

’

ina. By the king ’ s ordergreat religious festivals were held

,and the people were called

upon to honour the Order in every way .

We have now reached the year 1698, and can pause to glanceat those features of the Pali-Burmese literature which havecome into clear relief during the seventeenth century .

Our attention is arrested by a new tendency . The zeal forPali grammar seems to be fainter than in the thirteenth andfourteenth centuries ; a more abstract study, the Abhidhamma

,

i s occupying the“

learned among the monks , or at least thoseof whom we hear, those whom we may call the official scholars ,the theras who have the title rdj aguru (king

’ s preceptor) andwork in monasteries endowed by the kings . We do no t knowmuch of the lives of these teachers , but their choice of subj ectsthrows a certain light on what was demanded of them , evenby the less learned among their students

,or, at least, what

they,the most influential scholars of their time , insisted that

their students should attempt. We have seen how the severalbo oks of the Abhidhamm a were interpreted and paraphrasedin Burmese during the seventeenth century, and we cannotdoubt that the disciples living near their venei'ab le masters inthe monasteries by the Irrawaddy persevered in studying thethird Pi taka . And that tradition of the seventeenth century :

has come down to later generations,as themost casual survey

of modern Burmese li te rature will show.

Everyone who has seen a collection of Buddhi st manuscripts

from Burma must have . noticed the numerous copies of

1 85s ,p. 1 17. The Sasanavam sa te lls us b y the way that the wel l

known Burmese method of preparing and decorating palm-leaf MSS. was

first put into practice in this reign. See Symes, Account of an Embassy tothe kingdom of Ava, p. 339 .


Abhidhamm a texts with vernacular interpretations. The

descriptions we read of Burmese life and charac ter mightlead us to expect a preference for something less arid

,more

picturesque , more hum an , more adapted to the native genius.But there i s no t really an anomaly here . In this particularcase”the Burmese remember what was said in old days aboutthe Buddhaw canam

,the word of the Buddha .

The classic fifth century comm entaries,for instance the

At thasalini,l make an interesting distinction between the three

great divisions of the B uddhavacanam—the Vinaya,Sutta

,and

Abhidham ma. The Vinaya , they say , contains the teaching of

rules of conduc t , _ p rohib itions, and prescriptionsthe Sutta that of the current prac tice or exp erience of m en

(cohdradesand) , the Abhidhamm a that of the highest or

absolute truth (p aramatthadesand) .Le t us see how these three collections have fared in Burmese

The Pali Vinaya took root quickly and profoundly inBurma . All students of the subj ect are agreed on theconstancy with which later Vinaya li terature reflects theancient form and spirit . Buddhism has a lengthy and minutecode for the Mendicant Order . That code has been prodigiouslycommented and glossed in the course of centuries, but thenovice learns the di scipline from his preceptor in the monasteryby example and habit

,rather than from books

,and by everyday

practice the observance of the rules becomes second naturewi thout much mental effort. Of course , some book-study isrequired

,but the essential knowledge i s easy for the young

monk to master even in Pali . And then there is that old andkindly institution The Smaller Vinayas containing the

e ssential prec ep ts and formulas of the D i scipline .Controversial works have been writte n from time to time onmatte rs of di scipline, but to know them is not a fundamentalpart

'

of Vinaya study. Occasionally disputes on questions ofe arose in the Burm ese Sangha at times when the word

1 s. At thasalini,E. Miiller’s edi tion (Pal i Text Society), p. 2 1 .

2 See above,p . 6 , Chap. I.


o f the Buddha was , i t seems , not very well known to most ofthe monks ; and we read that the king intervened in suchc ases to command research in the ancient texts , or appointteachers whose decision was to be final . The king ’ s privilege

,

however,was particular ; the attitude of the Burmese laity in

general towards the Order and its discipline has be en one of

unquestioning reverence . The Vinaya itself, being a codeo f prohibitions concerning the monastic life , has not of coursehad a great influence on culture . No t tha t i t has remainedaltogether without its bearing on the lay life

,for there i s

a Vinaya element in the Burm ese law codes . This we mighte xpect, as religion and law are inseparable in Oriental polity .

But when we look for the influence of Pali l iterature on

Burmese culture it i s in the Sutta that we find it .Through the immense variety of discourses

,verses , and

legends that make up the Sutta pi taka the path of the sainti s traced for us in every stage

,from the first moment of

religious effort to the summit of achievement—arahatship .

And the Sutta pitaka has abundance of human nature in it .

So in widening and widening circles it has sent a moralimpulse through the life of the whole Burmese people . Togive two instances : the Paritta l i s a common treasury of goodwords to ward off the evils of everyday life and keep the greatmaxims of religion in memory

,and the Jataka has found its

way everywhere , from law codes and chronicles to popularplays . The Burmese child grows up steeped in beliefs ,practices

,and notions of meri t and ‘ demerit ’ drawn from

the Sutta . He has nothing new to learn about this part ofhis faith when he forsakes the world and enters on the monasticlife . What the earnest novice from generat ion to generationhas set himself to study in the calm of the oil/am i s the p ara

matthadhamma,‘ the highest ’

of the Master ’ s teaching, theAbhidhamma.

If the Burmese student is cheerfully at home in the Suttahe approaches the Abhidhamma wi th awed respect , like hisbro ther Buddhist in Siam and Cambodia . The Buddhist of

1 See above,p . 3 , Chap . 1.


of,the seventeenth century took it in hand

,and it has been

carefully edited by modern hsag/ds . A close analysis of theprincipal translations of this single little text would be anexplanation

,incomplete of course, but very interesting and

instructive, of the true Burmese view of Abhidhamm a theories

,

such as we find in the Dhammasangani, also a manual ,l and

we must not forget that these theories are as much a par t

of the Buddhism of Burma as the human and touching spiri t

o f the Sutta .Some curious elements have straggled in under the ae com

modating title Paramattha,and sometimes in research we may

think we have come on a metaphysical dissertation and finda guide to Buddhist cosm ogony

fl Such productions,however ,

are not characteristic enough of the Pali literature to needmore than a mention .

3

To return to the seventeenth century. We have seen that

some of the most eminent scholars spent their t ime makingBurmese versions of Pali te xts . E i ther there was a muchwider public

,as we should now say

,for religious works at

that period than in earlier times, or Pali scholarship was ata low ebb in the Order. There is some ground for this lastsupposition . Burma had been in an almost continual state ofchange and disturbance since the Shin element had become firsttroublesome and then powerful ; and Lower Burma, annexed,

separated,and annexed again , suffered no less .

It would be interesting to know something about thenumerical strength of the Order at different times during thatperiod. It probably diminished greatly when even monasteries

1 See the lear ned introduction of Mrs. Rhys Davids to her translationof the Dhammasangani.

2 An example is the Pal i -Burmese ‘Paramat thamanj usa , described byM. l

’

Ab bé Che vrillon in the list of Burmese MSS. in the BibliothequeNationale

,Paris.

3 I do not mean to imply that these matters are included in Abhidhamma l iterature without an antique and scriptural warrant for theirpresence. Mrs. Rhys Davids has po inted ou t that the last book of the

Vibhanga,‘ suggesting by i ts fine ti tle, the Heart of the Dhamma, more

than i t contains,gives a number of summaries and a good deal of

affirmation, much of i t mythological, about the conditions of l ife in thisand o ther spheres—in human beings and o ther b eings

’

(1ntroduc tion tothe Vibhanga, ed. C . A. F. Rhys Davids, p . xix) .


were insecure,and the young men of the population were more

likely to be fight ing than forsaking the world .

‘ Those werenot times for study to prosper . And, as the Sa

'

sanavam sa says ,religion was dimmed ’ from time to t ime . But the Burmese

kings were sufficiently good Buddhists to build m’

hdras andenco

’

urage learning,and the great theras were indefatigable

workers . It i s to ld of Tip itakfi lamkara that he once said in

j est to Aggadhammalarnkara,‘When I am dead you wi ll be

the only learned man left in the world .

’ And perhaps thescholarly tradition did at one time seem likely to perish out

o f Burma . But there were always workers to keep it alive ,some of whom we shall only find in the local chronicles

( thamain) of temples and viharas,and in the eighteenth

century,when another national crisis had come and passed ,

a literary revival began under Alaungp ay'

ci and his descendants .

1 In Ukkam sika’s reign a very curious si tuation was brought about .

The king,who had fled from the capital in consequence of a conspiracy

headed b y one of his sons,took refuge In a monas tery, where the Bhikkhus

formed themselves into an armed guard t o protect him. See Sas . p . 108.

CHAPTER V

PALI LITERATURE IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY—TH EPKRUPANA EKAMSIHA CONTROVERSY FOUNDATION o r

AMARAPURA BODOPAYA’

s EULOGIST THE RAJADH I

RAJAVILASINI— THE JATAK A IN BURMA

As the eighteenth century opens, the religious life of thecountry seems to have passed under a cloud

,and we may be

fairly certain that there was no intellectual advance in theOrder. Perhaps there was even some reaction , if we can j udgefrom the uninteresting controversy that drags through nearlya hundred years in the chronicle . ‘

Even wi thout studying in detail the literature of the time,

we notice the absence of work such as Tip itakfilamkara, Ariyalamkiira, and Aggadhammfilamkfira had produced in UpperBurma . In Rfimafifia the Order lacked support . Since theremoval of the capital to Ava in 1634 the south had graduallysunk into misery and ruin ? Towards the middle of thecentury, as we shall see , a revolt against Burma was successfulfor a time , but the final result was that a later conqueror,Alaungpaya, broke down the Talaing nationality completelyand finally . Thus , though Alaungpaya was really a betterBuddhist than his milder predecessors, the fortune of warwent against scholarship in the ancient home of Buddhismfrom the end of the seventeenth century till the time whenthe Burmese conqueror ’ s power was firmly established.

And at the moment when , leaving the seventeenth century,we have our nex t glimpse of literary history , there was notonly a state of gloom and listlessness in Pegu but in Burm aalso . The country was no longer ruled by kings of the

energetic and aggressive type ,3 who were usually active benefactors

i

of religion and therefore of Pali li terature .1 Se e Sas.

,pp. 1 18 ff , and Introduction, p. 37.

2 Se e Phayre , History of Burma , pp. 141,142.

3 Phayre says of this period, Though the monarchy suffered no greatdisaster its powers gradually decl ined.

’

The raids of the Ch inese in theprevious century had been fo l lowed by an invasion from Manipur, andsome terri tory in the north was lost (Phayre , History of Burma

,pp . 140 Iii).


If we turn to the Se'

isanavam sa, we come straightway upona picture already familiar. The long , inglo rious reign of

Hsin-hpyu -shin l(in Pali , Setibhinda) has begun ; the inner

history of the Order seems to be quietly repeating itself. Ina monastery at Ava

,built by a high mili tary official

,the

learned monk Ukkam sam ala i s finishing the second of histreatises Vannab odhana and Likhananaya

g(dealing , as the

titles show,with the Pali langu age) . The chronicle says of

him that he was versed in the te x ts , the commentaries,the

tikfi s, and the‘ Othe r books ’ (gandhantard) , by which is meant

works not strictly doctrinal but necessary to a completeBuddhist education .

3

Ukkam samfila,fortunately for him , was peac efully occupied

with words and no t with practices, but we cannot separatethe history of Pali literature in the eighteenth century froma controversy which went on

,with only a few intervals of

forc ed truce , for nearly a century between the sects known

as the Pei rupanas and Ekam sikas. Their differences wereon matters of monastic discipline , but certainly affectedstudies .The Sa

'

sanavam sa , in which we find a fairly full account,

4

tells us tha t a monk named Gunzi bhilamkara in or about theyear 1698 A .D . introduced

,and the followers who gathered

round him quickly adopted,the custom of wearing the

mendican t ’ s upper robe over one shoulder only, leaving theother bare . But

,acco rding to the rules for dress laid down

in the Pali Vinaya,both shoulders should be draped, except

when the righ t was uncovered as a mark of respect inaddressing a superior ; and here at once was a doubtful andos tentatious change which put the simpler

,old-school

Pé rupanas (or‘ clo thed ’ sect as they were named) up in

arms . This was not all . The Ekamsika (‘one -shou lder ’ )

par ty carri ed fans when making their begging-rounds in the

A.D . 1 714—33 (Phayre , History of Burma , p. In Sas. , 1074

Kaliyuga2 Sas . ,

p . 120.

3e .g.,

the Pitakat thamain (p. 52) gives under the heading gandhantart'

t

the Mahavam sa,Dipavam sa, and their tlkas.

Sas .

, pp . 117 ff.


villages . These and one or two other innovations,which

may seem to outsiders a small matter,roused very strong

feeling in the Order .Gunzi bhilamkara and his following were not consideredstrong in the sacred tex ts

,and their opponents of the strict

school defied them to bring forward a canonical tex t,com

mentary , or tikz'

i that authorized their practices . Here wastheir diflicu lty, and the Séisanavam sa assures us that theywere put to the miserable expedient o f producing a workforged for them by a ‘ lay disciple of immoral life who hadquitted the Order They maintained that they held theviews of the orthodox thera Saddhammacari of Ceylon .

The severe language of the Sésanavam sa would lead us tothink that some moral lax i ty , unworthy of true sons of theSakya ’

,

2 went wi th these affectations of dress and habitsin the new party . At all events , the question whether anygiven monk was a Pfirup ana o r Ekam sika was

,for long years ,

the one by which his fellow-monks would judge him . It isin teresting to see the part played by the temporal powerin all this . The hierarchy of the Buddhist Church was not sofirmly established that the Sangharaj a or Supreme Head couldimpose his will on the fraternity without the king ’ s support ,and we shall see that when the struggle became very acutethe sect that was losing ground usually tried to bring thematter directly before the king .

In 1733 Mahfira'

j zidhip ati came to the throne .3 He was

an ineffectual king and , as events showed , a very poor arbiterin religious matters . The Si sanavam sa records only one of

his acts with approval ; this was the appointing of the thera

Ninavara as his dcariya (tutor or, more exactly , spiritualadviser) . Ni navara was originally of Pagan . When hecame to the capital he threw himself zealously into the workof teaching

,and the first o f his works mentioned in the

chronicle 4 was composed for the benefit o f his many hearers.

1 Sas. ,p. 1 19 .

2 A stock phrase of the ancient Vinaya, where unseemly conduct of

monks and novices is described as asa/cyap u ttiya.

3 Phayre , History of Burma , p. 140. Sas.

,1095 K.Y.

Sas. ,p . 121 .


Mindful of their difficulties in the study of the Abhidhamm attha

sangaha,probably then , as later , the text mo st in use , he

prepared a ganthip adattha or gloss on the difficult words inthat famous work . Nanavara then glossed the ancient com

mentary At thaszi lini (of Buddhaghosa) in the same way . Healso

,

composed a work ent itled Sure—Ivinicchaya, a name suggesting

Vinaya rather than Abhidhamma,

1 and another work for Vinayastudents entitled Pai timokkhalekhana.

2 Af terwards , at theking ’ s request

,as we are to ld , the dcariya continued the work

his predecessors had begun in the seventeenth century, andtranslated the Adhidhéinap p adip ika

3 into the vernacular .His contemporary Saradassi, also of Pagan , i s mentionedas the author of a Dhiitukathziyojana} either a grammaticalcommentary or a translation of the t

'

itukathzi of theAbhidhammap itaka.

Nanavara’

s next work , the Rfijfidhiréjanimattap p akzisini,

seems to have bee n written not so much to instruct theunlearned as to please a royal patron . Its subj ec t, thenaming of kings ,

’ with the reigning king ’ s name as anexample

,was not important to the students in the monasteries .

The purpose of the book was served, so far as we can see,when it had shown Neinavara’s scholarship and interestedMahérfij zidhipati himself. There i s a sort of unconsciousirony in the thera ’ s essay when we see

,as the gentle monk

did not see , the approaching fate of the ‘ Lord of Kings andknow how ill he succeeded not only as king but as supporterof the faith . A ruler of quite different mettle was neededeven to deal with the affairs o f the Sangha now in a stateof acute disaccord . Maharajadhip ati made mistake uponmistake . When his tutorNzinavara, who held to the Pfirup anapractice , and the thera Pasam sa,

of the Ekam sika sect, were

1 See above, p. 46,and Sas.

, p. 81 . The title is perplexing here,as i t

recalls Mahap arakkama’s Decisions c oncerning Intoxicants

,wri tten at

Taungu in the s ixteenth century.

3 P.TH. , p. 43. The Patim okkha,i t will b e remembered, is the funda

mental code of rules, the whole duty of the monastic li fe,in a concise

form. The ceremony of the up osa tha days is a so lemn undertaking of thisrule of l ife by the assembled Sangha.

3 See O ldenberg, Pali MSS. in the India Ofi ce Library, p. 105 .

P.TH . ,p. 41 .


engaged in vigorous controversy , the king set an incompe tentmonk , a favourite of his own , over both the learned doctors .This monk is described as ignorant and incapable

,knowing

only enough to turn a plough ’ s head to the east or the west,

’

yet the king , as the chronicle says ,‘ not knowing that this

man was thus and so ,’ trusted him to regulate all matters of

religion . The favourite proved unable to j udge which of thetwo Opposed views was false and which was true . ‘ He was

,

’

says the chronicler , growing more and mo re indignan t,‘ 1ike a buffalo

,who knows no difl

’

erenc e between the musicof a celestial lute played by a Gandharva 1 and the striking

of a bamboo stick by a v illage lad .

’ The situation was

beyond Mahzi rfij aidhip at i’

s own powers of arbitrating . Hewished for peace , and sought for a compromise which mightperchance last during his own lifetime . A royal decree wastherefore i ssued

,the substance of which was that every bhikkhu

was to observe whatever practices he wished . Only one resultcould be expected. As the chronicler drily observes

,

‘ theirdispute did not subside then .

’

But this was a time for graver preoccupations . The old

discontent and hatred of Burma , that had been seething inPegu for many years , had gradually mounted to the point of

rebellion , while the Burmese were harassed by Manipuriinvaders . In 1740 a king was elected in Pegu and the revoltbecame serious ? Prome was taken by the Talaings , andthough their first king abdicated , another, Binya Dala , a bravesoldier and able leader

,was solemnly consecrate d at Pegu city

(Ham sei vati) in 1746.

From this time till the end of the eventful campaign thatfollowed there is no literary history to record. A life-anddeath struggle had begun between Talaing and Burm an , and

for some time the Order disappears from view in the people .

At first the Talaings were successful , and the Burmese lost

1 The Gandharvas (Pali , Gandhab ba) are demigods attendant on

Dhatarat tha , one of the four ‘ guardian gods ’ of the earth . The ex

pression ‘ playing a lute new a b ufl'

alo’ is quoted among the ‘ Burmese

Proverbs,aphOIisms, and quaint sayings

’in Judson Stevenson’s exce llent

B urmese D ic tionary,Appendix

, p . 32 See Phayre , History of Burma , pp. 142 if.


the two parties till graver matters were di spatched . In themeantime he decreed that the whole Order should follow the

ruling of his own dcariya.

This command put the Pai rup anas in a difliculty. Theymust either renounce what they held to be the only practicewarranted by the scriptures or resist the king ’ s authority .

Most of them submitted,but a few stood firm . The most

notable of the resisters was the thera Munindaghosa of Pagan , 1

who not only continued to observe the stricter rule but hada large following .

He is said to have declared in a full assembly of seniorbrethren that he was willing to die rather than forsake theprecepts of his master . Alaungp aya was too much the Orientaldespot to bear insubordination even from a mahdthera

,and

Munindaghosa was banished , as far as possible , from the

region where his influence was felt . ! uite undaunted he

continued his teaching,and again a group of followers gathered

round him . But in his banishment he was ready to turn fromcontroversy and instruct his pupil s in more abstract matters

,

for i t was at this time that he translated the Abhidhamm attha

sangaha into Burmese . He seems to have gone on for awhileunmolested

,but was afterwards summoned to Alaungpaya

-

1’

s

presence to answer for his defiance,a summons which he

obeyed with a full expectation of receiving the death sentence .

S0 sure was he of the fate awaiting him that he put off hismonastic habit before the encounter

,with the m agnanimous

wish to lighten,in some sense

,the guilt of the man who

would shed his blood. The courageous monk's life was spared,

but what happened to him we do not know. All that thechronicle adds to this strange incident i s the fact that whenAlaungpaya left for his last campaign in Siam Munindaghosa

was in prison .

Alaungpaya never found the leisure from state affairs thatwould allow him to master Vinaya questions . Disease wasalready undermining his wonderful vigour when he reachedhis forty-sixth year, and his unsuccessful attempt to conquerSiam in 1760 was the last undertaking of his life . When the

1 Sas. ,p . 1 25.


Burmese army returned from the expedition they bore withthem the dead body of their hero .

Alaungp aya was succeeded by his eldest son , Siripavaramahai

dhammarzi j zi ,‘ who rebuilt Sagaing 2 (Pali, Jeyyapura) , while

the old capital , Ava , was occupied by a rebel force . Duringthis king ’ s short reign an attempt was made by the Pfirupanase ct to convince the king that right was on their side . Theyhad hoped much from the fact that Nina , or Nfiné lamkfira,the royal precepto r? was a Pfirupana. But the astute Atula ‘

st ill leading the Ekamsika party,and his counter-tac tics

were successful enough to prevent unsettled points of di sciplinefrom being discussed before the king.

In the meantime Néna, who seems to have had li ttle tastefor controversy , won a reputation for profound knowledge . Weare told

,as a testimony to his untiring diligence

,that he was

capable of mastering or teaching nine or ten chapte rs 5 of Paliin a day. He had been a passionate student from his youthup . In the first year of his monastic life he composeda grammatical work called the Padavib hfiga. It was followedby a series of commentaries, in Burmese , on the Nyzi sa

6 andtwo Abhidhamma te x ts, the Yamaka and Mahfip at thfina (orPat thfina) .

In 1763 Naung-doa-gyi died andwas su cc eeded by his brother,who is u sually known as Hsin-hp yu -shin (Pali, Se tibhinda) .

7

His acc ession gave promise of better tim es ; among other

1 Naung-doa-gyi , 1 760—3 . Phayre , History ofBurma ,p. 184 . (Sas . , the

year 1 122 ILY.)3 Sas.

,p . 1 27.

3 The king had brought this learned thera from Taungdwin to the

capital (Sas.

,p.

1 Atula had be en appo inted Head of the Order by Alaungpaya. See

A Preliminary Study of the Po : U°

Daung Inscription ’

,byTaw Sein K0

(Ind. Ant. , vol. xxii,3 Li terally, bhanauara section for recitation see Sas.

,p . 127.

3 See above,pp. 20

,21 .

7 Sas. , p . 1 28 ; Kaliyu ga 1 125 ( the date is given incorrectly in the

printed text kaliyuge p ancavassadhi/ce dvisa te sahasse samp at te ) Phayre ,History of Burma

, p. 186 . See also Taw Sein KO,APreliminary Study

of the Po°

U°

Daung Insc ription ’

(Ind. Ant , vol. xxi i , pp. 1 The

PO Z U°

Daung inscri ption, engraved In a cave near Proine, Is interestingas commemorating the conso lidation of the Burmese power in FurtherIndia at this period.


auspicious changes for the Order was the rebuilding of Ava

(Ratanap ura) , which was reoccupied as the capital in 1766.

The Si sanavam sa passes over this reign very briefly,and

we must look to other sources for mention of the literarywork done . The king ’ s tutor

,Jambudipa-Anantadhaja, i s

merely named, and we may gu ess from this that he was eitherof the Ekamsika sect or took no interest in establi shing thePei rupana practices . He . was the author of a grammaticalcommentary (composed in 1768) on the Vinayavinic chaya.

1

Either Se tibhinda or his dcariya (the wording of the chronicleleaves it in doubt which of the two) did nevertheless takestrong measures against some doctrinal heresy which beganto spread in Burma about this time . The heretics weresummoned before the head of the Sangha and made toaccept ’ the true doctrine—how, we are not told?Hsin-hpyu -shin is said to have been a generous patron ofliterature , and, though a good Buddhist , he showed a certainenthusiasm for Brahmanic learning and had a number of

Sanskrit works translated into Burmese . The list of thesebooks

,according to Forchhamm er, begins with VOp adeva

’

s

Sanskrit Grammar? and contains , besides , works on astrology,palmistry

,medicine , and erotics .4

In 1776 Mahiidhammaraj fidhirfijfi (otherwise Sing-gu-szi ) ,5

the nineteen-year-old son of Hsin-hpyu -shin,succeeded and

reigned for a few years . He had but little time or peacefor religious works , but it happened that, coming under theinfluence of Nandam zi la

, a monk of great learning andauthority on monast ic questions

,he became deeply interested

in the Pei rup ana—Ekam sika dispute. The chronicle tells usthat the young king dreamed a strange dream . The great

1 There is,I bel ieve, a MS. of this work in the Neville Co llection at the

Bri tish Museum. The Vinayavinic chaya was by Buddhadat ta of Ceylon.

Sas.

,p . 33 ; F.TH.

,p. 43 ; GV. ,

p . 59 .

2 Sas.

,p . 1 28 .

3 The Mugdhab odha, wri tten in the thirteenth century ; se e A. Webe r,Indische Litera turgeschichte , 2nd ed. ,

243 .

1 See Forchhamm er in Jardine’s No tes on Buddhist Law,part iv

,Intro

duc tory Remarks , pp. ix,xi v also J . Gray, Dynasty of Alaungp ra, p . 24

,

andNiti Literature of Burma,pp. 6 and 134.

3 Phayre , History of Burma ,p . 209 .

THE PALI IHTERATURE or BURMA. 73

god Sakra,clothed in white and adorned with white blossoms

,

c ame to him and told him how, on the bank of the Nammada

River in the Ap aranta Country the sacred footprints of theBuddha were concealed by the wild growth of the jungleroot bound up wi th root , trunk with trunk , and leaf with leaf.Fort'ner kings in their ignorance had left the place overgrownand neglected

,but on him whom the god had enlightened

fell the duty of clearing it . The dream was explained tothe king by a monk , who no doubt told him of Nandam zi la,

the eminent teacher. The king at once sent for Nandamfilaand thenceforth kept the thera near him . Nandam zi la seizedthe Oppo rtunity of explaining the Pa

'

rup ana—Ekamsika contro

ve rsy,and convinced Mahiidhamm aré j zidh irfijfi that only the

Pei rup anas had the authority of the sacred texts on theirs ide . The king summoned both parties to ho ld a debate beforehim

,in which the Ekam sikas were hopelessly defeated , and

a royal decree was issued imposing the Pai rupana disciplineon the whole Order. Nandam iila was appo inted SupremeHead ? It was probably at this time that he wrote theSi sanasuddhidip ikfi (expounding

“ the purity of religion or

religious reformWhen a young man

,shortly after his ordination

,he had

translated some ancient and authoritative Pali works, theVinayavinicchaya? Suttasangaha,

4 and Maht'

ivaggat thakathai ,5

into Burmese . Nandam ti la’

s name is not associated with anywork on the Abhidhamma. Perhaps his.p referenc e for Vinaya

1 See C. Duroise lle’s Notes sur la ge

’

ograp hie ap ocryp he de la B irmanie

ap ro as de la Le’

gende de Puma ,BEFEO .

,tome v

,pp . 146 fl

’

. A cetiya

had en bui lt in the seventeenth century to mark the place of thesefoo tprints

,first rediscovered by the saintly acamya of Salvan-m in-tara

1629—48 )3 His official name thenceforth was Narindabhidhajamahadhamma

rajadhirajaguru .

3 See above,p. 38 .

4 See O ldenberg,Pali MSS. in the India Ofi ee Library, p. 80. The

Su ttasangaha is an anthology from the Suttas,Vimanavat thus ( legends of

the celestial abodes) , e tc .

3 Probably Buddhaghosa’

s commentary on the Mahavagga section of

t he Dighanikaya. The text of the Mahavagga had been interpreted byAriyalamkara see O ldenberg

,Pali MSS. in the India Oflice Library ,

p . 69.

The Mahavagga mentioned may, however, be the section of the Vinayaca lled by that name.


studies 1 influenced his pupils,and had the effect of bringing

under discussion questions which had been less prominentin the last reign . We might suppose

,too

,that his authority

would have sufficed for a settlement of the Parup ana—Ekam sika

dispute , but this, as we shall see , was yet to be delayed awhile .We can now go on to the reign of the famous BodOp ayr

'

I,

2

concerning ourselves chiefly,as the Sasanavamsa does

,wi th

its religiou s events,and passing over its sinister beginning

,

in the midst of conspiracy and murder. Alaungpaya-

i’

s fifth sonwas soon established firmly on the throne . The opening yearsof his reign showed the peculiarities that were to di stinguishit to the end—reckless shedding of blood and lavish buildingof pagodas . His benefactions to the Order—those of the royalfamily and nobles are recorded in the chronicle as comingfrom him—were enormous . The chronicler writing in the

nineteenth century and the learned Nina, who held the po stof Supreme Head of the Order in BodOp ayzi

’

s own time , bothpaint the king in colours through which we can see buta dim outline of the truth . BodOp ayfi

’

s personality has notlacked describers

,and surely has never had one more indulgent

than the good Sangharzi jé , to whom was given the task of com

m emorating the king’ s abhise/ra (consecration , literally anointing)

in hi s new capital , Amarapura ? Nina , or Nfinfibhivam sa, hadonly been ordained seven years when he was summoned to livenear the king and officiate as rdj aguru . Naturally he soon

had a royal commission to fulfil,and his learning was brought

to bear on the subj ect of the consecration ceremony. Hetranslated a treatise on the subj ect

,the Rfij iibhisekagandha, into

Burmese .‘ He was probably not the author of the originalwork , but revised it after consulting ancient authorities .

1 The Pitakat thamain (p. 43) mentions a commentary on the Vinayasangaha written by the acariya of K ing Sin-

gu at Ratanapura (Ava). TheVina

yasangaha was one of the famous treatises consulted by Dhammace ti

,

see a ove,p. 38, and of Sas. ,

pp. 33,43 .

3 BodOpaya came to the throne in 1782 : Phayre , History of Burma ,p. 209 ; Sas. , p. 130 ( 1143 Kaliyuga) .

3 Amarapura, about 6 mi les from Ava, was occupied as the capital in1783 (Phayre , History of Burma , p. 21 1 Sas. ,

p .

‘1 Sas. , p. 13 1 . Nana is said to have urified’the Rajabhisekagandha.

The Pal i word used (pa risodhetva) ap p li to a text means correcting andclearing away interpo lations.


The thera then rec eived the sonorous name Nfina'

bhisfisana

dhajamaha'

dhammaraj aguru as a further token of the royalfavour .In a few years he became the leading personage in theBurmese fraternity . BodOp as bestowed monaste ries , built bydifférent members of his fami ly

,upon several theras renowned

for learning, gave to four aged and eminent theras the t i tlesar

’

zghardj d ( sometimes translated bishop and aft erwardsappointed four others with the same ti tle to help them in theircharge . Nfinfibhivam sa was then placed at the head of all ,and entrusted with the reforming (or, to use the chronicler

’ sexpression

,the purifying

’

) of the religious world. .Thi s wasa decisive moment for the controversy that had so long dividedthe Order. As we have seen in other reigns, the views ofthe king ’ s chief dcariya were most important in those vexedquestions which were usually settled by the king , and which ,under a ruler of Bodfip ayzi

’

s temperament , would certainly besettled without much discussion . And now the Ekam sikas

saw that they had not much to hope from their old leaderAtula . He had be en passed over by BodOp ayzi after holdingthe post of king ’ s dcariya since the reign of Alaungp aya Butbefore Nana arrived a t the height of his honours and digni tie sAtula made another dete rmined attempt to win the king over.He wrote a memoir to show that the pract ices of the Ekam sika

sect had been taught by no less an authority than the greatMoggalleina} who, he maintained , had compo sed a tex t calledthe Cfilagan thip ada. How might all this be known , Atula

’

s

opponents inquired . I t was explained , he replied, in a tex tknown as the Pitakattayalakkhanagandha, brought to Burmafrom Ceylon by Buddhaghosa. But the Pai rup ana theras hadonly wai ted long enough to let their adversary involve him selfthus far to thi s point

,and in a few words they denounced

the fraud to the assembly . The tex t on which the Ekamsikasdepended , said they , was a treatise called Vinayaganthipada,

2

1 The Araba t Moggallana, one of the Buddha’ s chief di sciples see

Sas.

,p. 136.

3 There is a Vinayaganthipada in Forchhamm er’

s List,p. v. The author

given i s the Sihhalese priest Joti.


of the twelfth century, written in Ceylon by a thera Moggallz'

ma

l iving in the reign of Parakkamab zihu} therefore centurieslater than the time of Buddhaghosa, not to speak of the ancient

days of the Arahat Moggallzina.

The story of the debate is brief , except in the description

o f the dramatic moment when the feeble fraud was broughthome to Atula . He was , says the chronicler, like a wildanimal caught in the hunter ’ s trap . But the Pai rup anaspressed him with more questions : was the CGlaganthipadamentioned in the three great Vinaya tikz

'

is (the Vaj irab uddhit ike

‘

r,the Saratthadipani, and the Vim ativinodani)

‘

2 2 Theunwary Atula replied that it was . How comes it then , saidhis opponents

,that in your CGlaganthip ada we find the

words ‘ thus says the Vaj irabuddhitikzi , the Sfirat thadipani,thus says the Vimativinodani

’

? Another pitiable defeat forthe champion of the Ekam sikas. As the Pz

'

irup anas said , thete x t he had chosen as his refuge had proved to be a peril ,and the quaint story of the singer Pa

'

tali i s told to illustratethe case ?

This was the end of the Pei rup ana—Ekamsika controversy .

The partisans of the CGlaganthipada might perhaps have madeano ther stand , but Bod6p aya was in no mind for long debates .He promptly issued a decree that the Pairupana practices wereto be considered orthodox and observed by the whole Order ;and he was obeyed .

1 The Parakkamabahu mentioned is probably the Samghab odhi-Parakramab ahu , 1 153—84, who summoned a counci l at Anuradhapura ; see

Kern,Man . Ind. Buddh. ,

p. 132 .

2 For these three works see Sas. , pp. 33 , 34 GV.,pp . 60, 61 P.TH. ,

pp . 28, 29 . The Sarat thadipani, according to Sifihalese and Burmesetradi tion, was writ ten by Sarip u tta at the request of Parakkamabahu .

Vaj irab uddhi and Kassapa, the author of Vimativinodani,also represent

Ceylon tradition , so greatly venerated in Burma.3 Patal i (Natapatali), excited by drink after a successful performance,was swept away b y the current of the Ganges while attempting t o cross.His wife, certainly with unusual presence of mind, cried ou t to him fromthe river-bank to teach her a song before he should perish

,as she must

needs earn he r own l iving thenceforth . The luckless actor, whose lute, asit filled with water, was rapidly weighing him down

,had only time for

a few words of lament—that which was the refuge of the s ick and afflicted,the water of Ganga

,must

,alas b e his death. (The story of Patal i occurs

in the commentary on the Jataka . See Fausb oll’

s edition of the Jataka,vol. i i i

,p .


o rthodox Sinhalese monks than Nfinfibhivam sa, the Sangharfij aof Burma . He is said to have been a great benefactor to thegroup known as the ‘ Amarapura sect ’ or school , and theAmarapura school did in fact convey to Ceylon a number ofPali te x ts either of Burmese authorship , or better known to theBurmese fraternity than to the Sifihalese ? A large numbero f these imported treatises deal with Ab hidhamma subj ects .

Na'nfibhivam sa himself was very active in Vinaya teaching .

He lived in turn at each of the several monasterie s bestowed

on him by the king , directing the studies of the Order in‘ the two Vibhangas ( the Bhikkhu and Bhikkhunivibhanga,sections of the ancient Vinaya text treating in detail the code

for monks and nuns)? He was the author of several works,

in some of which we see the teacher and guardian of the

doctrine , in others the royal preceptor, whose duties includedwriting edifying books at the king ’ s request. Examples of

Nina ’ s more strictly religious works are ( l ) a tikz'

t entitled

Pe tfilamkfira i’ on the Net tip akarana‘ and (2) a tikii enti tled

Sadhuj janavila'

isini 5 on the Dighanika'

iya. At the request ofthe king he undertook a Burmese translation of the Pali

c ommentary on the J{itaka (the Jfitakat thakathfi) . He is alsothe author of some short Pali works of the JEtaka type,narratives containing religious and moral teaching, the

Catusfimaneravatthu,the Rai j ovz

'

rdavatthu , the Chaddantanziga

rfijup pattikathfi, and the Tigumb hathomana.

6 Last on the list

c omes the Rfij zidhirzi javilfisini, which deserves a few words ofdescription . In the case of this particular work the kinghimself supplied the subj ect and some of the materials, and

1 This is the case with many of the texts found in Ceylon and describedby Mr. Nevill with the aid of Sifihalese scho lars.

2 Nana himself gave the example of the stri cter rule of l ife. The

Sasanavamsa tells us that he continually observed at least one of the

thirteen rules ( technically called dhu tariga) particular to the more asceticamong the recluses.

3 Sas. ,p. 134 F.TH.

,p . 36.

1 See above,pp. 5 , 8.

3 Sas. ,p. 134 ; F.TH.

,p . 33 .

3 Lit . ‘ Praise of the Tigum bha’

(Sas .

,p. The Tikum bha or

Tigumbha cetiya is the great Shwe Dagon Pagoda in Rangoon. See

Forchhamm er,Notes on the Early History and Geograp hy of British

Burma,part i

,p . 17.


the royal command to put these into becoming shape was conveyed by an important official to the Sangharfij ei

’

s monastery .

The Brethren , as the rule or etiquette of the Order demanded ,laid the charge on their Principal

,who forthwi th carried it out .

How far BodOp aya'

I’

s eulogists flattered him is a question forimIiartial chroniclers of event s to answer. In literary historytheRi j zidhirfijavilzi sini i s precious as a specimen of the elegantscholarship of the time . This curious little Pali work

,written ,

as explained above, on the occasion of BodOp ay'

c

’

I’

s consecration ,i s in prose

,the prose of the school that had forgotten Buddha

ghosa’

s lessons , or was determined to better them . It staggersunder a weight of adj ectives that seem meant to bewilder thereader with the display of the author ’ s resources as eachsentence brings its load along . An Indian model has beencopied , and copied faithfully , except that there is little of thetrue Indian fantasy in all the decoration

,while allusions to

Buddhist legends are brought in with a curious sober carefulness

,as precedents might be cited in a legal docum ent .

Royal heroes of old days are called in as examples ; Mahii

sammata, the first king and the ancestor of the Sakya race ,comes first, and after him a series of dim , mythical figures ,whose presence in the prologue is the indispensable complimentto the rdj ddhirdj d enthroned in Amarapura . With Asokabegin historical allusions

,and then come quotations from the

Suttas,from the commentaries

,from the tikfis

,from the Mahfi

vam sa, from the Ri

j iisikkhzipada ,

l even a definition from theSaddaniti? to bring forward all that traditional learning mighthave to say on the anointing (abhiseka) ceremony and i tssacramental virtue . Launched upon this theme the authorfinds occasion to speak of everything that could shed glory onthe ‘ righteous king as a benefactor of his people and of

religion . Ancient maxims are cited from Jfitakas (for example ,the Sankicca and Te sakuna Jfitakas, in which the hero of thestory, the future Buddha, discourses on the duties of kings) .In the matter of religion BodOp ayE

’

s achievements are all

1 Obvious ly a wel l-known manual of the duties of kings.2See above

,pp. 1 6, 17.


recorded : he had settled the Pfirupana—Ekam sika dispute,

instituted reforms in all parts of hi s dominions,

1 he had receivedand returned a mission to Ceylon

,he had brought images of

the Buddha from conquered Arakan to his capi tal and receivedothers from China

,he had built cetiyas and celebrated great

festivals of adoration . He had,indeed

,done everything that

b efit ted a monarch who aspired to be the As’ oka or the Du t tha

gamini of Burma .To this man

,o f all men , the symbols of power and the ex ternal

show of magnificence were important,and it so happened that

he had acquired an auspicious possession that exalted hi smore than normal self-satisfaction beyond measure . This wasa white elephant , captured in the forests of Pegu

,named

Nibb einap accaya, and conveyed afterwards wi th great pomp tothe capital , where , i f we j udge from the Rzij z

'

idhiré javilei sini,i t was the real hero of the abhise/fa festival .BodOpayz

'

I’

s eulogist , obliged to say at least as much aboutthe elephant as about the king, attacks the task with courage .He brings forward the traditional elephant lore embodied inthe Hat thisu tta 2 to show that every kingly quality andauspicious mark was possessed by Nib b z

'

rnap ac caya. Perhapswe have no right to j udge it all from our own point of view ,

but as we read we cannot but pictureNinabhivam sa, after thesumptuous festival , sighing over his weary task .

For us the interest of the Ri

j zidhirai j avilai sini is rather inthe li terary references than the matter or style , which are bo thtiresome . The author is very careful to show that he has notneglected secular any more than religious authori ties on hissubj ect . He draws from the literature of various periods andfrom m any branches of learning . We pass from the ancientsuttas to the fifth-century commentaries and to the later t ika

'

s ,from these to twelfth - century grammar

,from the famous

Elephant-book to the royal chronicle of Ceylon , from theJfitaka glossary , Jzi taks

'

ibhidhzina, to Sanskrit etymology and

1 The five regions ’Rakkhanga are mentioned.

2 Lit . elephant-suttas (aphorisms), a well-known manual for elephanttrainers.

Ramafiiia, Kasm ira, Yonaka, Yavana, and


Brahmanic astro logy and chiromancy.

1 But the author ’ sfavourite source is the Pali Jzi taka itself . His work i s adornedwith verse s and passages of the commentary on certain talesof this famous collection . In the tales selected the hero i salmost invariably a righteous king or ' an elephant perfect inall poin ts ; among them the Alinacitta? the Silavanfiga? andV e ssantara 4 Jfitakas occur most frequently . The Tesakuna

j a taka ,3 the Dumm edha

,

3 Culap aduma,7 andUmmagga

2 Jfitakas

also provide illus trations.In this respect the Rfi

jfidhirai javila'

sini i s a typical pieceof Burmese literature , and charms us, in the end, for all itste

'

diousness . For the Jé takas are a possession common to thereligious community and the lay-world

,the learned and the

unlette red . From the days when they were rudely picturedon Taruk-pye-min ’ s temple walls at Pagan 9 to the date of thelatest editions we find in the Bri ti sh Government ’ s Official Listof Publications

,the Jzi takas have been a Bible to the Burm ese .

This compari son applies most aptly to the Ja'

takas of theMaha

'

nip zi ta or Great Section (the last) of the Ja'

taka book , containing the longest narratives of the Bodhisat , and relating hisdeeds and golden sayings in his later ex istences either as a manor a god ?0 Their art i s the old art of the Oriental tale-teller,with its mingling of unbridled fantasy and minute realism ;their wisdom is the wisdom of old proverbs and maxims of

the Indian people ; their lesson the praise of the Teacher, thesupremely gifted among men

,the Bodhisat

,playing m any

1 The Sanskri t Brihaj j ataka and Samudrikalaksana are quoted.

2Se e Jataka ,

Pan s ll’

s edi tion,vol i

,pp . 21 ff.

3 Jataka (Nidana, p . vol. i , p. 3 19 .

4 Jataka,vol. vi

,p . 479 .

5 Jataka,vol. v

,p . 109 . In this charming tale the king’s duties are

expounded to him by the three birds he has adopted as his children.

6 Jataka, vol. i , p . 444 .

7 Jataka,vol. i i , p . 1 15 .

3 Jataka,vol. vi , p . 329 .

9 1248—79 A.D . See A. Grunwedel,Buddhistische Studien. Verbf ent

liehungen aus dem lcb’

nigl. Museum fiir Votkerkunde , 1897, Band v ,pp.

1° In pass ing we may mention the titles most familiar to every BurmeseBuddhist from his chi ldhood onward—the Temi

, the Janaka, Suvannasama,

Nimi,Mahosadha

,Bhfiridat ta, Candakumara, Narada, Vidhura, and

Vessantara Jatakae .


parts . The author of the Rfijfidhiraj avilzi sini might be thought

(by Bodop aya) to be pointing to the virtues of the king whofounded Amarapura , but Nfinfibhivamsa knew tha t his readerswould see in all a homage to the Lord Buddha . What theseedi fying legends are to the Burmese to-day they were when

Nfinfibhivamsa wrote,and to many generations before his . To

understand the literature,serious ’ or popular , of Burma we

cannot know the Pali Jfitaka too well .

CHAPTER VI

THE PALI LAw -TEs OF BURMA—PALI LITERATURE IN

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY—MIN -DON-MIN AND TH E

FIFTH COUNCIL—THE ERA OF TH E PRINTING-PRESSCONCLUSION

Alaungp ayfi’

s conquest of the Talaings had been more thana feat of arms and es tablishing of military supremacy. He hadset himself to crush the Talaing language and nationality .

If the consequent inequality in culture between Upper andLower Burma was

,afte r all , less than we should expect , 1

the reason is to be sought.

in the past religious history of

bo th provinces . The equalizing and unifying element in thestate s so often at war or in rivalry was , and had always

been , the Buddhist religion and the Pali language . Thekings who had ru led over the widest territory -Anorata

,

Dhamm ac e ti, Bayin Naung , Ukkam sika,Alaungpaya, Hsin

hpyu-shin

, BodOp aya—each in hi s turn and in his own way ,

had lent hi s power to the service of religion and encouragedscholarship . And even in the worst tim es of disorder andchange there had been centres of learning where the Ordercould be comparatively at peace ; there were always remo te

or protecte d m onasteries here and there where old texts couldbe copied and new comm entaries and treatises composed. Thestream of learning flowed wherever a

'

channel offered itself ,and

,whether in the north or the south

,was often reinforced

from Ceylon .

We have seen how the vigour and influence of the schoo lnamed

,afte r the place of its origin , the Sihalasangha, continued

in Burm a from generation to generation . On the other hand,

the abundant vi tali ty of the schoo ls of Further India at thetime of the eighteenth - century revival reacted on Ceylon ,where the Burmese school known as the Amarapura sect

1 It must be admitted that the last Census Re port judges Upper Burmadecidedly superior to Lower Burma in the

°

matter of ‘ l i teracy’

,and

mentions the Upper Burman p ongyi for his ‘ share in the labours of thepast ’ (E. Lowin

,Rep ort on the Census of Bur ma ,

1901,p .


introduced a number of texts either new to the Sifihalesebrethren or long fallen ou t of mind .

The intimate connex ion,religious and literary

,between

Ceylon and Burma from the eleventh century onwards needsno further illustration . Though the Buddhists of Indo-Chinahave attempted to appropriate Buddhaghosa, they have always ,in all their literary chronicles

,done ample and painstaking

justice to SiI’

Ihalese scholarship and honoured Sifihalese names .SiI

‘

Ihale se influence i s seen at its strongest in the earlier periods .When we come to the end of the eighteenth century we findthat a branch of Pali literature has developed in Burma owingnothing or very little to Ceylon and bearing deep traces ofa purely Indian origin . We come

,that i s , to the period of

redaction of Pali Dhammasatthas (Sanskrit dharmasastra) or

law-codes , of which some were first drawn up afterAlaungp ayei’

s

conquest of Pegu and during the reorganization of the greatlyextended kingdom of Burma . O thers

,as we shall see

,were

m ore ancient and had been the patrimony of the Talaings .These ancient codes of Burma , and, with certain differences ,the Pali law-tex ts of later times , are based on Hindudharmasastras, Mann, 1 and o thers . This has become clearfrom the researches of various scholars who se opinions aregiven by Sir John Jardine

,formerly chief Judicial Commissioner

for Burma,in his Notes on Buddhist Lair, where he adds much

precious material from his own stores of learning and experienceof Indian and Burmese law ?

His collaborator, Dr. Forchhamm er,came to the conclusion

that the Talaing States became po litical dependencies ofpowerful Hindu colonies ex isting in Pegu before the eleventhcentury

,and adopted Hindu codes from them ? We cannot '

venture here to do more than record the Burmese tradi tion .

1 See The Laws of Alana, translation by G. B'

Iihler with introduction,SBE. , vol. xxv , and J . Jolly, Recht und Sit te , Grundriss, i i , 8.

2 The Burmese Db ammathats’are the base of Buddhist law as now

administered in Burma. ‘ The Pal i scholar, ’ says Sir John Jardine,ought to have preceded the judge.

’Sir John Jardine himself cal led the

Pal i scho lar to the judge’s aid, most fortunately for those interested in thePal i li terature.

3 Jardine Priz e Essay, pp. 38, 62, 63.


useless,illogical penalties . Their system is described as a civil

code punishing every crim e or offence with fines, demandingcompensation which is p I

‘

Op ortionate to the amount of damageoccasioned by one person to another ’ . ‘ Morally no punishment can be inflic ted,

’ says Forchhamm er,‘ because in the

Buddhist ’ s belief every deed will wi th unerring certaintybring its own definite reward or punishment, which cannot beincreased or diminished by the appreciation or condemnation of

o ther beings . ’ 1 Forchhamme r’

s study of the Wagaru led himto believe that the Talaing law-code , Indian in origin , reflectsthe social and religious conditions of ancient India duringthe supremacy of Buddhism? and can claim to belong toa Buddhi st Ma

'

nava school earlier than the well-known Brahmanic recension oi Manu ? The translator of the Wagaru ,unhappily

,did not l ive to follow up the researches he had

begun ,and by which he might have found a firm foundation

for this theory. It remains an interesting conj ecture . Wemust leave i t for the present where he left it

,to trace the

stages of development through which the Pali and Burmese

Dhammasatthas passed, from the predominance of the HinduInst itutes preserved by the Talaings to the victory of the

Buddhist tradition embodied in the later codes,where the

Vinaya and Suttapitakas are the authority and the Ji takasupplies precedents and examples .The Wagaru was translated into Pali in the sixteenthcentury by a Talaing j uri st wi th the auspicious name of

Buddhaghosa.

4 ‘With him,

’

Forchhamm er says,

‘ begins theauthenticated histo ry of Burmese Dhammathats.

’ Buddha

ghosa’

s Manu sara Is a Pali translation of the Wagaru

Dhammasattha,till then only known in the Talaing language

f’

In the seventeenth century another code , the Mann-Yin , 6 was

1 See Jardine Priz e Essay, pp . 6 1,62.

2 For a description of these conditions see Rhys Davids’

Buddhist India

Story of the Nations series) , 1903 .

3 See Jardine Priz e Essay, p . 38.

4 Needless to sa the Buddhaghosa of commentary fam e profits by theco incidence. The alaing tradition makes the indefatigable sage the bearerofHindu law-books to Ramahha in the fifth century (No tes, pt. i i i , p . x) .

3 See No tes on B uddhist Law,pt. vii i

,p. 2 .

3 Manoo Reng. See Notes on B uddhist Law,Introd. Remarks, p. x i i .


compiled in verse . It is in substance the Wagaru Dhamm asattha , but contains addi tional matter from the hp yatton

r decisions that i s,Burmese ancient customary law,

purelyBuddhistic and founded chiefly on certain Jti takas? A seventeenth-century version of the Dhammavilzi sa Dhammasattha

,

datiad 1650 2 and drawn up by a second Dhammavilai sa ,i s also

call ed a Manu Dhammasat tha ; very characteristic of the laterperiod i s the introduction of a Buddhist element , absentin the Talaing o riginal , for instance , quotations from theDhammapada .The next stage in the history of the law-te x ts i s one ofmarked change and development. Alaungp aya had proved himself a pitiless destroyer

,but he proposed to build up a sound

administration for his new kingdom . Some law-codes werecompiled at his command

,a Manu-Yin in 1756, the important

Manu-Kyay in 1758 and a third,the Daraj javit z

'

irani.

The Manu-Kyay exists only in the Burmese version,‘ but be longs

to Pali literature by the fact that it i s largely grounded on

canonical Pali text s,namely

,Ji takas ( the Mahosadha and

Vidhura and other ex trac ts from the Suttapitaka) , the Milinda

pafiha, the Samantap iiszidikfi (Buddhaghosa’

s commentary on

the Vinaya) , the Kankhfivitarani (commentary on the Patimokkha) , the Visuddhimagga, and the Sa

'

ratthadipanitikzifi

By the time Burmese law i s crystallized into this famous codeand the hardly less famous Manuvannana,

3 we can see how

1 The Vidhura andMahosadha Jatakas are examples of Jatakas dear tothe Buddhist lawgiver. See

,for the Burmese version of the famous

Vidhura Jataka,the translation by Mr. R. F. St . Andrew St . John in

JRAS. , 1896.

2 No tes, pt . i v, p. 5,and pt. vii

,p. 2.

3 See Notes on B uddhist Law,pt. i v, Introd. Pre face

,p . 4 . The author

was Bhumm aj eyya Mahasiri U t tamaj eyya. Sir John Jardine po ints outresemblances between the law ofmarriage and divorce in the Manu-Kyayand the Hindu code

,Vyavaharamayukha , in force in the Dekkhan (No tes,

pt . i v,blished at Moulmein and translated into English byDr. Richardson

in 1847.

3 Tika on the Vinaya, by Saripu ttara, wri tten in the reign ofNarapatisi thu. P.TII . p . 38 ; Forchhammer, List, p. i v . See also Notes, pt. i ii,Introd. Rem arks

,p. 12

,and pt. i v, Introd. Preface, pp. 4 and 5 .

3 The Manuvahnana Dhammasat tha was published in 1898 by ColonelHorace Brown. See Notes on Buddhist Law,

pt. i i,p . 1 .


the spirit of Buddhist ethics has permeated the Dhammasatthasand supplied the place of those religious sanctions which wecan hardly imagine absent from an Indian legal text. TheManu-Kyay professes a respect for learning ; only such men ,i t says

,should be made j udges who are acquainted with the

Pi takas and the Vedas.1

Hsin-hpyu-shin followed the example of his father,and by

his order several law-books were written between 1766 and1774 among these were the Manusara-shwe-myin , theManuvannana and the Vinic chayap akzisani The author

,

Vanna-kyaw-din , was a pupil of the Sangharaj a Jamb udip aAnantadhaja. He is said to have been still a member of theOrder when he wrote the first-named work . A poetical versionof the Manu-Yin mentioned above , known as the Manuyinlankai ,

is ascribed to him . The aid of theras learned in the Tripi takawas thought necessary by this time , and we are told that themonks Te josara, Chandap anna, and Touugdwin Kyaw assistedthe council of j urists called together at Ava by Hsin-hpyu -shin?An example of a modern law-text i s the Mohavicchedani}written in the year 1832 by Rz

'

ij abala-kyaw-din . It is composed in Pali verses Forchhammer has an interestingnote on this work , in which he says :

‘ It differs in one

important point from all other Burmese law-books . Manuthe Rishi [i.e . sage] has entirely disappeared . Rzi jab ala-kyawdin

,aware probably of the incongruity of placing Manu in

the Buddhist pantheon , as had been done by the j urists of theAlompraic period, and not finding any reference in theBuddhist scriptures that could support Manu in the dignity

1 Notes, pt . i v, Introd. Preface

,7 on the Vedas

,se e above, pp. 50, 5 1 .

2 There Is a rather significant ifl’

e rence between the Burmese and Pal iversions of the Manuvan

o

nana. III the former there are frequent allusionsto the Vyakaranas and Other works translated by the king’s commandfrom the Sanskrit (on astro logy, palmistry, medicine, and erotics). Thesereferences are absent from the Pal i version

,which

,compo sed by a monk,

shows the influence of the author’s monasti c tradi tions.3 At this council was prepared the Lankasara ( the co llective name bywhich theManuvannana andManusara are known) . See Notes on B uddhist

Law, pt. i v, Introd. Preface

,p . 5 .

‘1 See No tes on B uddhist Law,pt. vi , p. 1 . Note by Forchhamm er and

translation by Maung Theka Phyoo of the Law of Inheri tance accordingt o the Mohavicchedam Dhammathat .


of religion .

’ The Seisanavam sa i s at pains to Show that heconsulted learned monks and mini sters on various questionsc oncerning the king ’ s duty to the fraternity , the perpetuityof grant s of land for religious purposes

,and so forth . These

di scussions led to much research in ancient texts . On one

of those occasions a minister,who was an authori ty on the

Vinaya,laid down the principle that lands granted by kings

in former t imes , for the building of cetiyas and rihdras,should

be perpetually reserved to the Order . He fearlessly sough ta precedent as far back as the time of the Buddha Suj z

'

tta, andthe king was entirely sa ti sfied?Hpa-gyi-doa was a respecter of tradition . Under his auspicesthe modern Raj avam sa (chronicle of the kings) was compiledat Pagan ? His preceptor Pafinasiha 3 was appointed SupremeHead of the Order . There i s no mention in the Sei sanavam sa

of any books written by him .

Hpa-gyi-doa’ s time

,ei ther as a patron of the Order or as lo rd

of kings was very short. In 1824 war was formally declaredby the British Government against Burma

,and two years

of desperate fighting followed . The death of his generalMahfibandula broke the Burmese king ’ s courage . The queenand other partisans of war had perhaps inspired him tillthen with some hopes of victory, but the Bri tish occupationof Rangoon

,Pegu City

,and Arakan dealt these hopes

a mortal blow . In 1826 the B urmese submit ted , and thetreaty of Yandabfi was signed .

Hpa-gyi-doa saw his kingdom reduced and his power crippled .

Something in thi s man failed then,where his forerunners

Alaungp aya and BodOp aya'

I would have risen u p in anothereffort . He sank into listless melancholy and inefficiency, and

in 1837 was depo sed by his younger brother Thariiwadi-min ?

Tharz'

Iwadi-min , who died insane , showed in his earlier days

1 Sas.,p . 145 .

2 In 1830. It was printed in the reign ofMin-dOn-m in. See E. Huber,BEFEO .

, tome i v , pp. 494 seq .

3 Of Sal in miyo , afterwards Munindabhisirisaddhammadhaj amaha

dhamm arajadhirajaguru .

“1 Siripavaradityalokadhipat i, 1837. Phayre , History of Burma,p. 287

Sas.

,p. 146.

THE PALI LITERATURE or BURMA 9 1

great respect for the Order. His first preceptor, Suriyavam sa,

was proclaimed Supreme Head by a royal decree . When thisthera died he received , the Si sanavamsa tell s us , extraordinaryfuneral honours . His pupilNeyyadhamma was then appo intedSangharai jfi ; i t was he who received at Amarapura animportant SiI

'

Ihalese mission,including the learned PaI

'

II'

Iz'

Itissa

and some others . Neyyadhamm a’

s pupils were numerous,and

he was an enthusiast ic teacher. As the chronicler says,

1 ‘ inorder that religion might long endure and that his hearersm igh t easily arrive at full comprehension

,he

,with the aid

of various books,revised the tex t of the Saddhamm apajotikai ,

commentary on the Mahziniddesa, and made a translationthereof into Burmese .

”

The Sei sanavam sa does not mention any other scholars ofthis reign .

Tharziwadi -min ’ s son and successor, Pagan min , 3 onlyappears in the Si sanavam sa to mark the date of some eminentscho lars of the time

,among whom Neyyadhammi bhivam sa i s

mentioned as the author of a Burmese translation of theSaddhamm avilei sini,

‘ the commentary on Patisamb hidfimagga

(of the Khuddakanikziya) . Neyyadhamm zibhivam sa’

s chiefpupil , Pannasam i, a young monk of five years ’ standing, beganhis scholarly career at this time . His work as a chronicler

(he was the author of the Si sanavam sa) i s of special interestfor us . His first essay was a translation into Burmese of

a commentary on difficul t passages (Ganthip adatthavannanfi)o f the venerable grammatical work Saddat thabhedacintfi ? Tenyears later

,afte r much labour and comparison of texts, he

produced a revised edition of the commentary on the Abhidhfinap p adip ikzi

3 and translate d i t into Burmese .

1 Si s,p . 148.

2 The commentary on the Mahanidde sa ( the eleventh book of the

Khuddakanikaya) was composed in Ceylon by Upasena. Sas. , p. 33 ;}V .

,p . 70 .

3 SIripavaradityavijayanantayasamahadhammarajadhiraja, 1846 , Sas. ,

p . 148. He is described briefly but so drastical ly by Yule, in the Missionto the Court of Ava

,that we can hardly b e surprised at the silence of the

Sasanavamsa .

1 By Mahanama of Ceylon. Sas. ,p. 33 .


3 See above, p. 27 .


Pafififisami succeeded his master as Sangharaj a In thefollowing reign . It is rather curious that no t a single Pal icomposition is mentioned by him as belonging to this decade .His colleagues were nevertheless very active , especially intranslating from the Pali . The Angu t tara Samyu tta andD ighanikéiyas were translated with their commentaries. Theauthors of these translations were respectively Pannaj otz

’

i

b hidhaj a , Manij otasaddhamm zi lamkzi ra,and Medhfibhivamsa?

W e now come to the closing scene of the old Order inBurma . The last of the pious and zealous Burmese kings

,

perhaps the most sincere of all and the most single-mindedin his support of religion

,came to the throne. This was

M in-dOn-min,whose reign

,lasting from 1852 to 1877, was

a period of peace,good government

,and general content , while

religion,we are told

,was practised wi th a new enthusiasm not

only in the monasteries but in every rank of the laity . Theking ’ s command and example

,as of old

,were all-powerful ;

and Min-dO'

n-min was not like BodOpayii . His tutor and eulogist,the author of the Siisanavam sa

,says less of cet

‘iyas and

monasteries presented to the Sangha than of the vigour withwhich religious studies were carried on and the precepts ofthe Buddha observed.

These were golden days,if they are rightly reflected in

the verses quoted by Pafifiaszim i from his own poem , theNEgarzi j up p attikathfi? written to commemorate the foundingo f the new capital Mandalay (Pali : Ratanap unna) .

3 PafiIi zI

szim i’

s Nfigaraj upp atti has rather more artistic pretensions thanthe Rfijfidhirfijavilfisini, being composed in coupletsthroughout

,whereas Nfiniibhivam sa ventures into verse at the

beginning and end of his work merely to give a few specimensof metres . The tone of the two works , however, i s the sameconventional eulogy

,with quotations from the Jfitaka and

references to legendary and historic kings , Mahzi sudassana,

Mandhz'

itu ,As’ oka . Needless to say , this was an auspicious

time for scholarship . Pannasam i , himself a prolific writer,

1 Sas.

,p. 148 .

2 Si s ,pp. 149 , 153 .

3 Founded in 1857.


In 1868—71 1 a great assembly of learned monks and teacherswas summoned together at the capital , where , the king presiding ,they read or recited the sacred tex ts to restore the best readings .Dv the royal order a complete tex t of the Trip i taka was thenengraved on stone tablets and p laced in shrines . This traditionalact duly recorded

,we come to another of an importance perhaps

little suspected by M in -dOn-min ’ s counsellors—the inaugurationof the first printing-press in Upper Burma .

In 1885 Min-dOn -min ’ s successor lost his throne and theBritish Army occupied Mandalay . The palace and even themonastery libraries paid their tribute to the conquerors , who ,fortunately

,were careful (like Anorata) to bear their treasure

to safe places,house it with honour

,and keep it wi thin the reach

o f inquiring scholars .Of the changes brought about in Burma by the annexationwe have no occasion to speak here . They affected theBuddhist religion and the Order very little . The author of

A Peop le at School 2 points out that the monks of Burmahave ceased o f late years to exert that direct influence inthe affairs of the community which they are known to haveused for good while Buddh ist kings ruled

,and that they

have withdrawn more strictly in to the cloistered religious life .But their spiritual authority with the people i s by no meanslessened , and of their literary activity we have abundantevidence in the multitude of modern Pali and Burmese worksnow printed in Burma . The elaborate Oflic ial li sts of publicat ions in Burma issued by the Indian Government are alsoinstructive and interesting from this point of view.

We cannot conclude our brief survey without a glance at thislatest period , the era of the printing-press .We must begin wi th Lower Burma

,where

,in consequence of

the British occupation , printing was introduced earlier than inMandalay. Here we find works by modern Burmese authorsand reprints of ancient classics published in increasing numbersfrom 1870 onwards .

1 Up p er Burma Ga z etteer,vol. i

,p . 66 B uddhism,

1905 , p. 425 .

2 See Fielding Hall,A Peop le a t School

,pp. 255 , 257.


There i s little to be said about these works. We notice

a number of new editions of short te xt s that have becomehousehold words wi th the laity

,such as the Parit-ta 1 and the

famous Mangalasu t ta,1 Burmese translations of these and

popular works such as the Lokaniti, Namakara,and Ratana

p anjara, the last two of which are devotional poems .2

Then we come to vocabularies , works of grammar and rhetoric ,among which should be noticed theKei vyasfiratthasangaha

by a learned and prolific author , Chakkind'

ci bhisiri,and the

Alankfiranissaya, of the Yaw-mya-sz'

a Atwin-wun (written inThis latter i s an example of that care to preserve

the old traditions of scholarship which we have already no ticed ,and which is still characteristic of the Burmese Palists. TheAlankfiranissaya i s an edition of Safigharakkhita

’

s Sub odhz’

i

lanké ra? wi th a commentary .

In 1882 appeared the Lokaniti of Chakkindzi bhisiri, anethical poem in Pali

,published with a Burmese version .

A characteristic l ittle work of the same date is the Up zisakavinic chaya, a co llection of Pali quo tations on the religiousduties of laymen . The collection was translated and comm ented in Burmese by a monk of Prome

,Pannaram si. A

work bearing the Pali title Kammavinic chaya, but written inBurmese , may be mentioned here , as , fo rtunately for us , it hasbeen studied and expounded in English by a Burmese scho lar

,

Shwe Z an Aung .

4 The author ’ s name is Séigaravam szi bhidhaja.

Modern works dealing with that standard work of met aphysic ,the Abhidhammatthasangaha, are ve numerous . To take anexample

,a summary of this important text

,with commentary

by U Tin,was published at Maulm ein in 1883 under the

t itle Sarfipat thadip ani ; the Abhidhamm atthasangahap arit ta, byMaung Tun Aung

,in 1897 ; the Abhidhammatthasangahaganthi

thit in 1898 (by U Tissa and U Janinda) and several issues ofthe text it self at various times .


2 These poems reappear in several modern col lections,such as the

Hyauk saung twe, Hsay saung twe , e tc .

3 On rhe tori c (v. JPTS. ,1882

,p .

‘1Buddhism

,October, 1905 , vol. II, No . 1 , pp. 58 ff.


Jagarabhidhaja i s a modern author who has written bo thgrammatical and religious treati se s. His works include theDhammap ana shu - bwe (moral and philosophical stanzas inPali with Burmese interpretation , published in theUp zisakovzida (edifying discourses to the laity, theOvédakathfi, the Navaniyamadip ani (254 aphorisms on Paligrammar) , and the Saddam edhani (an essay on various termsof Pali grammar) . The same author edited later ( 1903) thePai ra

'

j ika and Pficittiya sections of the Vinaya , wi th Burmeseinterpretation . It i s interesting to see that Jagarabhidhajaedited a passage from the Sanskrit Lalitavistara called theKfimfidinakathfi.

A rather curious specimen of a modern work in anotherbranch of Pali-Burmese literature i s the At thass

’

rliniganthi

(or At thasfiliniganthi-thit) , published in Rangoon in 1900.

This work,described as Notes on diflicult po ints in Buddhist

philosophy ’

, i s briefly analyzed as follows fo r the guidanceof readers : ‘A book of expositions on various subj ects , namely,on the grammatical construction o f the Tip itaka or theBuddhist scriptures ; on the accoun t of Kathiivat thu or bookof controverted points ; on the thirty events which alwaystake place on the concept ion of an embryo Buddha ; on thethreefold divisions of the religion ; on the six kinds of divineeffulgence ; on the relative heights of the Bodhi-tree andBuddha ’ s throne ; on the thirty-two signs manifested on thebirth of embryo Buddha and on the promulgation of his law ;on the solicitation of a divine communication of the hermitSum edha at the hands of Dip ankara Buddh a regarding hisfuture Buddhahood ; on the principal causes of ex istence ; onthe derivation of the names of Sfirip ut tarti and Moggallzina ; onthe four kinds of lions ; on the si x PaI

'

II'

Iattis or m anifestations ;on the ten Bi ramis or virtues ; on the Catup arisuddhisilam or

four precepts of purity ; on the four castes of the Brahmins ;on the a ttributes of Buddhist Trinity ; on the li st of Rahanswho convened the Buddhist councils on the law of abstrusenesson the num erousness of ex istences ; on the three kinds of

Pahinas or getting rid of one ’ s lust ; on evil acts ; on thethree methods of teaching Buddhist scriptures ; on the four


treatise on Meditation , and Book of Instruction) , Paramidipani (on Virtue) , Saddasankhep a (a manual of Pali grammar) ,Pab b fijaniyakammavaca (Pali stanzas for recitation as charms) ,Dhammadipani (exposition of the Law) , Maggangadip ani (theEightfold Path explained) , Patic casam up p a

'

idadip ani (reflectionson the causes of transmigration) , Paramatthasankhepa (manualof Abhidhamma) , Sac cat thadipani (the Four Sublime Truthsexplained) , Vij j iimaggadipani, Lakkhanadip ani (the Way toEnlightenment

,the Three Characteristics) , Ahiiradip ani, Sila

vinic chaya (on Food and the Precepts ofd ipani (on Mutability) , D zinadip ani (on Chari ty) , and Dhammade sansi (religious teaching)These works represent

"

fairly well the fields where Paliflourishes to-day—dissertations on points of doc trine , 'hom ilies

and exhortations , verses which may be called either charms‘

or

prayers,decisions on points of discipline, manuals of metaphysic,

treatises on Pali grammar. To abundance of”

new works of"'

this

kind modern scholars now add a pious and most useful contrib u tion,

careful edit ions of the Tip itaka texts and commentaries .A group of writings very insignificant in size , but interesting ,or rather curious , from the mere fact of the Pali languagebeing found in such a connex ion , i s the class of little worksheaded science in the Pali-Burmese lists . The sciences inquestion are chiefly astrology and cosmography

,

1 but medicaltreatises occur here and there . And this reminds us again of

a field in Burma which merits diligent exploration . While thePali literature represents vastly more than any other the influence

of India on Further India, we should not pass over the factthat a store of Sanskrit learning by no means negligible hasex isted from tim e immemorial in that outlying country . Thisstore was always held strictly in Brahmanic keeping . The kings .

of Burma were generally not only the nominal but real andenergetic patrons of learning

,and the Brahmans

,at all times

counsellors and soothsayers in the royal palaces, had an indirectinfluence on culture . Forchhamm er encountered an extreme

1 Examples are the It thip urisa-angavijja-

p akinnaka-kyan, a handbook

of divination 0 11 the formation of the hands and other parts of the body,and a tika on the Makarandaveda

,a handbook of astro logy.


reserve in the Hindu guardians of Brahmanic lore which baffledeven his determination and patience as an inquirer. But hisconclusion was that ‘ there exists a . real Sanskrit literaturein Burma wri tten on paper like in India

,wi th Nagari and

Bengali characters . These records are in the hands of thedesc

'

endants of Hindu colonists , who at different periods , someeven before the spread of Buddhism in Burma , settled in thiscountry ’

. He adds : Burma deserves to be drawn withinthe circle of tho se countries where researches of Sanskritreco rds ought to be made. ’ 1 And an eminent epigraphist hassaid very lately , we are beginning to obtain valuable recordsin Burma .

’ 2 Ancient links connect India with Burma ; we

can only hope to restore them gradually , and there are manyquestions which , with all i ts wealth of legend and chronicle

,

the Pali l iterature does not answer fully ?

The great historical service of the Pali literature i s to showthe peculiarly Buddhistic character of Burmese civilization .

Histo ry in the modern and critical sense we cannot demandof it any more than we demand philology or bio logy treatedwith European methods . We need not consider here thepossibility of adapting the Pali language to modern knowledge or critical di scussion . The true Pali l iterature is traditional. We may read now , as in old days

,of differences

of doctrine or opposed schools in the Southern Buddhistcommunity ? But these seem , from our far-off point ofobservation , to be a hardly perceptible eddy here and there inthe calm main stream of Buddhist belief, as we see it in the

1 Forchhamm er,Rep or t on Literary Work, 1879—80, p . 13.

2 J . F . Fleet in Indian Ep igrap hy, p . 63 : The Imp eria l Gaz etteer ofIndia The Indian Emp ire Oxford, 1907.

3 To take one instance : the chronicles hand on an ancient tradi tionthat a royal Ksatriya tribe came from India at a very early period and

founded an Indian dynasty in Upper Burma. European scholarscautiously admit that there was an Indian immigration by the northernroute

,but at what date and for what reason we do no t know . Se e

Phayre , History of Burma ,p. 3 . Phayre points ou t that in Lassen’ s

opinion the legend of an Indian dynasty is not quite without foundation .

See Forchhamm er,On the ancient Mahamuni Pagoda inArakan Rep ort

on Arakan,p. 1 .

1 D ifferences in the sects are ‘ largely academic’. See Burma

,vol. i ,

p . 41 Imp erial Gaz etteer of India , Provincial Series, Calcutta, 1908 .


religious and scholarly literature of Burma . Having followedthat stream back to its mediaeval sources , and yet further toits remote Indian origin , we cannot but feel impressed by thecontinuity of its progress

,the force of i ts unbroken tradition.

Buddhism in Burma has sufi ered nothing parallel to the

Mohammedan invasion of India , but the history of FurtherIndia has been tempestuous enough . When we follow in thechronicles the struggle of those neighbour states

,we must

needs wonder at the Law that never failed,in the end

,to

dominate barbarism,to make customs milder and laws more

j ust, to do away with barriers by raising men above them .

Of that Righteous Law as a social and intellectual influencethe Pali li terature i s an almost complete embodim en t . Thus

,

to use the ancient m etaphor, India conquered Burma . Of allthe conquests in historv none has been more enduring or moreb eneficent .


of the works in question are in the Bernard Free Library at

Rangoon . A few note s are added,but there is obviously room

for many more suggestions and conjectures .

List cop iedfrom the Inscrip tion.

1 . P5r5jikakandé .

‘ 23 . Dhfitukathfi.

2 . Pac ittiya. 24 . Puggalapaiifiat ti.

3 . Bhikkhunivibhanga. 25 . Kath'

avatthu .

4 . Vinayamahfivagga. 26 . Malayamaka.

5 . Vinayacfilavagga. 27. Indriyayamaka.

6 . Vinayap arivfira. 28 . Tikapatthfina.

7. Paraj ikakanda-atthakatha. 29 . Dukatikap atthTana.

8 . Pacittiyfidi-atthakatb fi. 30. Dukap atthana.

9 . Paraj ikakanda-tik'

a. 3 1 . At thasfilini-atthakatha'

.

10 . Terasakanda-tika. 32 . Sammohavinodani

1 1 . Vinayasangraha-atthakatb é atthakathé .

(the greater) . 33 . Paficapakarana-atthakath5 .

12 . Vinayasangraha-atthakatha 34 . Abb idhamma-anu tikfi.

‘

( the less) . 35 . Abhidhammatthasangaha

13 . Kankhavitarani atthakatha. atthakatha.

14 . Khuddasikkha tika (ancient) . 36 . Abhidhammatthasangaha

15 . Khuddasikkha-ti'

kfi (new) .16 . Kankha-tika (new ) . 37 . Abhidhammatthavibhfivani

17 . Vinayaganthip ada. tik'

a.

1 8 . Vinaya-u ttarasiiicaya 38 . Silakkhandha.

3

atthakatha?39 . Mahavagga

fi

19 . Vinayasificaya-tikii ( later) . 40 . Pi theyya

?

2 0 . Vinayakandhaniddesa. 4 1 . Silakkhandha-atthakatha.

2 1. Dhammasafigani? 42 . Mahavagga

-atthakathfi.

22 . VibhaiIga. 43 . Patheyya-atthakatha.

1 Nos. 1 20 are works belonging to or commenting on the Vinaya.(Edi ted by Hermann Oldenberg. Vinayap itakam , 5 vols , 1879 , e tc.

Khuddasikkha andMu lasikkha. See edi tion ofE. Muller,JPTS

2 Sic text of inscription Read sancaya, anthology or collec tiOIi.3 Abhidhamma (Nos. 21 See Dhammasangam ,

ed. E. Muller, Pal iText Society, 1885 ; Vibhanga, ed. Caro l ine F. Rhys Davids, PTS. , 1904 ,

Dhatukatha, ed. EdmundgGooneratne , PTS.

,1892 (with comm ) ;

Puggalapafifiat ti, ed. Richard Morris, PTS. , 1883 ; Dukapat thana and

Tikapat thana, ed. Caroline F . Rhys Davids, PTS.,1906 ; Kathavat thu ,

ed. Arno ld Taylor, PTS., 1894—7, 2 vo ls . At thasalini (comm. on Dhammasanganij3

ed. E. Miiller, PTS., 1897.

hammapala of Ceylon. Sas. p. 33 .

3 See Dighanikaya (Nos. 38 ed. Rhys Davids andEstlin Carpente r,PTS.

,1889 , e t c . , 3 vols.


Silakkhandha-tika.

Mahavagga-tika.

Patheyya-tika.

Mfilapannasa.

‘

Mfilap annfisa-atthakath‘

a.

Mfilapann'

asa-tika.

Maj jhimapannasa.

‘

Majjhimapannasa-attha~

katha.

Maj jhimap annasa-tika.

Uparipannasa.

Uparip annfisa-atthakatha.

UpaIipannasa-tik

'

a.

Sffigathavaggasamyutta.

2

sagfithavaggasamyutta

atthakatha.

Sfig’

athavaggasamyutta- tika.

Nidanavaggasamyutta.

Nidanavag gasamyu tta

at thakatha.

Khandhavaggasamyutta.

Khandhavaggasamyut ta- tika.

Salayatanavaggasamyu tta.

Salayatanavaggasamyu tta

atthakatha.

Mahavaggasamyutta.

1 See Majjhimanikaya (Nos. 47 ed. V. Trenckner (vol. i ) andRobertCha lmers (vo ls . i i and iii), PTS.

, 1888- 1902.

2 See Samyut tanikaya (Nos. 56 ed. Léon Peer. 5 vols. Vol. viindices. By Mrs . Rhys Davids. PTS.

,1884—98.

3 See Angu t taranikaya (Nos. 66 ed. R. Morris (vols . i and i i ) andEdmund Hardy (v .ols III- v) , PT8 1885—1900 .

4 See Khuddakanikaya and commentaries (Nos.77 Khuddakapatha,ed. R. C. Childers , JRAS 1870 ; Dhamma ed. V . Fausboll ( l st cd. ,

1855 ,2ud Buddhavamsa an Cariyap itaka, ed. R. Morris,

PTS. , 188 2 ; Udana, ed. Paul Steinthal , PTS. , 1885 ,Itivu ttaka

,ed.

E. Windiscli, PTS., 1889 ; Su t tanip ata, ed. V . Fausb 611, PTS., 1884 ;

Vimanavat thu ,ed. E. K. Goone ratne , PTS. , 1886 ; Vimanavat thu

at thakatha, ed. E. Hardy, PTS.

,1901 ; Petavat thu , ed. J . P. Minayefl

'

,

PTS. ,1889 j Pe tavat thu-at thakatha

,ed. E. Hardy, PTS.

,1894 ; The

Tb eragatha and Therigatha, ed. H. Oldenberg R.

Therigatha at thakatha, ed. E. Miiller, PTS. , 1893 ; Jataka and at thakatha,ed. V.

gFausboll,

’ vo ls . Other texts are in course of publi cation b y thePali Text Society.

Ekadukatika-afiguttarafi

Catukanipata-ang'

uttara.

Paficanipata-anguttara.

Cha-sattanip'

ata-angu ttara.

Attha-navanipata-angu ttara.

Dasae kadasanipata-angu ttara

Ekam’

pata anguttara attha

kath'a.

Dukatikacatukanipata

angu ttara-atthakatha.

Paficadi-angut tara-at thakatha

Anguttara-tika [I] .Anguttara-tika

Khuddakap'

atha te x t andatthakatha.

‘

Dhammapada tex t andatthakatha.

Udana tex t and atthakatha.

Itivu ttaka text and attha

katha.

Suttanip'

ata text and attha

katha.

Vimanavatthu tex t and

atthakatha.

Petavat thu text and attha

katha.

104 THE BALI L ITERATURE or BURMA

84 . Thera(g§ thi ) text and atthu 100 . Jataka-tika.

katha. 101 . Dumajataka-atthakatha.

85 . Theri(gatha) text and attha 102 . Apadana .katha. 103 . Apadana-atthakatha.

86 . Pathacariya.

‘ 104 . Patisambhidamagga.

‘

87. Ekanipatajataka-atthakatha. 105 . Patisamb hidamagga

88 . Dukanipatajataka-attha atthakatha.

katha. 106 . Patisambhidamagga

89 . Tikanipatajataka-atthakatha. ganthipada.

90. Catuka-pa'r’ica-chanipata 107. Visuddhimagga-atthakatha.

jataka-atthakatha. 108 . Visuddhimagga-tika.

9 1 . Satta—atthu-navanipata jataka 109 . Buddhavamsa-atthakatha.

atthakathfi. 1 10 . Cariyap itaka-atthakatha.

92 . Dasa-ekadasanipataj ataka 1 1 1 . Namarfip a-tika (new ) .5

atthakatha. 1 12 . Paramatthavinic chaya

9 3 . Dvadasa-terasa-p akinnakanipatajataka-at thakatha. 1 13 . Mohaviechedani.

9 4. isati jataka-atthakatha. 1 14 . Lokap afiiiatti.’

95 . Jatattaki-sotattaki-nidana 1 15 Mohanayana.

atthakath'

a.

2 1 16 . Lokup patti.

9 6 . Cfilaniddesafi 1 17 . Arunavati.

97. Cfilaniddesa-atthakatha. 1 18 . Chagatidipani .

“

98 . Mahaniddesa. 1 19 . Sahassaramsimalini.’

99 . Mahaniddesa.

’ 120 . Dasavat thu .

9

1 Text of Cariyap itaka ( l) .2 A Sotatthaki

,wri tten in Ceylon, is mentioned in the Pitakat thamain

,

p . 58 .

3 Mahaniddesa,a part of the Khuddakanikaya, ‘ bein an exposi tion by

Sarip ut ta of sixteen suttas which compose the fourth ook or At thaka

vagga of the Sut tanipata’

(see Catalogue of Pali-B urmese MSS. in the'

BritishMuseum ) . The Culan° is the second part of the Niddesa.

Ed. Arno ld Taylor, PTS. ( 1905Namarupapariccheda[ppakarana] is a treatise belonging to the

l i terature on the Abhidhamma,being an exposition of the Buddhistic

philosophical term Namarup am or Name and Form,by Anuruddha

c ariya’

(E.M. Pal i and Burmese Catalogue) . The terms new (ormodern)and old (ancient) are translated here from Burmese thit and liming .

8 On the Abhidhamma. This work (byAnuruddha) is in Forchhamm er’

s

List , p . xvii i .7 By Saddhammaghosa of That6n.

3 By Saddhamm aghosa of Thatbn. See Forchhammer, List, p . xxvi .9 Sahassaram si

,mentioned in F.TH. ,

p . 55 , is a tika on the Mahab odhivamsa, It was wri tten at Pagan in the reign ofNarapati, A.D. 1 174 (B .E.

Dasavat thu,Sahassavat thu , and Sihalavat thu we re composed in Ceylon.

The authors are unknown to the F.TH. (p. On Petakopadesa see

D issertation,by Rudolf Fuchs, Berl in, 1908.


163 . Samb andhacintatika.

1 179 . Kac cayanasara.

164 . Ri'

Ipavatara.

2 1 80. Balapp ab odhana.

“

165 . Saddavat‘

ara. 181 . Atthasalini .

166 . Saddhammadipaka. 182 . Atthasalini-nissaya.

1 67 . Sotam é lini fi 183 . Kacc‘

ayana-nissaya.

168 . Sambandhamalini .

‘ 184 . Rupasiddhi-nissaya.

169 . Padavahamahacakka 185 . Jataka-nissaya.

[Padavatara 186 . Jatakaganthi.

170. 1 87. DhammapadaganthI-nissaya.

17 1 . Kataca [Krt-cakra 1 88 . Kammavac'

a.

12

172 . Mahaka [°

kappa or 189 . Dhammasat ta.

”

°kaccayana 190 . Kalapapai

'

icika

173 . Balat tajana [Balavataranafl 19 1 . Kalapapaficika-tika.

1 74 . Sut tfivali. ‘ 192 . Kalapasu ttap ratifiiiasaku

1 75 . Akkharasammohacchedani f'O

p atififiapaka] tika.

176 . Ce tiddhinemiparigatha 193 . Brindo—tikfi.

15

[sic] 1 94 . Rattamala.

”

177 . Samasataddhitadipani .

8 195 . Rattamala-tika.

1 78 . Bij akkhyam .

919 6 . Roganidana.

”

1 See above, p. 22, and F.TH.,p. 67.

2 A treatise on iIiflec tion3 Sotabbamalini The work of that name is a collection of edifying

tales.4 A treatise on syntactical relation (Cl).5 Kvadi Moggallana, a treatise on gender by Sangharakkhita based on

Moggallana.

3 Sut tavali Sutras ofKac cayana7 On analysis of words or correct dIvision of syllables .8 On compounds and suffixes. 9 Bijakkhyam ,

on algebra10 See above, pp. 36, 37.

‘ 1 Wri tten at Vijayapura (Panya) , author not known . F.TH. , p . 72 .

12 See above, pp. 6, 7.

13 Dharmacastra (Law code). See above, pp . 33, 84.1“ Commentary on the Katantra grammar (see above, p . Forchhammer

, Rep ort , 1879—80, p. 12 (

‘ The Katantra seems to have been themost influential of these later grammars [not belonging to the Panineansystem] , having served as a model for the standard Pal i grammar of

Kacchayana and for the native grammars of the Tibetans and DravidiansA. A. Macdonell , article Sanskrit Litera ture in the Imp erial Gaz etteer ofIndia ( The Indian Emp ire, vol. i i , p. 251 ) see also Weber, Ind. Litera tur

geschiclz te, 2nd cd.

,pp . 243 , 336 also the text Katantra ofSarvavarman with

the commentary of Durgasimha, ed. J . Eggeling, B ibl. Indica, vol. lxxxi .“5 Probably Vrnda, the medical treatise by the author of that name.

Se e Jo lly, Alediein, pp. 4 and 6 (Grundriss, i i i ,"3 Perhaps Ratnamala. Possibly the famous dictionary Abhidhana

ratnamala, of Halayudha, about the middle of the tenth century. See

Z achariae, Die Indigo/zen Worterbu’

clzer (Grundriss, i , p . 5, and

Ludwig Heller’s Haldyudha’s Ii

'

aviraizasya (Gettingen,17 Medicine

,possibly the Madhavanidana or a work based on that

Haup twer/c. See Jolly, Medicin,p . 7.


197. Dab raguna.

‘ 2 14. Sei rasaI'

Igaha.

‘0

19 8. Dab raguna-tika. Sfirap inda.

199 . Chandoviciti.2 2 16 . Patipattisangaha .

200. 2 1 7. Salacharaka.

“

vrtti] . 2 18 . Palatakka [balatarka logic201 . Candrapaiicikara

3 for beginners2 19 . Trakkab hasa”[Tarkabhéisii]

202 . Kamandaki.‘ 220 . Saddakal ika .

203 . Dhammapaiiiiapakarana. 22 1 . Kasikapruttipalini."

204. Mahosatthi 222 . Saddhammadipaka.

205 . Sub odhalamkara.

‘ 223 . SatyatatvavabodhaU] .206 . Sub odhalamkara-tika. 224 . Balapp ab odhana

207. Tanogabuddhi p ruttikarana.

208. Tandi 7 225 . Atthabyakhyam .

“

209 . Tandi-tika. 226 . Cfilaniruttimafij I’

Isa.

“

2 10 . Cankadasa fi 227. Mai'

ij iisatikabyakhyam .

“

2 1 1 . Ariyasuc cavatara. 228.

2 12 . Vicitragandha. 229 . Pakinnakanikaya.

2 13 . Saddhammupfiya.

’ 230. Catthap ayoga

1 Dravyagunasamgraha (pharmacology) . See Jolly, Medic in,p . 6 ;

Forchhammer, I/ ist, p . xxx

2 Explanation ofmetres.3 On the Candra grammar and i ts relation to the Pal i grammar of

Moggallana see articles by O . Franke, JPTS. , 1902—3 also A. C. Burnell ,on The Aindra Schoo l of Sanskri t Grammarians, Mangalore, 1875.

4 For Kamandaki’

s Nitisara (elements of Po lity) see the edi tion of

S . Venkatarama Sastry, Madras, 1895, and studies by Carlo Formichi ,Giom ale della Soc ietaAsia tica ,

Florence, 1887.

5 Se e the Maha-umm agga Jataka (inwhichMahosadha is the Bodhisat ta).Fausboll

,Jataka

,vol. vi , pp . 329 - 478.

Subodhalamkara on rhetoric was composed in Ceylon by Sangharakkhita. F.TH.,

p. 75. See edi tion of G . E. Fryer (under title PaliStudies

,

7 The work inscribed is probably Dandin’s Kavyadar a.

8 Evidently Cangadasa, author of the Cangakarigka, aphorisms on

grammar (Katantra school ). See edition of Jagannadhasvam iy, Viz aga

patam,1896.

9 Saddhammop ayana b yAnanda, ed. Richard Morris,JPTS 1887.

1° Sarasangaha ,

‘ a compilation of important points in Buddhism ’

(sodescribed in the British Museum Catalogue of Pali

11 Presumably an abridged version of the famous medical work Ca‘ rakasamhita. See Jolly,

“

Medz cin, p . 1 1 .

13 The Tarkab hasa, on logic , of Kecavamicra13 A commentary on the Kacikavrt t i of Jayaditya and Vamana, on

Panini See Z wei Ka itel der Kdgi/ca iibei setz t und mit einer Einleitungverse/

lien

,von Bruno Lie ich , Breslau ,

1892.

Grammatical commentaries or glosses.

108 THE BALI LITERATURE or BURMA

23 1. Matthap ayoga 25 1 . Pindo nissaya.

232 . Rogayatra [on medicine 252 . Kalapanissaya.

233 . Rogayatra-tika. 253 . Roganidanaby

'

akhyam .

234 . Satthekavipasvaprakasa 254 . Dabb ragana tika.

2 35 . Rajamat tanta.

l 255 . Amarakosa.

236 . Parasava.

2 256 . Dandi-tika.

237 . Koladdhaja.

’ 257. Dandi-tika.

2 38. Brihajjataka.

‘258 . Dandi-tika.

2 39 . Brihaj jataka-tika. 259 . Koladhvaja-tika.

240. Dathadhatuvamsa andtikii .‘s

260 . Alamkara.

2 41 . Patigaviveka-tika 26 1 . Alamkara-tika.

242 . Alamkara tika[on Sub odha 262 . Bhesaj j amaiij fisfi .

’

lamkara 263 . Yuddhaj eyya [Yuddha2 43 . Calindap ai

'

icika [com dhyaya

mentary on C° 264 . Yatanap rabha-tika

2 44. Vedavidhinimittanirutti [Ratana°

vannana.

6265 . Viragdha.

“

245 . Niruttibyakhyam . 266 . Viragdha-tika.

246. Vuttodaya.

’267. Calamanisara.

2 47. Vuttodaya-tika. 268 . Raj amattanta-tika.

248 . Milindap aiiha [in tex t 269 .

Malinap aiiiia] . 270. Mahaka mm

249 . Si'

i ratthasafigaha.

8 27 1 . Mahaka works250 . Amarakosanissaya. tika

1 Cf. Forchhamm er, List, pp. xxxvi i and xxxvii i,Rajamat tam and

Rajamattanissayo . Probably the (astrologi cal ) Rajamartanda.

2 Laghuparacaryam (on astro logy) ( i) .3 This m ay b e the Goladhyaya of the astronomical treatise Siddhanta

Ciromani,by Bhaskaracarya, A.D . 1 1 14 . See Macdonel l , Sanskrit Literature ,

p. 435 other references see Duff, Chronology of India ,p . 1 39 .

The Brijj ataka of Varahamihira,a well-known work on astrology.

See above, p . 108. Cf. Forchhamm er, List , p. xxxvi i .5 F.TH. ,

p . 55.

6 An exposi tion of rules of divination (i) .7 The Vu t todaya, a standard Pal i work on prosody, was wr itten in

Ceylon in the twelfth century by Sangharakkhita. See edition of MajorFryer, JASB.,

1877. See in Mr. Tha Do ! ung ’s Pal i grammar (published1902) the section on metri cs .

3 Amedical work so called was wri tten b y Buddhadasa, king of Ceylon,in the fourth century (Jo lly, Medicin

,p.

9 On medi cine.7° A medical work called Ratnap rabha is mentioned by R. Hoe rnle inJRAS. , 1906, p . 289 (Studies in Anc ient Indian Medicine).

1 1 Probabl a copyist’s m istake forVidagdha Vidagdhamukhamandana

on riddles) , y Dharmadasa. Se e above, p . 28.

‘2 Cf. Forchhamm er,Lis t

,pp . xxxv if , section v, the medical, astro

nomical,astro logical works, e tc . and Rep ort , 1879

—80,pp . 10 ff.

A

Abhaya (grammarian) , 22 .

A bhidhamma, 1x, 18, 32 , 36 , 42 ,

44,47, 53 , 58 , 59 , 67 ,

71 , 73 , 11 . 6 .

Abhidhamma-anutika, 43 , 102 .

Abhidhammapannarasatthi na, 28 .

Abhidhamma-p itaka, 2 , 8 , 27, 54 , 55, 58,67.

Abhidhamma (tika) , 48 .

Abhidhammatthasangaha, 18 , 25 , 57, 61 ,67, 95 .

Abhidhammatthasangaha atthakatha,102 .

Abhidhammatthasangahaganthi-thit, 95 .

Ab hidhammatthasangahaparitta, 95 .

Abhidhammatthasangahatika, 21 , 102

(dasagant t annana) , 28 .

Abhidhammatthavibhé vani , 41 , 42 , 54 ,56 , 61 ; tika, 102 .

Abhidhammavat zi ra, 61

abhidhamm ika (studying the Abhidhamma) , 6 1 .

Abhidhanappadi ika ,

Abhidhanap

(p

ppa Ipika) °t 1ka , 105.

abhiseka (consecration) , 74 , 79 .

Aggadhammalamkara, 57, 63 , 64.

Aggapandita ,

Aggavamsa (grammarian) , 16 .

Aharadipani, 98 .

Aindra school (of grammarians) , 107II. 3 .

Akkharasammohacchedani , 106 .

Akkharavisodhani, 93 .

Alamkéra, see Subodhalamkara.

Alaungpaya, 64, 69 , 70, 71 and n. 4 ,83 .

Alinacittaj é taka , 8 1 .

Alompré , see Alaungpaya.

Amarakoéa,51

,108.

Amarakoéanissaya, 108.

Amarapura (sect) , 78 ,Amarasimha, 5 1 n. 4 .

anddesaud (prohibitions) , 59 .

Anagatavamsa, 105 .

Ananda (commentator) , 7 , 43.

Ananda ofHamsavati, 47.

Ananda of the Sihalasa ha, 19 , 24 , 31 .

Ananda temple , see Nan a

Anap anad z ni , 97.

Anattad anI,98.

Anawrata,see Anorata.

Anguttaranikaya, 2 , 32 n. 2,92 .

Anguttara tika, 32 n. 2 , 103 .

INDEX

Anorata, 4 , II,12

,13 , 14

,I5

,16 ,

5 1 n. 2 , 83 .

Anurédhapura, 5 n. 1, 76 n. 1 .

Anuruddha (raj zi ) , see Anorata .

Anuruddha (them ) , 18 .

Anuruddhzi cariya, 104 n . 5 .

anutikd (supplementary commentary,gloss) , 36 n . 2 , 54 .

Anutika (on Abhidhamma) , see Abhidhamma.

Anutikabyékhyam , 107.

Apadana, 4 .

Apadana°at thakatha, 104 .

Apattivinicchaya, 93 .

Apheggupatha, 36 n. 2 .

Ap heggusara, 36 .

Apheggusaradipani , 36 n. 2 .

Arahanta (them ) , 12 , 13 , 15 , 19 , 45 .

Arahantagana (sect) , 20 , 34 .

Aree (ari) , 12 (n. 5 on p .

Ariyalamkara (of Ava) and Ariyalamkara (the younger) , 37 , 53 , 54

,55 ,

64, 73 n . 5 .

Ariyasaccavatara, 107.

Ariyavamsa (them) , 41 , 42 , 43 , 45 .

drocanulekhakdmacca (official chargedwith issuing royal decrees) , 9 3 .

Arunavati, 104 .

Asankhata DhammaPakisan‘

i-Kyan, 97.

Aéoka,4 , 9 , 10, 17.

Atharvaveda, 51 .

Atthabyakhyam , 107.

Attha-Navanipata-Anguttara, 103 .

Atthasalini , 54 , 56 , 59 , 67, 106 .

Atthasalini atthakatha , 102 .

Atthasfiliniganthi-thit , 9 6 .

Atthasalini-nissaya, 106 .

Atthasalini-tika,see Manidipa.

at tkayoj and (interp retation) , 43 .

Atula Yasadhamma, 69 , 71 , 75 ,

B

Balappabodhana, 106 .

Balappab odhana pruttikarar

ia, 107.

Balattaj jana ((Ba vatarana 106 .

Balavatara,

Bari ttaratakara (Vrttaratnékara 109 .

BayIn Naung , 47 , 49 .

Bhadda (queen) ,Bhaskaracarya, 108

n . 3 .

Bhesa j aman3usa , 108.

Bhikk unIp atimokkha, 6

BhikkhunIvibhar'

Iga, 78 , 102 .

1 12 InDEx

Bhikkhupfitimokkha, 6

Bhikkhuvibhanga, 78 .

Bhummaj eyya (j urist) , 87.

BhI‘

Iridattajataka, 81 n. 10 m etricalversion, 44 .

Bijakkhyam , 106 .

Bingfi-fi , see Hsin-hpyu-shin .

Binya Dala (king of Pegu) , 68.

Bodhipakkhiyadipani, 9 7 .

Bod aya, 74 , 75 , 76 , 77, 83 , 89 .

Brahmajala sut tanta,3 .

Brahmanic texts, 5 1 , 52 , 98 if.

Brahmans, 5 1 , 98 .

Branginoco ,see BayIII Naung .

Bn'

haja Brihaj j ataka) , 20 .

Brihaj jataka, 20, 8 1 n. 1 , 108 .

Brib ajj zi taka-nissaya, 109 .

Brihaufitaka-tika, 108 .

Buddhadasa (king) , 108 II. 8 .

Buddhadatta (commentator) , 7, 39 note6 1 , 72 II. 1 .

Buddhaghosa (commentator) , 7, 27, 46 ,56 , 67, 84 , 86 n. 1 .

Buddh hosa (Talaing jurist) , 86.

Buddhaamkéra, 43 .

Buddhap iya, 105 n. 6 .

buddharacanam (the wordof theBuddha) ,59 .

Buddhavamsa (thera) , 33 , 35 n. 1 .

Buddhavamsa-at thakatha, 104 .

C

Cal inda paficikfi, 108.

Candapaj j ota, 5 n . 2 .

Candaprutti (Candi 107.

Candrapaficikara 107.

Cangakérika, 107 note .

Cankadasa. (Cangadasa) , 107 and II. 8.

Ciraka-samhita, 107GariyaPitaka, 4 , 104 .

Ceriya-Pitaka-atthakatha, 104.

Catthapayoga (E) , 107.

Catukanipata-Anguttara 103

Catuka pafica chanipata-j é taka attha

katha, 104 .

catm'

arigabaldmacca (officer of state) ,27.

Catusémaneravatthu , 78 .

Ce tiddhinemi p arigatha 106 .

Ceylon,l iterary and religious relations

with , 2 , 5 , 8 , II, 17, 18 , 22 , 29 , 31 ,32

,34 , 38 , 39 , 66 , 76 , 78 , so, 83 ,

84 , and Ap ndix ; missions to , 7 ;Sangha, see ihalasangha.

Chaddantanagaraj uppattikath5 , 78.

ChagatIdipani, 104 .

Chakkindabhisin'

, 95 .

Chandapanna, 88 .

Chandomafijari , 97.

Chandosaratthavikfisini, 26 .

Chandoviciti, 107.

Chandrakirtti,1 1 n. 1 .

Chapaccayadipani, 26 .

Chapata (Chapada) , otherwise Saddhammaj otip é la, 17, 18 , 19 , 23 , 31 ,39 note , 4 1 , 54 .

Cha sattampata anguttara, 103.

Chattaguhinda ( =Kyansittha, q .v.

Chronicles, x, royal , 5 7 , 90.

Commentators (tiie great) , 7.

Culagana, 105 .

Cfilaganthipada, 75 , 76 .

Calamanisara,108 .

Cfilaniddesa,°at thakatha, 104 .

Calanirutti 37, 55 n. 6, 105 .

filaniruttimafi'

ixsi,107.

filasandhiviso hana, 105 .

Cfilavamsa, 105 .

Cullabuddhaghosa (Buddhavamsa) , 35

n. 1

Cullavunalabuddhi, see Vimalabuddhi.

DDabbragana, Dab raguna,

°

tik5 (Dravyaguna, 107, 108.

Dakkhinavana vihi ra,55 .

Danadipani , 98 .

Dandin, 107 n. 7.

andippakarana , akaon, 27.

andi-tiki , 108 .

araj javitaram , 87.

asa ekadasanipata-abgu ttara, 103.

asa ekadasanipata j ataka-atthakatha ,104 .

Dasaganthivannana (Dasag andhivannena) , 28 .

Dasavatthu , 104 n. 9 .

DathadhatIivam sa,°tika ,

Dathanaga, 55 .

evacakkobhasa (there ) , 57, 58.

evénampiyatissa (king) , 17.

hammacakka (pavattanasutta) , 105 .

hammacakkatiki , 105 .

Dhammacari,18.

Dhammaceti (king) . 39 .

Dhammadéna, 105 .

Dhammadassi, 22 .

Dhammadesanfi , 98.

Dhammadipani , 98 .

Dhammakitti,22 , 105 n. 7.

Dhammaniti,5 1 .

Dhammapada , 3 , 4 , 87.

Dhammapada,°atthakath5 , 103.

Dhammapada ganthi-nissaya, , 106.

Dhammapala (commentator) , 5 n. 2, 7, 8 ,43

, 102 n. 4 .

Dhammapala 61 .

Dhammapana-shu-bwe,

1 14

Kuccayana-rfi p fi vatara , 109 .

Kaccéyanaséra, 26 n . 6 , 36 , 37, 106 .

Kaccayanasfirat ika, 36 ; and see Sam

mohavinfisini.

Kaccayanavannanz‘

i,46

,9 7.

Kaccayanayoga ,2 1 .

Kalfipa, see Kz'

Itantra.

Kalapanissaya, 108 .

Kalapapaficika (pafij ika) O tika, 106 .

Kali pasuttapratiflfisaku

aka,106 .

Kalyfini inscriptions, 23 , 38 , 39 .

Kzim zidinakathfi , 96 .

Kamandaki , 107.

Kamaéastra , 5 1 .

Kammakammavinicchaya, 6 .

Kammavaca, 6 , 7 , 38 n. 2 , 106 .

Kammavinicchaya. 95 .

Kankhavitarani , 38 n . 2, 46 , 56 , 87 ;

at thakathfi,102 ; t ikzi (new) , 102 .

Karma, 16 , 105 .

Karikatika, 16 , 105 .

Ké sikapruttip zilini 107 .

Kasmira, 80 note .

Kassa a (commentator) , 7 ; (of Damilaratt a) , 39 note ; (of Ceylon) , 76n. 2 ; (of Pagan) , 25 II. 4 .

Kataca (Krt-cakra) , 106 .

Katantra, 26 , 106 n. 14 , 107.

Kathzi vatthu , 96 , 102 .

Kaung-hmu -daw pagoda (Raj amanicii la)55 n. 3 .

Kfivyasaratthasangaha, 95 .

Kayaviratigé tha, 44 .

Kecavamicra, 107 n. 12 .

Khandhavaggasamyutta,°tika, 103 .

KhantakakhIpa, see Négita.

Khuddakanikaya, 2 , 3 , 4 .

Khuddakapatha, 4 ;°at thakatha, 103 .

Khuddasikkha, 6 , 24 -tik5 , 24 ; ancientand new, 102 .

Kittisihasfira (king) , 27.Kittitara, 40 n . 2 .

Koladdha'

a, 108 ;-tika, 27, 108 .

Kublai K an, 40 .

Kumaraceti p agoda, 35.

Kyansitthé (king) , 15 .

Kyaswe or Kyocva (king) , 25 , 27, 40.

Kyaswa IV, see Kittisihasiu‘

a.

Laghugraha, 51 .

Laghup éracaryam , 108 n. 2 .

Lakkhanadipani, 98.

Lalitavistara, 9 6.

Law , eustoma (of the Burmese) , 87, 89 .

Law codes, P i , Hindu , 32 , 33 , 84 fi'

.

Ledi Hsaya~daw , 97.

lek/mkdmacm (secretary) , 93 .

INDEX

M

Madhavanidana , 106 note .

Madhusaratthadipani, 47.

Mdgadhabhdsci (the Idiom of Magadha) ,1,2 .

Maggangadipani, 98 .

Mahab odhivarnsa, 104 n. 9 .

Mahadhammaraja (grandson of BayinNaung) , 49 , 52 .

Mahadhammaré jadhiré ja72 , 73, 74 .

Mahfigana, 105 .

Mahaka ( “kappa or 0kacce'

tyana 106 .

Mahakaccayana, see Kaccayana.

Mahakalacakka (oaks) , 108.

Mahakassapa, see Kassapa.

Mahanaga (there ) , 33 .

Mahaniddesa,4, 9 1 ;

Oat thakatha,104 .

Mahanissara (°nissaya 43 .

Mahzipakarana Patthana) , 54 n. 3 .

Mahaparakkama (thera) , 46 67 n. 1 .

Mahz'

iparinibbana Suttanta, 3 .

Mahaparittam , see Paritta.

57.

Maharfijadhipati (A .D . 66 , 67 , 68 .

Mahé rfipasiddhi, see Rfipasiddhi.Mahfisammata (king) , 79 .

Mahs'

isatipatthana suttanta, 3 .

MahasiriJeyyasI'

Ira (king , at Taungu) , 45 ,46 .

Mahésuvannadipa (son of Parakkamabahalaraja) , 36 II. 2 .

Mahathera-tiki,105 .

Mahatika, on Saddatthabhedacinti , 22 .

Mahavagga (of the V inaya) , 38 n. 2 73

n. 5 .

Mahivaggasamvutta, 103.Mahavaggatthakathé , 73 , 102

°

tik5 , 103 .

Mahavamsa, 10 , 32 , 65 n. 3 , 79 ;°

tika,105 .

Mahavihara, vii, 17, 19 , 20, 31 , 32 , 34 .

Mahayana, 61 .

Mahayasa (Rassa, of Thatan) , 36 n. 3 ,37.

(Sing-gu-sa,

Likhananaya, 65 ,Linatthappakasani (tikzis by Dhammapala 8 n. 4 .

Linatt avisodhani , 25 .

Lingat thavivarana, 22 , 105 .

Lingatthavivaranappakasaka, 22 .

Lingatthavivaranatika, 22 , 105 .

Lingatthavivaranavinicchaya, 22 .

Lokadipaséra, 35 , 36 .

Lokaniti,51 of Chakkindabhisiri, 95 .

Lokapar'

II'

Iatti, 104 .

Lokuppatti, 104 .

Lokuppat tipakasani, 16 .

INDEX

Mahinda (thera) , 17 n. 3 , 38 .

Mahosadhajataka, 87.

Mahosat thi (Mahosadha 107.

Maj jhimanikaya, 2 , 93°tika

,32 II. 2 .

Ma

phimapannésa

°atthakathfi

°t ik5

,103 .

Ma ayadesa, 23 .

Malayadipa, 23 .

Manavulu-Sandesaya, 25 n . 1 .

Mangala, grammarian, 26.

Mangaladipani, 47

Mangalasutta , 4 , 95 .

Manidip ‘a, 42 .

Manij otasaddhammalamké ra, 92 .

Manikundalavatthu , 52 .

Maniratana (thera) , 56 .

Manisaramafij fisa, 42 .

Mafij fisé t ikabyakhyam , 107.

Manohéra, 16 .

Manohari (king) , 1 3 , 14 , 15 .

Manooreng , see Manuyin.

Mann, 33 , 88 ; (Dhammasattha) , 84 If .

Manukyay, 87 , 88 .

Manusara,86 .

Manuséra-shwe-myin,88 .

Manuvannana, 87 , 88 .

Mauuyin, 86 , 87 .

Manuyinlaiika, 88 .

Matikatthadipani , 19 .

Matthapayoga 108 .

Maung Daung sa d6 , 32 n. 3 .

Maung Tun Aung, 95 .

Maunggun , 9 .

Medhab hivam sa, 92 . 93 .

MedhaIiIkara 35 , 36 n. 1 .

Milindapanha, 4 , 87, 108 .

Min-démMin,92 fl".

Moggallana, 27, 75 n. 1 , 76 , 105 , 106

n. 5 .

Mohanayana, 104 .

Mohavicchedani , (Dhammathat) ,88 n. 4 .

M5n (Talaing) , 9 .

Mrammasamgha, vn ,20 , 29 .

Mrityuvaficana, 108 .

Mugdhab odha , 72 11 . 3 .

Mukhamattadipani , see Nyzi sa.

Mukhamattasara, 25 , 105 ; t ikfi on,25

,

105 .

mdlabhdsa (‘ the original 2

,

89 .

Mulapannfisa,

°at thakatha,

°tj k5 , 103 .

MI'

Ilasikkha, 6 .

Malayamaka, 102 .

Munindaghosa (there ) , 70 .

N

agarfijuppattikathz} , 92 .

Négita (there ) , 27 .

Namacéradipani , 18 .

Ovada, 97.

Ovadakatha, 96.

1 1 5

Namakere , 9 5 .

Namarupam (name and form ) , 104 II. 5-paricchedappakarana, 104 n. 5 -tika(new) , 104 .

Nanabhivamsa (Nana) , acariya,

qIf .

Nannagambhira (commentator) , 7 , 105

; (of Pagan) , 1a

n

nalamkara, 71 .

~

anaségara, 22 .

Nasnevera, 66 .

Nanavilasa, 47.

Nariavilasa (of Pagan) , 25 .

Nandamala,33 n. 2 , 72 , 73 .

Narada 85 .

arapati (king at Ava) , 41 .

arapatisithu (king) , 1 6 , 20, 2 1 , 23 , 3 1 .

aravara (Mahasihasura dhammaraja) ,57.

arayuttisangaha, 109 .

avaniyamadipani, 96 .

avavimalabuddhi, see Vimalabuddhi.Nettipakarana, 5 , 8 , 43 , 56 , 78 .

Neyyadhamma, 9 1 .

Neyyadhammabhivamsa, 9 1

Nib banadipani , 97.

Nidanavaggasamyutta ,

°at thakatha

,103 .

Nirayakathédipaka , 9 3 .

Niruttibyakhyam , 108 .

Nirut tidipani , 9 7.

Niruttip itaka (Nirut ti) ,Niru ttisaIamanj usa ,

Nvadi (Moggallana) ,Nyasa, 21 ,Nyésappadipa, 2 1Nyfisappadipat ikii , 2 1 .

Nyaung Ram Min , 53 .

Nyéyab indu ,

°

tik5,109 .

”121

205

PPab bajaniyakammavsea, 98 .

acittiya,Padasodhana (

°sadhana

Padavahamahacakka (Padavaté ra 106 .

adavibhéga, 71 .

akinnakanikéya, 107.

ali : grammar , a p opular study,l

25 ;revival of study, 27 ; language , l iiiBurma, v , ix, 20 ; literature , 1 , 3

,

19 , 23 ; studies, 6 , 24 , 25.

Pali-Burmese MSS. , 2 ,collections, 6 ;

literature , beginnings of,early period, 29 ; later features, 58 .

INDEX

Pancfidi-anguttara-at thakath5 ,

Paficanipata-anguttara, 103 .

Paficapakarana-atthakatha, 102.

Paneika-moggallana,°

tik5. , 105 .

Paninean system ,106 n. 14 .

Pafifiaj otabhidhaja, 92 .

Pafifiaramsi, 95 .

Pafifi ésami, vii, 9 1 if.

Pafinatissa,9 1 .

Pfirzi j ika, 96 .

Para ikakanda,

°atthakatha,

°

tika, 102 .

Para kamabahu , 76 and notes 1 and 2 .

Parakramabahu I 1 1 , 32 .

Paramatthabindu , tika on ,25 .

p aramatthadesami , teaching concerningthe highest truth , 59 .

Paramatthamafij fisa, 28 62 II. 2 .

Paramatthasankhepa, 98.

Paramatthavinicchava (new) , 104.

Paramidipani , 98 .

Paranissaya, 109 .

Parfisava, 108.

Paraviveka, 109 .

Parayanavatthu , 43 .

Paritta, 3 , 4 , 6 , 60 , 95 .

Paritta-tika,57.

p ariyattip atip atti (sacred doctrine and

p ractice) , 50.

Pé rupana (name of a sect) , 65 , 66 , 67,72 , 73 , 74 , 75 .

Pasadika (there ) , 27.

Pasamsa,68 .

Patali (Natapatali) , 76 and n. 3 .

Pathacariya, 104 .

Patheyya,Oat thakathzi ,

103 .

Paticcasamuppadadipani , 98 .

Patigaviveka-tiké , 108 .

Pri timokkha, 6 , 56 , 67 n. 2 .

Patimokkhalekhana, 67.

Patimokkhavisodhani, 39 note .

Patimokkhuddesa, 6 .

PatIpattisangaha, 107.

Patisamt damagga, 4 , 9 1Oat thakatha,

104 ;°

ganthipada, 104 .

Patthana,54 n. 3

,57, 61 , 71 .

Pat thénagananaya , 19 .

Pat thanasaradipani , 47.

Patthana-tika,54 .

PetakOpadesa, 5 , 104 n. 9,105 .

Pe tfilamkara, 78 .

Petavatthu , 4 ;Oatthakathfi, 103 .

Philip de Brito , 49 .

Pindonissaya, 108. See Prindo .

p ita/( as baskets, ’ i.e . divisions of

scripture) , 2 , 7 , 88 .

Pitakatthamain, 54 n. 2

Poems (recitation of, against the religiousrule) , 44 .

p ordnd (old-time chroniclers) , 44.

102 O tika,

PugU3 Daung (inscription) , 8 II. 6, 71

notes 4 and 7.

Prindo -tiki , 106 .

Puggalapafiiiatti, 102.

Pum bhasari,109 .

PuI'

II'

Iacetiya, 42 .

Saccasankhepa, 61 .

Saccatthadipani, 98 .

Saddaki rika,107.

Saddamedb ani , 96 .

Saddaniti,x, 16 , 17, 79 , 9 3 .

Saddasankhepa, 98.

Saddasératthajalini, 27 commentary on,

27 n . 5 aka on , 23 .

Saddatthabhedacinta, 20 , 22 , 9 1 , 105 ;-dipani , 22

-nissaya, 109 ;-tik5 , 105 .

Saddzi vateira, 106 .

R

Rahula (of the Sihalasangha) , 19 , 2324 .

R abala-kyaw-din, 88.

R 5b hisekagandha, 74 .

R adhirz'

ij anamattappakasini, 67.

R adhirajavilasini, 79 if ,92 .

Raj amanicula (cetiya) , 55 .

Raj amattam ,108 n . 1 .

Rajamattanissayo , 108 n. 9 .

Rajamat tanta, 108 ; -tika,108 .

Rajaniti, 51 .

Rajasevakadipani, 93 .

Rajasikkhapada, 79 .

Relavamsa, 57, 90.

RaJavamsasankhepa, 57.

s indarii jabhidheyyadipani , 52mifuggdlzdmacca, Pali title given to

revenue officer,2 1 .

Raj ovédavatthu , 78 .

Ratanakara, 52 .

Ratanapafijara, 95 .

Ratnamala see Rattamfili‘

i .

Ratnap rabha, 108 n. 10 .

Rattamala,106

,109 ; mks, 106 .

Ratthaséra,44 .

Revata,24 .

Rikkaniyayatra,°tika

,109 .

Roganidfina, 106 .

Roganidana-byakhyam ,

108 .

Roganidzina-nissaya, 109 .

Rogayé trei , 108 ;-nissaya, 109 ;

-tika,108 .

Rfipabhedapakasani, 56 .

Rfipadipani, 97.

Rupasiddhi 37.

RupasiddlIi-at thakathé , 105 ; -nissa_va,

106 ; s ka, 105 .

Rnpavatara, 106 .

1 18

Sumedhakathi (poetical version) , 43 .

Sur5jamaggadipani , 93 .

Surakitti (king) , 53 .

Sur5viiiicch5y5 (concerning intoxicants) ,46 .

Sur5viuicchaya (ofN5navara) , 67.Suriyavamsa, 9 1 .

Siiryasiddhzinta, 5 1 .

Suttaniddesa, 17, 18.

suttauiddesa.

Suttanip5ta, 3 , 4 ;°atthakatli5

,103 .

Suttap itaka, 2 , 59 , 60, 62 .

Suttasai'

igaha, 5 , 73 .

Sutt5vali (Kacc5yan5°P) , 106.

T

Ta-b in-shwe -hti (king) , 46 , 47.

'

l‘

akt5vat5ra (Tattv5vat5r5 ) , 0 tik5,109 .

Talaing authors,3 1

,34 chronicles

,9

influence,33 , in law codes

,33 , 86 ;

inscrip tions, 35 ; p eop le , 9 , 10, 26 ,states

,84 ;64 , 68 ; scholars, 49 ;

teachers of Buddhism,10

,12

,19 .

T5malind5 (thera) , 19 , 24 .

Tandi (DandinF) ,°tik5

, 107.

Tanogabuddhi, 107.

Tantras5stra, 5 1 .

Taruk-pye -Inin, 81 .

'

l‘

ath5gatuppatti, 16 , 105.

Tejodipa (thera) , 57 .

Tej osara, 88.

Terasakanda-t ikzi,102 .

Tesakuna jataka, 79 .

Thadodhammarzi j 5 , see Ukkamsika.

Thado -min-by5 , founder ofAva, 30, 40 .

Thagya (pagoda) , 1 1 .

I/zamain (Burmese) , record, 63 .

t /canbg/ in (Burm ese title , revenue officer) ,21 note . See Nyfisa.

Than-byin-t ik5,105 .

Thar5wadi-min ( 1837 90 , 9 1 .

Theragzithti , 4 ;°atlgliukath5 , 104 .

Therav5din, 5 .

Therig5th5 , 4 ;Oat thakath5, 104 .

tlz it (Burmese) (new) , 104 n. 5 .

Thohanbw5 , 45, 48 .

t/cugyi (Burmese title , revenue officer)2 1 n. 6 .

Thi'

ipavamsa, 105 .

Ti

gumbhathomana, 78 .

Ti 5-Kyaw,see Abhidhammatthavibh5

vani .Tikanip5taj 5taka-atthakatli5 , 104 .

Tikapatthéna, 102 .

Tilokaguru , 54, 57.

Tilok5lamk5ra,50.

Tipitaka, grammar of the , 16 .

Tipitak5lamk5ra (of Ava) , 37 , 49 , 53,

See Kacc5yana

INDEX

Tiriyapabb ata, 53 .

Toungdwin Kyaw , 88 .

Trakkabh5s5 (Tarkabh5s5) , 107.

Tripitaka, see Tip itaka.

U Janinda, 95.

U Pyin-nya-thika, 97.

U Tin, 95 .

U Tissa, 95 .

Ud5na,4 ;

°atthakath5 , 103 .

Ukkamsam5la, 65 .

Ukkamsika (king) , 50, 52 , 54, 55 , 63note , 83 .

Uparipannzi sa,Oat thakath5

,°tik5 , 103 .

Up 5sakaviuicchaya, 95 .

Up5sakov5da, 96 .

Upasena (of Ceylon) , 9 1 Ii . 2 .

Up5yakath5, 9 3 .

Uposathavinicchaya, 44 , 93 .

up osathzka (under temporary vows) , 44Upp 5tasanti, 47.

Uttama, 22 .

Uttara (tliera, m issionary) , 4 ,19 .

Ut t5r5j iva, 17.

V

V5cakopadesa,°tik5

,46 .

Vacanatthaj otika 28 .

V5cav5caka or Vaccav5caka, 22 .

Vaccav5cakadipani , 22 .

Vaccav5cakatik5 , 22 .

Vaccav5cakavannan5 , 22 .

V5cissara (thera) , 18 (g rammarian) , 22 .

vdc ivifir‘

iat ti (recommendation of a monk

by another for alms, 24 .

Vaj irabuddhi , 38 Ii . 2 Mah5°

, 40 ;

tik5 , 39 , 76 .

Vaj irabuddhi (of. Ceylon) , 76 Ii . 2 .

V5mana,107 n. 13 .

Vannab odhana , 65 .

Vanna-kyaw-di'

n,88 .

Var5bhi'

samghan5tha, 52 .

Var5ba-Mihira, 20.

Vedas, works known under this name inBurma, 2 1 ; of the Burmese , 51 , 88 ,101 ; 88.

vedasattlea (Vedic treatises) , 20, 49 , 50,58 .

Vedavidhinimittaniruttivannan5 , 108.

Vepullabuddhi, 28.

Vernacular, beginning of metaphysicall iterature in, 43 ; growth of religiousliterature in,

48 translations into ,56 , 57 , 92 ; Abhidhamma in, 59 .

Vessantaraj 5taka, 81 .

Vibhaiiga, 55 , 56 , 62 Ii . 3 , 102 .

Vibhatyattha, ascribed to Kyocv5’s

daughter, 25 ; bySaddhammafi z‘

ina, 26

Vidadhimukhamandana, tik5 on,28 .

INDEX

Vidagdhamukhamandana, see Vidadhi

mukhamandana .

Vidhuraj ataka, 87.

Vijayab 5hu (king) , 1 1 , 15 , 32.

\'

ijit5vi, 46 ; of Sagaing , 46 n. 4 .

V'

ij j z'

imagrradipani , 98 .

Vimalabuddhi, author ofNy5sa t ik5 , 2 1 ,6 1 (Nava0 , 27 , 28 .

Yim zinavatthu ,4 ;

Oat thakath5 , 103 .

Vimativinodani, 38 n. 2 , 39 note , 76 and

Vinaya (monastic code) , 19 , 24 and

notes 1 and 2 , 39 andnote , 44 , 46 , 56 ,

59 , 65 , 67, 73 and Ii . 5,78 , 96 , 9 7 ;

Four Smaller Vinayas, 6 , 59 .

Vinayacfilavagga, 102 .

Vinayaganthi 39 .

Vinayaganthipada, 75 ,102 .

Vinayagfilhatthadipani , 18 .

Vinayakandhaniddesa, 102 .

Vinay5lamk5ra-t ik5 , 54 .

Vinaya-m5h5vagga, 102 .

Vinaya-pariv5ra , 102 .

Vinayapitaka, 2 , 5 , 27

Vinayasamuttheinadipani, 18 .

Vinayasai'

igaha (pakarana) , 38 Ii . 2 , 39

note , 74 n. 1 .

Vinayasangraha-atthakatha (greater,

les s) , 102 .

Vinayasificaya-t ik5 ( later) , 102 .

Vinaya-filial , 38 note ; -tik5a (the great) ,76.

th5 , 102 .

akarana) , 38 n . 2 ,

T 73 .

Vinicchaya ak5sani,88 .

Viragdha (gfidagdha 108 ; t ik5 , 108 .

1 19

W

Wagaru (king) , 34 , 35 , 40, 85 ; °dhammathat

,33 n. 3

,85 ff.

STEPHEN AUSTIN AND SONS, LTD . ,PRINTERS, HERTFORD .

Visati'

5taka-atthakath5 , 104.

Visud 5c5ra, 97.

Visuddhimagga, 7 , 56 , 87 ; at thakatha,

104 ; -t ik5 , 104 .

Visuddhimaggadipani-kyan , 97.

Visuddhimaggaganthi , 19 .

Visuddhimaggaganthipadattha, 56 .

Visumg5masim5vinicchaya, 97.

Viv5davinicchava, 93 .

aohdradesand (teaching concerning the

current practice of men) , 59 .

Voh5ratthab heda, 93 .

Vopadeva (grammarian) , 72 .

Vruda, 106 n. 15 .

Vuttimoggall5na, 105 .

Vuttodaya, 22 , 26 , 27, 108 ; aka on,

28 ; gloss on (Vacanatthaj otik5) , 28 .

Vuttodayapaiicikzi (see Chandos5rattha

vik5sini) , 26 .

vydkarana (exp osition) , 88 .

Vyavabaramayukha, 87 n. 3 .

Ya] navalkya, 85.

Yamaka, 54 ,57, 71 .

Yasa,see Mah5y5sa.

Yasavaddhanavatthu ,53 .

Yatanaprabha-t ik5 (Ratanao 108 .

Yaw-mya-s5 Atwin-wun,

95 .

Ye-din,5cariya , 4 1 .

Yuddhajeyya (Yuddhzidhy5y5 ) , 108 .

Yuttisafigaha,°tik5 , 109 .

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