Re: The New Pali Course Part II [3-8/8]

Dear Jim,

Thanks. If we want to study traditional Pali grammar, it would
certainly be a better approach to begin with a simple text.After all,
many in this group are 'beginners'. In the Parivenas (traditional
monastic schools) of Sri Lanka, they begin the study of Pali grammar
with a book called Baalaavataara. I don't know why the Saddaniiti was
preferred, it being the most difficult of the three traditional
grammars. Kaccaayana would have been a better choice. Saddaniiti could
have been taken up after that ( if we would be still alive after a big
dose of traditional grammar!).

Mahinda

On 12/25/08, Jim Anderson <jimanderson.on@...> wrote:
> Dear Mahinda,
>
> Thanks! 'sita.m' in the sense of 'pure' seems possible and there are a
> number of instances of 'suddhadhamma' in some texts on the CSCD disk
> including the Mahaaniddesa and Yamaka. 'sita' (white) comes from the root
> SIT in the sense of a 'colour' (va.n.ne) according to the Dhaatumaalaa (#399
> in Smith's work). One problem we're going to have with the Saddaniiti is
> that there doesn't appear to be any published .tiikaa on it to help us and
> the nissaya is in Burmese (I have one of the 2 vols. for the Dhaatumaalaa).
> There is supposed to be a 19th cent. .tiikaa on the Saddaniiti but that
> would likely exist only as an MS. I think Mme. J. Filliozat has one listed
> in one of her catalogues of Pali MSS. The Kaccaayanabyaakara.na is better
> served in this respect as it has a number of good commentaries and the 2
> introductory verses of Kacc are thoroughly dealt with.
>
> The PED has 5 entries for 'sita'.
>
> Jim
>
>> Dear Jim,
>> I think sita.m means 'pure'. Its commoner meaning is 'white' and its
>> opposite asita means 'black'. The word idha in this stz means 'here',
>> i.e., "in this world".
>> Yes, the stz obviously connects with the next through the word ta.m.
>> The construction is "yena buddhena desita.m dhamma.m ... ta.m
>> namitvaa" :having worshipped the Dhamma proclaimed by that Buddha who
>> is... etc.
>>
>> As you will see this couple of verses also form part of a string of 6
>> stzz, the gist of which is "Having worshipped the Buddha, Dhamma and
>> Sangha I will proclaim the Saddaniiti or the Science of Words."
>>
>> Mahinda
>
>