Re: is rett_thiele signed up?

Hi Amara,

Thank you for sharing the interesting information from your friend.
Yes, I'm interested in acquiring traditional Pali grammar books in
Thai script. I did start to learn the Thai script some years ago but
because I don't have any Pali books in this script I haven't had much
opportunity to read in it. I find that it is quite a beautiful script.
I can read Pali in Devanagari and Burmese script, so I don't think it
should be too hard to get used to reading in another.

I searched the internet for the Mahamakut Bookstore but could find no
home page nor an email address. I'd like to see their list of
traditional grammar books for sale as I think I'd want to buy most of
the titles as long as they have the full text in Pali. It's ok if the
introductory pages are in the Thai language. If I can't contact them
online, please send me their postal address and I'll write them a
letter.

There's a possibility that a Bhikkhu Pandita may be subscribing to
this list as he expressed some interest. I just have to get in touch
with him. He is currently teaching Kaccaayana to three students in
Taiwan and I think he will be helpful in our study here even though he
thinks the study of the traditional grammars is suitable only for
advanced students. Do you know if that is also the normally accepted
view in Thailand regarding the learning of Pali? If so, I might have
to shut down this list and disappear. (:

If you like, you could scan the pictures and upload them to the photo
section. I'd also be interested in seeing pictures of Thai calligraphy
of Pali words or passages.

Best wishes.
Jim

> Hi, Jim,
>
> I asked a friend who has studied Paali most of his life about
> traditional Pali grammar books today, he said that Paali in Thailand
> is studied in the Thai script, since most men become ordained at
least
> once in their lifetime, traditionally, for over two thousand years
> now.  The first time when Buddhism was introduced was at Nakorn
> Pathom, where the innermost chedi had a short stone inscriptions
> beginnig with 'ye dhamma' with a mixture of what is locally called
> 'Kruen' alphabets very much like those of the Asoke pilars in india,
> with one letter that was the local addition to the Indian writting,
> which still exist in the Thai alphabets today.  [If you wish to see
> the inscription I could scan the pictures with the transcribed
version
> as well as the stone slabs which are now on display in a museum.]
The
> name of the city at the time was Thom Tong or Thuem Tong which means
> laden with gold, which is probably why the area was called
> Suvannabhumi in the Tipitaka, he said.  A lot of the Sanskrit
> vocabulary and spelling came later with the Khmers and was adopted
> along with the Khmer language as the Thai court language, so that
most
> of the official or formal language was in Sanskrit, including a good
> part of the translation of the Tipitaka into Thai done as recently
as
> a century and a half ago.  All this meandering to say that the local
> study of Paali is in Thai script.  But if you are looking for
> 'traditional Pali grammarbooks in any script' then there are a
number
> available, [including the one Num spoke of some time ago here on
this
> list,] at the Mahamakut Bookstore at Wat Bavornives Vihara, which I
> think you have the address of already, if not I think it is on the
> internet and you might even order some by email.  I can get you the
> address if you wish.  Do you read the Thai, though?
>
> Anumodana with your studies,
>
> Amara