Phra Maha Nimitr's intro

Dhammanando:

Phra Maha Nimitr begins his introduction with a
brief account of the division of Pali grammars into major
and minor ones. His taxonomy is different to the one I am
familiar with. I had thought that 'major' referred to the
Kaccaayana, Moggallaana, and Saddaniiti grammars, and
'minor' to all the rest. In Maha Nimitr's scheme 'major'
refers to pioneering grammars written in the form of suttas,
and 'minor' to derivative grammars written in verse for the
sake of easy memorization. (Grammatical .tiikaas like the
Padaruupasiddhi don't appear to fit in either category). In the
'major' category he states that there are four: the
Kaccaayana, Moggallaana, Saddaniiti, and (surprisingly) the
Saddasa`ngaha grammars. As for the minor grammars, he limits
these to texts composed in Burma and Thailand, states that
they number more than thirty, and gives as examples the
Sa`nkhyaapakaasaka of ~Naa.navilaasa, the
Vajirasaaratthasa`ngaha of Ratanapa~n~na, and the present
work, the Saddatthabhedacintaa.

If I may digress a little, the above-mentioned Saddasa`ngaha
was composed shortly before the Fifth Council by King
Mindon's Minister, U Bo Hlaing (the Aggasenaapati Wetmasut
Myoza Wunshindaw Mingyi, 1814-1878). It is not listed in
Bode's _Pali Literature of Burma_, but is discussed by Maung
Htin, in his biographical preface to Bagshawe's translation
of U Bo Hlaing's _Raajadhammasa`ngaha_. To judge from Htin's
account, there seems to be little ground (aside from the
author's pretensions) for treating the Saddasa`ngaha as
'major'. Htin's account is a little diffuse but as it is the
only information I can find on the text I will quote it in
full:

"Besides this, in the year 1231 [1869 CE] the Atwinwun
[another of U Bo Hlaing's titles] began to write a book that
was described as "_Saddasangaha_, like Ashin Buddhaghosa’s
_Sangaha Athakatha_, eliminating spurious words from various
Sanskrit and Magadhi grammars and listing those words that
are suitable for use in the Theravada". This was completed
in 1235 [1873 CE]. The words "listing words suitable for use
in the Theravada" that he wrote, fitted in very well with
King Mindon's cherished plans for the Fifth Sangayana. It is
not known for certain whether or not the Yaw Atwinwun wrote
the book with the Sangayana in mind.

"In connection with the _Saddasangaha_, in his
_Chiddavidhanani_ the Hsayadaw of the Mahavisuddha-yon, U
Visuddhacara, made some criticisms. In his critique he says
that Yaw Atwinwun approached the first Shweigyin
Thathanabaing, the Shweigyin Hsayadaw, Ashin U Jagara, with
a request that he should revise and correct it. The
Hsayadaw’s opinion was, "This is not a book with any lasting
value" and he refused to revise it. Later it was handed over
to the Mahavisuddha-yon Hsayadaw, who was to become the
second Shweigyin Thathanabaing, and he returned it
correcting the text - "in verb formation the order of words
should be reversed". In spite of his criticism he gave
praise and, when later on the author asked him to correct
the treatment of nouns - "If the order of the sentence is
not right, there will be a restless feeling." - he returned
the author’s original script without correction. The
Mahavisuddha-yon Hsayadaw's criticism was "The text's true
meaning is not given." The Hsayadaw and his supporter could
discuss their differences candidly.

"When I asked the Mahapanyabala Hsayanyan about this, he
replied that the Yaw Atwinwun was a great scholar in
Sanskrit, but that in writing this book he had mixed up Pali
and Sanskrit. He had not got the Pali _gati_ right and this
was the reason for the Mahavisuddha-yon Hsayadaw's
criticism. The word _gati_ means the _athwa ala ahta atho_
(rhythm) of words.

"When a foreigner speaks or writes our own Burmese language,
we will notice that the rhythm of the words is not right. In
the same way when we speak or write something in a foreign
language, our usage and arrangement of the words may well be
wrong. That is what is meant by getting the _gati_ wrong.

"In spite of the criticisms of the Mahavisuddha-yon
Hsayadaw, it cannot be said that _Saddasangaha_ is a book to
be altogether ignored. As Mahapanyabala Hsayanyan hoped, it
has proved of great value for _sotujana_ although it is not
well-known, like a voice coming out of fog. The book could
be called a "sleeper"."

(_Raajadhammasa`ngaha_ by the Yaw Mingyi U Bo Hlaing, trans.
L.E. Bagshawe. Sape U Publishing House, 1979, pp. 40-1. My
conversion of the Burmese dates to CE might be a year out
because one cannot be certain unless one knows whether
an event occurred before or after April 15th.)

(to be continued)

_______________________________

Perhaps one of our Burmese members could remark on the
regard with which the Saddasa`ngaha is now held in Burma?

Next I will post Phra Maha Nimitr's overview of the
Saddatthabhedacintaa itself.

Best wishes,

Dhammanando