Re: Dhammasattha literature

Many thanks for the informative posting on this subject.

All that was said seems to substantiate that the Mon connection (in
this genre) is "not what it once seemed to be".

> A related question is why the genre seems to appear in only
> certain areas of the region. Why don't we find any of these texts in
> the Eastern Shan States, in Chiang Tung, in Lan Na?
> ... Though there are northern and western Shan and even Chin
> dhammasatthas. I understand that the Burmese "control" (for lack of a
> better term) of certain Tai areas may have had relatively little
> effect on local literature. But if dhammasattha are to be understood
> as (among other things) practical legal texts...

For myself (in my ignorance), the latter is very much an open
question; it may be that these texts served some role in providing
legitimacy to ruler (and subject) without a formal "juridical" or
"procedural" role.  It seems to me _a priori_ possible that these
texts were only used to educate monks and laypeople about the ideal
role of citizen and state, and had no "practical" legal value beyond
this.  The same can be said of the "constitution" in many countries
today --i.e., where it provides no actual obstacle (or procedural
norm) to constrain or direct state power, but is very much promoted as
an "ideal constellation" (in the hope that citizens will constrain
themselves accordingly).  Why, according to the constitution of Malta,
the Catholic church has the power to determine right and wrong!
However, this is of absolutely no juridical significance, even in
Malta.

> In general there is very
> little besides the structure of the genre that is borrowed from the
> Skt texts: the laws are different, and the narrative material is
> adapted from Pali literature.

Very interesting; could you tell me if there are any specific ritual
contexts in which the texts were recited by monks or laypeople?

E.M.