Good observations by Eisel; however, I really liked Dr.
Blackburn's book. She had to cut it back significantly from
her excellent dissertation because of the limits placed by
publishers on most books to 80,000 words. She knows a great
deal about caste, but was focused on lineages. Jeffrey Samuels
is writing about caste and ordination in SL now. He learned
much about this from his work in SL and from Anne Blackburn.
Too bad about the difficulty finding mss. in SL, hopefully
many were not sold or lost, but its sounds like many were.
jm
---- Original message ----
>Date: Sat, 21 Jan 2006 10:40:51 +0700
>From: Eisel Mazard <Parajanaka@...>
>Subject: [palistudy] Sri Lankan grammatical discoveries
(final report)
>To: palistudy@yahoogroups.com
>
>After a gruelling 48 hours of transit, I am now back in the
Lao P.D.R.
>(by plane -> train -> bicycle).
>
>Nyanatusita and I had mixed results from various research
trips to the
>Royal Asiatic Society, National Museum Library, National
Archives,
>National Library, National Ministry of Culture, and various
university
>campuses in Colombo. I should here thank Nyanatusita for
accompanying
>me throughout, playing the role of Virgil to my Dante in
navigating
>the rings of Colombo's streets in the withering heat. I was
able to
>return the favour somewhat, by playing the Kappukara's role, and
>buying some books to donate to the Forest Hermitage collection.
>
>We ordered five MS from the National Museum's collection --only 2
>could be found. When they invited me to check for a missing
Kacc. MS
>myself, I could easily see significant numbers of "missing"
MS in the
>numbering system for every shelf. Evidently, the collection
is being
>looted at a gradual pace; on an earlier trip, Nyanatusita had a
>similar proportion of MS discovered to be "not present" in
response to
>his requests. It may be that some of these MS have been
"legitimately
>misplaced" --but I doubt that this is the significant cause.
We duly
>requested to have one rare meditation text and one edition of
Kacc.
>Xerox copied for our edification, and I shall hope that the
Museum
>Library will follow through on our requests.
>
>One of the most unexpectedly positive experiences (in
negotiating our
>way through various bureaucratic organizations and libraries)
was at
>the Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka (RASSL). The staff
were truly
>very helpful, and eagerly encouraged us in photographing Ta
Do Oung's
>rare grammar, as well as encouraging Ny. to become a member, and
>requesting that I return and give a formal lecture on Kacc.
after my
>book is complete. While it is a small office, the RASSL is
genuinely
>well organized, and encouraging of visiting scholars (not the
>impression one gets at the Peradeniya library!); I would also
note
>that in an era of very poor content filling the pages of
>once-prestigious academic publications, the recent issues of the
>journal of the RASSL really did seem to contain much of
merit, from
>all fields of archaeology, history, etc., including (but not
limited
>to) textual studies. As I perused various issues of their
journal, I
>certainly found it much less depressing than reading such
stuff as
>"Philosophy East and West" now publishes, etc.!
>
>In passing, I will mention that I met Ms. Anne Blackburn, who
later
>gave a speech at the RASSL herself (I did not attend, and had
already
>departed the island). I was rather shocked that her long and
verbose
>book on the "transitional period" of the establishment of the
Siam
>Nikaya in S.L. hardly mentioned the case system --i.e., the most
>interesting and significant aspect of that "transition" being the
>formal incorporation of caste into the Sinhalese monastic
system (and
>the exclusion of low-caste persons from higher ordination,
etc., by
>the Siam Nikaya). This subject was only mentioned on four
pages of
>her text, about three of them were brief footnotes, and the
fourth
>said nothing of substance on the matter. I would assume that
she is
>trying to earn her place in the "good graces" of the Siam
Nikaya by
>saying nothing "offensive"; I take a dim view of such a
compromise
>--and I can only surmise that her scholarship is thus
"compromised".
>
>Here is the final report of grammatical "discoveries" from my Sri
>Lankan research trip. For all sources, I am particuar in
reproducing
>the (mis-)spellings of the title and author's names as they
appear in
>the text itself --as the same spellings (erroneous or not)
will likely
>appear in library catalogues. The usual ambiguities between
"w" and
>"v", the presence or absence of a redundant "-ya" ending,
etc., should
>always be considered when searching for Sinhalese editions.
>
>1. Of all the Sinhalese editions of the Sadda-Niti that I've
seen (and
>I saw many during this trip), the most impressive seemed to
be the
>following:
> _Mahaasaddaniiti: an advanced grammar of the Paali language_,
>Aggawa.nsa Mahaa Thera, (revised by:) Aruggoda Seelaananda Thera,
>1909, Colombo, H.C. Cotte, Government Printer.
> I say it is "the most impressive" on fairly superficial
grounds,
>i.e., the beauty of the edition, legibility, etc., but these are
>fairly weighty considerations if you plan to spend much time
with a
>text; I also assume that because it is of sufficiently late
date (and
>is a large, handsome edition, evidently produced for local
consumption
>by experts) that some care has been taken to correct errors from
>earlier 19th century editions (of which there are many) --but
this is
>a crass assumption on my part.
>
>2. I can now provide somewhat fuller citations for the
>"A.t.thakatha-suuci" that I have alluded to earlier. It does
indeed
>seem to be an excellent resource, but Nyanatusita expressed a
very
>reasonable concern in asking if it had been completed, or if the
>project was abandoned after the first few volumes (as per the
CPD!).
>In any case, we have only seen the first few volumes, and it
would be
>very useful if Rett or Ole could check their library
catalogues to
>determine whether or not this was compiled for the entire
alphabet.
>If so, it is a major "Pali-Pali dictionary", that provides
references
>to the word definitions found throughout the commentaries.
> _Atthakathasuuci_, (editor:) Kosagoda Sirisumedha, 1961
(vol. II =
>1962), Anula Press, Colombo (NB: that's Anula Press --I think I
>mis-reported the publisher in an earlier e-mail).
>
>3. I note two Sinhalese editions of the Netti., both looking
very good
>by the superficial criteria I could apply, and with the same
peculiar
>spelling of the author's name, but, apparently, each created by a
>completely different editorship (working from different MS??):
> _Nettippakarana.m_, Bhadanta Maha Kachchayana, (revised by:)
>Deniyapitiye Sudassi Thera & Ven. Sri Sumangala Ratanasara, 1923,
>(printed in:) Tal-arambe (!! a small town in Sri Lanka).
> _Nettippakarana.m_, Bhadanta Maha Kachchayana, (revised
by:) Pandit
>D. Siri Sudassi Thera & Pandit K. Sirinivasa, 1948, (printed in:)
>Kandana (?? alternate spelling of Kandy??).
>
>In closing, I do not know if I mentioned that I made a long trip
>through the ancient cities, etc., in the company of two
veterans of
>humanitarian causes in Burma (i.e., providing direct
assistance to
>concentration camps and prisoners of "detention centres" on the
>Burma-Thai border), namely, Ken & Vishaka Kawasaki. I thus
learned a
>great deal of practical significance about the slow-motion
genocides
>that are proceeding in Burma, while at the same time
inspecting the
>old inscriptions, etc., in the ancient cities. My own
presence on the
>journey was incidental --the original cause for their
organizing the
>trip was to provide an opportunity for two Indian monks (part
of the
>"New Buddhist" movement in India) to conduct a pilgrimage. I
learned
>a bit more about the ongoing caste struggle in India from
these monks;
>I also note that they chanted Pali at a few of the sites, and
their
>phonetic reading of the Pali was impeccable. Perhaps the
Maharastri
>Prakrit has preserved a sense of the pronounciation and
elocution of
>Pali? One can only hope.
>
>E.M.
>
>
>
>Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>
>
______________
Dr. Justin McDaniel
Dept. of Religious Studies
2617 Humanities Building
University of California, Riverside
Riverside, CA 92521
909-827-4530
justinm@...