suva.n.nanaavaa (gold vessel)

Dear Members,

I recently received an email from a Spanish woman who enquires in her own
words:

"I am trying to know which is the word or words utilised in Sanskrit and in
Pali for meaning a specific type of objects, with the shape of a boat. I
have found several examples from Pali texts, but the texts which I have are
translated in English."

I found the word to be "naavaa" in the following illustrative passage at
Dhp-a III 184:

a.t.tha vaa dasa vaa rattasuva.n.nanaavaayo kaarehi, taa ma.n.dapamajjhe
bhavissanti. dvinna.m dvinna.m bhikkhuuna.m antare ekekaa khattiyadhiitaa
nisiiditvaa gandhe pisissati, ekekaa khattiyadhiitaa biijana.m aadaaya dve
dve bhikkhuu biijamaanaa .thassati,  sesaa khattiyadhiitaro pise pise gandhe
haritvaa suva.n.nanaavaasu pakkhipissanti, taasu ekaccaa khattiyadhiitaro
niiluppalakalaape  gahetvaa suva.n.nanaavaasu pakkhittagandhe aalo.letvaa
vaasa.m gaahaapessanti.

which I tentatively translate as:

"Make eight or ten shiny gold vessels, these will be in the middle of the
hall. Each noble daughter sitting down between two monks will crush scented
substances, each noble daughter taking a fan will stand fanning two monks,
the remaining noble daughters carrying the crushed substances will place
these in the gold vessels, among them a few noble daughters taking
clusters of blue lotuses and mixing these in with the scented substances
placed in the gold vessels will cause the perfume to be taken up (through
the nose?)."

Other translators might use the word 'boat' instead of 'vessel'. The meaning
of "naavaa" in the sense of a boat-shaped utensil or vessel is not found in
PED except perhaps in the PvA 189 gloss (do.ni) suggesting that the vessel
has a capacity of one do.na.

MW's Sanskrit dictionary gives:

2 nau 2 f. a ship , boat , vessel RV. &c. &c. ; (in astrol.) N. of a
partic. appearance of the moon or of a constellation Var. ; = %{vAc} Nir. i
, 11 (either because prayer is a vessel leading to heaven or ft. 4. %{nu} ,
`" to praise "'). [Cf. 2. %{nAva} and 7. %{nu} ; Gk. $ , &175727[571 ,2] $ ,
&c. ; Lat. {na1vis} , {nau-ta} , {nau-fragus} &c. ; Icel. {no4r} ; (?) Germ.
{Nachen}.]

Does anyone know anything more about the meaning of naavaa in the Dhp-a III
184 passage that I could pass on to Maria?

Best wishes,
Jim