Re: Pali composition

Namaskara Venerable Bhikkhu Nyanatusita,

Here are the citations for two "new" Pali compositions from Thailand.

The first is a new Pali chronicle composed by Banyen Limsavati under the auspices of the present Sangharaja of Thailand (Somdet Phra Sangharaja Sakalamahasangghaparinayok Somdet Phra Nanasangvara). It was published in 2547 [2004]. It is titled "Sasanadipani" and is 57 pages of text (Roman script) or 166 pages of handwritten Thai script). It was published at Wat Boworniwet in Bangkok. There are copies available in several bookstores in Thailand. They are free gifts given at the monastery as well.

The second is not particularly new, but newly published. It is a collection of Pali letters composed by King Mongkut (Rama IV) from 1830s-1862). The collection is:
Prachum Phra Rachaniphon Bhasa Bali nai Phra Bat Somdet Phra Chom Klao Chao Yu Hua (Bangkok: National Office of Religious Affairs, 2547 [2004]). There are letters, chants, edicts, and the like composed in Pali by the king. A very nice collection in Thai script.

There are of course many many short Pali chants (and Pali-Sanskrit-Khmer-Thai hybrid chants) composed in Thailand on a regular basis. These are often found inscribed on the bases of new Buddha images or on plastic signs in front of altars of new Brahmanic or Buddhist images. I have written about these a bit in a new book on magic and ghosts in Theravada Buddhism in Thailand. I have also written about Pali composition in Thailand in general and the history of Pali education in Thailand in two publications: Gathering Leaves and Lifting Words: Histories of Monastic Education in Laos and Thailand (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2008) and an article on the history of Pali grammatical texts in Thailand in the new festschrift for W.S. Karunatillake published in Columbo (2008).

Respectfully,
justin
______________
Dr. Justin McDaniel
Dept. of Religious Studies
3046 INTN
University of California, Riverside
Riverside, CA 92521
951-827-4530
justinm@...


---- Original message ----
>Date: Sat, 30 Aug 2008 08:28:31 +0530
>From: Nyanatusita <nyanatusita@...> 
>Subject: Re: [palistudy] Pali composition 
>To: palistudy@yahoogroups.com
>
>   Dear Justin,
>
>   Thanks for the reply. Please send me the details
>   (author, name of work,
>   and year of publication) so that I can include it in
>   my list of Pali
>   literature (see
>   http://www.bps.lk/other_library/reference_table_of_pali_literature.pdf).
>   It will also be put on a German scholarly website
>   soon.
>
>   Regards,
>   Bhikkhu Nyanatusita
>
>   justinm@... wrote:
>   >
>   > A new Pali chronicle was composed by the present
>   Sangharaja of
>   > Thailand. I think he wrote it in the early 1980s.
>   I have an edition of
>   > this if anyone wants more details.
>   > Thank you,
>   > justin
>   > ____________ __
>   > Dr. Justin McDaniel
>   > Dept. of Religious Studies
>   > 3046 INTN
>   > University of California, Riverside
>   > Riverside, CA 92521
>   > 951-827-4530
>   > justinm@... edu <mailto:justinm%40ucr.edu>
>   >
>   > ---- Original message ----
>   > >Date: Fri, 29 Aug 2008 16:25:31 +0530
>   > >From: Nyanatusita <nyanatusita@ gmail.com
>   > <mailto:nyanatusita%40gmail.com>>
>   > >Subject: [palistudy] Pali composition
>   > >To: palistudy@... ps.com
>   <mailto:palistudy%40yahoogroups.com>
>   > >
>   > > Hello,
>   > >
>   > > Does anyone know whether any new Pali books have
>   > > been written during the
>   > > last fifty years?
>   > > As far as I know the last works in Pali were
>   > > composed in Burma in the
>   > > 1950s, i.e. the Visuddhi~naa. nakathaa (Burma,
>   > > Mahaasi Sayaadaw, 1950)
>   > > and the Visuddhimagga- nidaanakathaa (Burma,
>   > > Cha.t.tha-sa" ngiiti-bhaara- nitthaaraka-
>   sa"ngha-samitiya ,
>   > > 1950s.). In Sri
>   > > Lanka the last work was probably composed in
>   1935:
>   > > the
>   > > Mahaanekkhamma- campu by Widurupola Piyatissa.
>   The
>   > > fake Vimuttimagga was
>   > > probably composed after that but I am not sure
>   if
>   > > this can qualify as an
>   > > official Pali work.
>   > > If it is a fact that no new Pali compositions
>   were
>   > > written during the
>   > > last fifty years, then this indicates that Pali
>   is
>   > > now a real dead
>   > > language. It could be that some works have been
>   > > written in Burma though.
>   > > Regards,
>   > > Bhikkhu Nyanatusita
>   > >
>   > >
>   >
>   >
>
>