Re: Buddhaghosa's citations in Visuddhimagga

Dear Khristos,


The most useful study relating to this is a thesis (submitted in Germany
but in English):

Lottermoser, Friedgard. "Quoted Verse Passages in the Works of
Buddhaghosa: Contributions Towards the Study of the Lost Sīhaḷaṭṭhakathā
Literature." Dissertation zur Erlangung des Doktorgrades der
philosophischen Fakultat der Georg-August-Universität zu Göttingen,
Göttingen, 1982.


By the end of the first millennium A.D. the form of alphabet in use in
Ceylon had changed and the Sinhalese language had also changed
considerably from the Sinhalese Prakrit in which these works were
written. Probably very few monks could read them and so they were little
copied and not preserved in times of invasion and warfare. Note that
many Pali works that survive were preserved in South-East Asia and
reimported into Ceylon. It is doubtful if works in Sinhaḷa Prakrit were
ever taken to South-East Asia.

Lance Cousins