Dear Petra,
Thanks for your help with verse 5 and for pointing out Cone's emtry. I got
the idea of 'admittedly' for 'kāmaṃ' from MW's entry with 'granted, admitted
that' as a possibility. I'm in agreement with you and I don't think I was
all that far off in my translation. I had considered that 'tathābhūtā' could
be referring to something said in the preceding pādas. The translations I
submit are only tentative and most likely in a crude state requiring further
refinement as there always seem to be room left for improvement.
Best,
Jim
----- Original Message -----
From: "petra kieffer-Pülz" <kiepue@...>
To: <palistudy@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Monday, June 06, 2011 4:04 AM
Subject: Re: [palistudy] Sv-n.t I 1-2 (introductory verses 3-6)
Dear Jim,
>
>
> Kāmañca sā tathābhūtā, paramparābhatā pana;
> Pāṭhato atthato cāpi, bahuppamādalekhanā. 5.
>
>
> Kāmañca here means "although", correlates with pana (see DOP kaama.m 2)
>
> tathaabhuuta which can be positive or negativ grasps some quality
> described earlier, and therefore refers to the qualities mentioned in the
> preceding verse. The meaning is that the commentary as it was written by
> Dhammapala was excellent, but has been distorted by transmission.
> Therefore It would translate:
> "And although (this commentary) was of such a (excellent) quality
> (referring back to Sammā nipuṇagambhīra-duddasatthappakāsanā) it has been
> handed down is succession with its writing having become badly neglected
> ..."
>
>
Best,
Petra