Re: Dīpavaṃsa

From: Nyanatusita
Message: 3764
Date: 2013-11-19

Dear Brev,

I was at the library today and found another English translation of the Dīpavaṃsa by Bimala Churn Law (The Chronicle of the Island of Ceylon or the Dīpavaṃsa, published by the Ceylon Historical Journal vol. 7 July 1957 to April 1958, nos. 1-4 and as a book in 1959.

Good to know that there is another translation. I thought that there was none. However, it is long out of print. Is it online somewhere as a digital file?

He translates the verse in question on page 163 as

"Giving up the original state, name, characteristic, decoration and decent acts, they made it differently."

The sentence refers to the texts in the previous verse.

He has a footnote on decoration (parikkhāra) referring to Childers' definition of as "The furniture of nouns and their genders, niceties of composition"

But how did Childers' come to this definition? Did he get it from Oldenberg?

There are two interpretations, one modern one which links it to the preceding verses about texts, and takes it to refer to grammar, and the other, traditional medieval Pali commentarial one, taking it to refer to the emblems, decorations, and deportment of sects, which makes some sense too, from the perspective of forming a new nikaya or sect.

Nāma I will discuss in my next mesage.

BW,
Bh Nt

Hope that helps,

Best wishes,

Bryan

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