Re: Fwd: Pali document?

sorry for my misinformation this morning. You are right, Venerable, that it is not the Dhammapada, and that it is a mixture of Pāli and Sinhalese. In the lower leaf I read the second line as taṇho anādano niruttipadakovido akkharānaṃ sannipātaṃ jaṃñā pubbaparāni ca sa ve antimasāriro mahāpaṃño mahāpuriso ti vuccati, which is verse 352 of the Dhammapada. But then in the lower lines we find pūrvākṣaraparākṣarayan da (line 4), and this is a Sinhalese rendering eventually of the Dhammapada commentary on this verse, where pubbakkhara and aparakkhara is discussed (Dhp-a IV 70,20ff.). So it might be a Sinhalese sannaya on the Dhammapada or a Sinhalese translation of parts of the Dhammapada-aṭṭhakathā.

Am 28.12.2016 um 23:06 schrieb Bhikkhu Bodhi venbodhi@... [palistudy]:

Dear Bruce,
I sent the photograph of the manuscript to a Sri Lankan monk living in the New York area. This is his reply:

I tried to figure out what this is what about. I cannot say exactly, but I can say this is written in the Sinhalese language about King Asoka who lived in India and his offering to the Sangha and his construction of 84,000 temples. It is hard to read the rest of it; the writing is not clear enough.

From what I could see as well, this is not written in Pali, though there are Pali words sprinkled in the manuscript. I can make out the compound dhammadAnaM on the fourth line down from the upper leaf, almost midway between the two cords (just following the wiggly punctuation mark). If this were the Dhammapada, it would be followed by jinAti, but here it is followed by lAbhayanta rA[?]ayehin ...
Perhaps if you could find a Sri Lankan monk and show him the actual manuscript, he would be able to identify the text.

With best wishes,
Bhikkhu Bodhi

On 12/27/2016 10:39 PM, Bruce Simpson brucejsimpson@... [palistudy] wrote:

Hello Pali Study Group,

I am the executor of an estate for a family member who recently passed away. We discovered the manuscript that is pictured here.

What can anyone tell me about the likely origin/age/significance of this? Do you need me to take closer images of the writing to make an opinion?

Does this have financial value?

Would it be appropriate to donate it rather than sell it, and if so, what kind of organization (museum, temple...) would be the right recipient?

Thank you in advance for any help!

Bruce
-- 
Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi
Chuang Yen Monastery
2020 Route 301
Carmel NY 10512
U.S.A.

Sabbe sattā averā hontu, abyāpajjā hontu, anighā hontu, sukhī hontu!
願眾生無怨，願眾生無害，願眾生無惱，願眾生快樂！
May all beings be free from enmity, free from affliction, free from distress. May they be happy!