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INTRODUCTION
TO THE BOOK OF THE GREAT DECEASE.
IN translating this Sutta I have followed the text published by my friend the late Mr. Childers, first in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, and afterwards separately. In the former the text appeared in two instalments, the first two sheets, with many various readings in the footnotes, in the volume for 1874; and the remainder, with much fewer various readings, in the volume for 1876. The reprinted text omits most of the various readings in the first two sheets, and differs therefore slightly in the paging. The letters D, S, Y, and Z, mentioned in the notes, refer to MSS. sent to Mr. Childers from Ceylon by myself, Subhati Unnânse, Yâtramulle Unnânse, and Mudliar de Zoysa respectively. The MS. mentioned as P (in the first two sheets quoted only in the separate édition) is, no doubt, the Digha Nikâya MS. of the Phayre collection in the India Office Library. The other four are now I believe in the British Museum.
The Hon. George Turnour of the Ceylon Civil Service published an analysis of this work in the Journal of the Bengal Asiatic Society for 1839; but as he unfortunately skips, or only summarises, most of the difficult passages, his work, though a most valuable contribution for the time, now more than half a century ago, has not been of much service for the present purpose. Of much greater value was Buddhaghosa's commentary contained in the Sumangala Vilâsinil; but the great fifth-century commen
"I have used the copy made for Turnour, and now in the India Office Collection.
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| SR No. | 007674 |
| Book Title | Dhammapada |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Max Muller |
| Publisher | Oxford |
| Publication Year | 1881 |
| Total Pages | 2540 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 45 MB |