Book Reviews

Author(s): J W De Jong
Publisher: J W De Jong

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REVIEWS
C. E. Godakumbura, assisted by U Tin Lwin, with contributions by Heinz Bechert and Heinz Braun, Catalogue of Cambodian and Burmese Pali Manuscripts (Catalogue of Oriental Manuscripts, Xylographs etc. in Danish collections, Vol. 2, part 1). Copenhagen, The Royal Library, 1983. XXI, 153 pp., 12 pl. Danish Kroner 350,
With the publication of this volume all Pali manuscripts in Danish collections have now been carefully catalogued and described. George Coedès described the manuscripts from Thailand (cf. IIJ 20, p. 322), and Godakumbura those from Ceylon (cf. IIJ 25, pp. 152–53). In recent years more attention has been paid to Pāli manuscripts from Burma, Cambodia and Thailand, and this catalogue will be extremely useful for a future history of Pāli literature in these three countries.
The catalogue was prepared by the late C. E. Godakumbura and U Tin Lwin, the Professor of Pali at the University of Mandalay. After the death of Godakumbura, the galley-proofs were entrusted to Heinz Bechert, who completed and edited the catalogue with the help of Heinz Braun. The catalogue describes 44 Pali manuscripts in Cambodian or Khmer script, and 66 Pāli and bilingual Pali-Burmese manuscripts written in Burmese script. In his introduction, Heinz Bechert points out that the collection contains a considerable number of valuable and rare texts. One will find in this introduction a brief description of the collection (pp.. . XVII-XX).
The Cambodian collection contains a manuscript of the Sivajayyajātaka, the contents of which are analysed in detail (pp. 17-35). The Vessantaradipani is a voluminous super-commentary on the Vessantarajataka, written by Sirimangala Mahathera in 1317 or 1318 (pp. 15-17). A manuscript entitled Țıka-bahūni contains stories relating to each of the eight Jayamarigalagatha (pp. 43-47). The Okasalokadīpani and the Mahakappalokasanthanapaññatti are two cosmological texts (pp. 53-54). The Vamsamalini is a historical epic based on the Mahavamsa (pp. 54–55). Among the grammatical texts are three texts based on the Gandhābharaṇa (pp. 57-59).
The Burmese collection contains ten Kammavācā texts (pp. 62-69), and nissayas on the Mahāvagga, the Culavagga, the Cūlavagga section of Buddhaghosa's Samantapāsādikā, and the Pārājika section of the Vinaya (pp. 69-74). A codex contains the Karikhävitarani, Kankhävitarani-țīka, Dhammapada, Subodhalankara, Abhidhānappadipika and Vuttodaya (pp. 75-79). The Khuddasikkhābhinava-ţikā was written by Sangharakkhita in the thirteenth century (pp. 79-82). The Vinayasara-ganthi is an explanation in Burmese of difficult points in the Vinaya written by Munindasāra in 1801-1802 (pp. 83-85). The Burmese collection further contains a manuscript of the Līnatthappakasinī, the commentary on
Indo-Iranian Journal 29 (1986) 324