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DECEMBER, 1879.]
NOTE ON THE MENGALA THOK.
329
NOTE ON THE MENGALA THOK.
BY LIEUT. R. O. TEMPLE, B.S.C., F.R.G.S., Erc. W ITH reference to a newspaper slip, a copy of kamitva Bhagavantar abhivadetva ekamantar
which was printed in this Journal (vol. atthåsi. Ekamantam thitå kho s& devata BhagaVIII. p. 82), purporting to give a translation of a vantam gåthâya ajjhabh&si. well-known Burmese text, there called the Mengla 2. Bahu devå manuss& cha mangalani achinThut, taught in the schools in Burmâ, I would re- tayum Akankhamânå sotthânam. Brohi manmark as follows:
galam uttaman. I have by me a text-book in Burmese, printed 3. Asevana cha bâlânam panditanaficha sevanê by the local Government at Rangoon, for the use of Paja cha pujaniyânâm etam mangalam uttaman. schools, in an issue of 10,000 copies, in A. D. 1867 4. Patirapadesav&so cha pubbe cha katapuñ. (Burmese Era 1237). In this book the Mengala Piata Attasammapanidhi cha eta mangalam Thok forms the first of six texts. It is in PAli, with uttamar. & running commentary or rather translation in 1 5. Bahasachchañ cha sippani cha vinayo cha Burmese after the manner of our Greek and Latin susikkhito Subhâsita cha ya vâchâ etam mangalam "cribs" in England. The text is also the 5th in uttamam.. the late Professor Childers' Khuddaka Patha, which 6. Matâpitu-upatthanat puttadarassa sanis again the first of the fifteen divisions of the gabo Ankkula cha kammantâ etam mangalam Khuddaka Nikdya and immediately precedes the Dhammapada." Prof. Childers's text is taken 7. Danas cha dhammachariya cha natakánast from the Singhalese version, and does not mate- cha sangaho Anavajjani kammâni etam mangalam rially differ from the Burmese, and where it does
uttamam. differ, one may be pretty sure that the Singhalese 8. Årati virati p&p& majjapâna cha safifiamo Apversion is the correct one.
pamado cha dhammesu etam mangalam uttamam. I have therefore here taken the liberty of tran. 9. Garavo cha nivåto cha santuţthì cha katanscribing Childers's text and of using his render- fiuta KAlena dhammasavaşam etam mangalam ing of the same. It will be observed to differ uttamam. considerably from that already alluded to (ante, 10. Khanti cha sovachagsata samananañ cha p. 82). That version is in fact the Burmese dassanan Kâlena dhammasákachchha etam man. rendering of the Pâli original, the great power of galam uttamam. which is nearly entirely lost in it.
11. Tapo cha brahmachariyâ cha ariyasachchâna' With regard to the names Mengala Thok and dassanath Nibbanasachchhikiriya cha etam manMengla Thut: these are the same words, as I will galam uttamam. proceed to show. The word in Sanskrit is Mangala- 12. Phutthassa lokadhammehi chittam yassa sútra, which speaks for itself, and in PAli is Mangala- na kampati Asokam virajam khemat etam sutta. In Burmese it is written Mangalasutt or mangalam uttamar. Mangalasut in accordance with the usual law of 13. Etådisani katvana sabbattha-m-aparajita that language, which cuts off the last short terminal Sabbattha sotthim gachchhanti tam tesam man. syllable of imported Pali words. By the laws galam uttaman. of Burmese phonetics this word Mangalasut is Mangalaguttam nitthitam. pronounced Mengala Thók; e as in met, th as in Professor Childers has translated this very thing.
beautiful Satra as follows, and the translation is of The P&litext according to Childers is as follows:
course a good one though somewhat bald. Mangalasutta.
Praise be to the Blessed One, the Holy One, the Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sam- Author of all Truth.. buddhassa.
I. Thus I have heard. On a certain day dwelt 1. Evam me sutam. Ekam samayam Bhagava Buddha at Sravasti," at the Jetavana monastery, Så vatthiyam vibarati Jetavane Ankthapiņdikassa in the garden of Anâthapiņdaka. And when the &râme. Atha kho aliñatara devatá abhikkantâya night was far advanced a certain radiant celestial rattiyâ abhikkantavannå kevalakappar Jetavanar being, illuminating the whole of Jetavana, apobh&setva yena Bhagava ten' upasankami upasan- proached the Blessed One and saluted him and
A tradition by the present writer of the 6th of these texta, called the Lokanits, or in Burmese the Lankanfdi, is to be found in the Jour. A. S. Beng. for 1878.
Jour. R. As. Soc. N. S. vol. IV. p. 312. * Childers in his texts always uses c to represent the sound
of our ch. I have however in this transcript reverted to ch to represent it.-R.O.T. • The text has “The Blessed One" (Bhagavd).R.O.T.
Sdvatthi in the text is the Pali pronunciation of the name.-R.O.T.
