Publications

by Pali Text Society

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1896. Excerpt: ... Catalogue of the Mandala MSS. IN THE INDIA OFFICE LIBEABY. (Formerly part of the King's Library at Mandalay.) By PROFESSOR V. FAUSBtfLL. PEEFACE. THE FOLLOWING CATALOGUE WAS ORIGINALLY WRITTEN IN 1888, BUT NOW RE-WRITTEN IN 1896. The whole collection of MSS. that belonged to the King's Library at Mandalay seems to have consisted of about 1,150 numbers (the highest number I have met with is 1,144, and a few MSS. are unnumbered), but of these more-than 800 are now missing, having either been looted during the war, or lent out at the time when the Library was removed to the India Office. The collection consists of three sorts of MSS.: some are purely Pali MSS., some purely Burmese, and some mixed Pali and Burmese, viz., commentaries on Pali books. The Pali MSS. are generally carefully and nicely written in bold Burmese characters, on long palm leaves, usually with 9 lines in a page, and beautifully got up with gilt-edged leaves enclosed in gilt boards, but the leaves are seldom ornamented. On the left side of the leaf is the numbering in letters, and on the right side the title of the book or the section in Burmese. With 1 only one exception (Nr. 18), all the MSS. are written on palm leaves. The leaves of several MSS. were in disorder when I began the catalogue. Where I could re-arrange them without losing too much time I did so. Although the MSS. are, on the whole, carefully written, as remarked before, still they share with nearly all Burmese MSS. such blunders as brahmana for brahmana, gandha for gantha, nithita for nitthita, etc. That the reader may for himself judge of the correctness or incorrectness of the MSS., I have, with a few exceptions, given the text as I found it. Where I have altered anything I. have expressly stated it. V. Fatjsboll. INDEX O...

34 pages, Paperback

First published March 23, 1896