Sahassavatthu-Ppakaranam (An Old and Rare Book)

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Sahassavatthu-ppakarnani, a book of considerable importance for the study of culture, literature and religious traditions of Buddhist origin developed in Ceylon, is for the first time presented in Roman characters. I had taken the work on this subject during my year long visit to Gottinghan University in West Germany, where I worked under Professor Heinz Beschert of the Indolo; y and Buddhist Studies Department. Present work contains a transfiteration of the work of the same name from the Simhalese to Roman script.

I am grateful to Prof. B. M. Chaturvedi, Professor Department of Sanskrit, University of Delhi. for his constant encouragement during my busy schedule in Delhi University. I am thankful to my husband Prof. R. P. Gandhi of I. I. T., Delhi for all kind of support in the Preparation of this book. I cannot but bless my daughter Shefalika for her cooperation in the task of the [reparation of the manuscript. I also thank Prof. Dr. M.C. Bhartiya who got this book published from Indo-Vision Pvt. Ltd., Ghaziabad.

Sahassavatthu ppakarayah was first published in 1959 in Simsalese script. Till then it was only talked about, but not available in published form. It is being here for the first time published in Roman characters Sahassavatthu is a collection of some ancient narratives belonging to the pre-Buddhist and Buddhist era, written in Pali Iingurge. It is not a work of any literary merit and is written in a rather crude abrupt language. It abounds in ungrammatical sentences and idioms and usages of Sinhalesese origin. Even with regard to stories, there does not seem to be any order of narration: the stories from India and Ceylon are badly mixed up in respect of historical and other contents. Even the individual stories are not well laid out. For instance, a story will begin with a gatha, (which Syves a resume of the tale) and after a few lines, same gatha recurs. In a few instances, after the gathd, the stories opens with the words Tam jatha natayyare. A number of storis in it are incompletely told. The name sahassa-vatthu does not mean 'a thousand stories'. "Saharsa' is a compound word (sa+hassa) which means 'connected with joy' or 'pleasure giving'. Hassa in Pali is synonymous with So the entire word 'Sahassa-vatthu means stories that bring joy, and pleasure to the reader. The origin of Sahassavatthu is obscure, though, from the references found in it of Mahavaihsa and Mahavamsa Althakatha, the conclusion can be drawn that Sahassavatthu should have appeared later than the 5th century A.D. It is of interest to observe in this connection that references to Sahassavatthu do not appear in any of the available work, written in Pali or Simhalese language, later than the 10th century A. D. However, Schassavatthu Attha- katha figure thrice (twice in details) in Mahavarisa-fika which was written around 9th century A. D.

The authorship of Sahassavatthu-ppakarana is obscure. Hugh Neville made the suggestion that it could have been the work of monks of Dhammaruci sect (Uttara-vihara). His contention has however been refuted by Malalsekera. From a sentence in the story o Gothaimbara, cited in Sahassavatthu-ppakarana, which reads Uttaraviharavasino pana evui vadarti, Walhola Rahula has concluded that the authorship cannot be assigned to the monks of Dhammaruci sect. However, the author says in the introduction that he has borrowed material for his work from the Simhalese source 'S halasthakutha' and from the traditions of the teachers of Ceylone.