Studies in Ven. Buddhadatta’s Prosody

4: Madhuratthavilāsinī
(Buddhavaṁsa-aṭṭhakathā)

1: The Text

Ven. Buddhadatta’s commentary on the Buddhavaṁsa differs from the other texts examined in this series of studies, in that it is not, like the other works, an original composition, but rather a translation and edition of the traditional commentary that had been handed down in the Mahāvihāra at Anurādhapura, in the Sinhala language.

It is written in a mixture of prose and verse, and includes many quotations from the Tipiṭaka and other commentaries, besides a number of verses that appear to be original to the work, though exactly which verses are the original compositions of Ven. Buddhadatta himself is not possible to establish beyond any doubt.

The commentary does of course, quote all of the verses of Buddhavaṁsa itself, and comments on them. But besides these there are a number of verses, which are not quotations from other sources. In her translation of Buddhavaṁsa-aṭṭhakathā (The Clarifier of the Sweet Meaning, PTS, London, 1978) Miss I.B. Horner lists 129 unattributed verses. The number given here is much greater from that, amounting to 185.

This total differs from Horner’s because there are many mistakes in Horner’s work, both of omission and of commission:

• 62 verses found in ChS, but not in PTS, are not counted by Horner. They would occur at the beginning of page 24 of her edition of the text. They are attributed to Udāyin in the commentary, and the first verse and the last but one verse in the series (included, but not counted in this study) actually occur in almost identical form in Theragāthā (Kāḷudāyittheragāthā 527 & 530). As the verses in question appear to be from the early medieval period, they are quite possibly original to Ven. Buddhadatta.
• 3 verses (numbers 18 - 20 here) that Horner says H (= SHB) attributes to the porāṇas, are not found elsewhere in the commentaries, as far as I can discover. They appear to be original to this commentary therefore. On what authority SHB attributes them to the porāṇas is not clear, as there is nothing in the commentary itself to confirm this.
• 4 verses that are counted (Horner’s numbers 38-41, p. 114) actually belong to Visuddhimagga (Vism. p. 74 ff), which probably precedes this work, and so cannot be counted as original.
• Horner’s verse 78 belongs to Ja 290, vss. 1 ab & 2 cd, and so also cannot be counted. Note that her reference to Ja IV 42 for a partial parallel is misleading.
• The counting of the verses has also gone astray at one point. On page 209 an unidentified verse is numbered 84; but on page 238 the sequence is continued from 83!
• A verse at the very beginning of the Exposition of the Chronicle of the Buddha Gotama is laid out and translated as prose, though it is in fact an unattributed Siloka verse.
• Verses 98 - 104 (pgs 388-9) are from the Nidānakathā of the Jātaka (pg. 44); and the following verse 105 is from Cariyāpiṭaka (Cp. vs. 124, pg. 81).
• The verse numbered 110 is already found in the Dīghanikāyaṭṭhakathā (pg. 206), and many other commentaries (1.212; 3.334; AA 3.195; Ja 3.377 etc.).
• A verse found in ChS is missing from Horner’s text and translation. It comes after her verse no 117 on page 414 of the translation.
• Three verses in the ChS edition of the Nigamana are excluded from Horner’s edition and translation, though they appear to be genuine enough. Two of them are quoted in a footnote to her translation, but the final verse is not.

In this way we eventually arrive then at a figure of 185 unattributed verses in this work.

We have seen in the earlier studies that Ven. Buddhadatta’s prosody is quite unique, and has certain very distinctive characetristics, which we may define here:

Orthography:

• An allowance for sarabhatti vowels, usually of the -rⁱy- type.
• Frequent employment of resolution.

In the Siloka verses there is:

• A very high percentage of the pathyā-type (normally 95% +).
• A special type of mavipulā, which has parametres not normally acceptable.
• A high percentage of savipulā amongst the variations.
• The occasional employment of the Anuṭṭhubha.
• A number of the pāda-s scan as 9-syllables, with no easy way to correct the metre.

In the classical metres there are:

• A number of verses in Mattacchandas metres.
• A fair number of unusual metres, like Vijjummālā, Pamāṇika, Campakamālā, Vātummī & Saṅgatā.

We will see from the analysis of the verses which are unattributed in this work that they conform in many ways to Ven. Buddhadatta’s idiosyncratic prosody, and employ many of the same classical metres that he used in his original works. These studies would seem to prove beyond any reasonable doubt, therefore, that the Madhuratthavilāsinī is in fact correctly attributed to Ven. Buddhadatta.

2: Sarabhatti & Resolution

Sarabhatti vowels are found in bharⁱyāhi (55c) & –gar^ahino (119d).

Resolution occurs in the following words: upa– 27a; rata– 40c; sama– 40d – 100d; –pari– 95c; dasa– 103b; padu– 126d; & saka– 162a.

3: Analysis of the metres

a: Siloka

There are 108 unattributed verses written in the Siloka metre, of which 98 are pathyā (91%).

Of the variations:

• mavipulā (⏓⏓⏑⏓¦−,−−×) = 3 (17c, 158a, 161c)
• mavipulā-type (⏓⏓⏓⏓¦−−−×) = 1 (104c)
• navipulā (⏓⏓⏓−¦⏑⏑⏑×) = 1 (160c)
• bhavipulā (⏓⏓⏓⏓¦−⏑⏑×) = 1 (183c)
• ravipulā (⏓⏓⏓⏓,¦−⏑−×) = 1 (101a)
• 9 syllables = 3 (16a, 20c, 129c)

There are light 2nd & 3rd syllables in the opening of verse 23:

b: Other Metres

The verses written in classical metres in this work are proportionately much greater than in the other works, there being 131 verses in a variety of metres, which amounts to 70% of the total.

There are no metres here in Mattācchandas metres; but of the Addhasamavutta class which are derived from that class, Aparavatta occurs at 154; and Pupphitaggā at 145.

The rest are composed in Samavutta metres.

10 syllables:

Campakamālā = 1 (131)

11 syllables:

The greatest number of the classical verses are in the Upajāti metre.

One of the striking characteristics of these verses in the inclusion of no less than 21 Vaṁsaṭṭhā lines, something which is also characteristic of Ven. Buddhadatta’s other works. They occur at 41ac; 43bc; 45a; 49a; 50a; 51b; 52b; 53a; 56c; 69c; 70a; 71ab; 74a; 81b; 90b; 92a; 96c; 98b; 107b; & 156a.

Verse number 98 besides the Vaṁsaṭṭhā line also has a line in the 14 syllable Vasantatatilaka metre (98a); and 94d has a line in the 11 syllable Sumukhī metre.

Compounds cross the pādayuga in the Ganthārambhakathā on 4 occasions: 6ab; 8ab,cd; & 9ab.

Of the other classical metres there are 8 in Indavajirā metre (29, 31, 114, 115, 134, 146, 150, 152); and 7 in Upindavajirā metre (3, 7, 102, 105, 122, 153, 167).

There is also one verse in the very rare classical form of the Svāgatā metre at 157.

12 syllables:

Vaṁsaṭṭhā occurs independently in only 3 verses (1, 159, 165).

In the same class the unusual Bhujaṅgappayāta metre occurs 5 times, at 37, & in four verses in the Nigamana at 179 - 182.

Toṭaka = 1 (163)

Dutavilambita = 1 (118)

13 syllables:

Mattamayūra = 1 (132)

We now present all of the unattributed verses from Ven. Buddhadatta’s Madhuratthavilāsinī. Verses that are not sequential in the original are seperated by 3 astericks:

last updated: March 2019