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DHAMMAPALA

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Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 142 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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DHAMMAPALA , the name of one of the See also:

early disciples of the See also:Buddha, and therefore constantly chosen as their name in See also:religion by Buddhist novices on their entering the brotherhood. The most famous of the Bhikshus so named was the See also:great commentator who lived in the latter See also:half of the 5th See also:century A.D. at the Badara Tittha Vihara, near the See also:east See also:coast of See also:India, just a little See also:south of where See also:Madras now stands. It is to him we owe the commentaries on seven of the shorter canonical books, consisting almost entirely of verses, and also the commentary on the Netti, perhaps the See also:oldest See also:Pali See also:work outside the See also:canon. Extracts from the latter work, and the whole of three out of the seven others, have been published by the Pali See also:Text Society. These See also:works show great learning, exegetical skill and See also:sound See also:judgment. But as Dhammapala confines himself rigidly either to questions of the meaning of words, or to discussions of the ethical import of his texts, very little can be gathered from his writings of value for the social See also:history of his See also:time. For the right See also:interpretation of the difficult texts on which he comments, they are indispensable. Though in all See also:probability a Tamil by See also:birth, he declares, in the opening lines of those of his works that have been edited, that he followed the tradition of the Great See also:Minster at See also:Anuradhapura in See also:Ceylon, and the works themselves confirm this in every respect. Hsuan Tsang, the famous See also:Chinese See also:pilgrim, tells a See also:quaint See also:story of a Dhammapala of Kanchipura (the See also:modern Konjevaram). He was a son of a high See also:official, and betrothed to a daughter of the See also:king, but escaped on the See also:eve of the See also:wedding feast, entered the See also:order, and attained to reverence and distinction. It is most likely that this story, whether legendary or not (and Hsuan Tsang heard the story at Kanchipura nearly two centuries after the date of Dhammapala), referred to this author. But it may also refer, as Hsuan Tsang refers it, to another author of the same name.

Other unpublished works, besides those mentioned above, have been ascribed to Dhammapala, but it is very doubtful whether they are really by him. AUrxoRrrIEs.—T.Watters, On Yuan Chwang (ed. Rhys Davidsand Bushell, See also:

London, 1905), ii. 169, 228; See also:Edmund See also:Hardy in Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenlandischen Gesellschaft (1898), pp. 97 See also:foil.; Netts (ed. E. Hardy, London, Pali Text Society, 1902), especially the Introduction, passim; Theri Gatha Commentary, Peta Vatthu Commentary, and Vimdna Vatthu Commentary, all three published by the Pali Text Society. (T. W. R.

End of Article: DHAMMAPALA

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