by N.A. Jayawickrama. Published by the Post-Graduate Institute of Pali & Buddhist Studies, University of Kelaniya, 2001. 435 pages. Paperback. Rs 600.

If we were to understand Professor K.R. Norman (KRN) as the finest Pali scholar in the West at present, there is no doubt that Professor N.A. Jayawickrama (NAJ) must be his Eastern counterpart. It is also no secret that both have benefited from each other while reaching, and being in, that standard. I must note appreciatively that Professor NAJ contributed enormously to uplift Pali studies nationally and internationally by not only editing and translating important Pali texts but also teaching Pali to many. I was fortunate enough to learn my first university Pali lessons from NAJ at the University of Kelaniya in 1982/3 by reading the Sagathavagga of the Samyuttanikaya.

NAJ had completed nearly 60 years of teaching Pali studies at university level, when his new volume of the Suttanipata and its translation came to be published. His long love affair with this text and his genuine desire of popularizing it is evident when he writes, “This translation is made mainly keeping the Buddhist reader in mind because of the importance of this book as a collection of Buddhist suttas occupying a place very close to the most popular book of Pali verse, the Dhammapada” (p.i).

NAJ’s Ph.D. thesis at the University of London (1947) was a critical analysis of this text. This thesis was published serially in the University of Ceylon Review from 1948 onwards, and again reprinted in the Pali Buddhist Review, London. There is no doubt that KRN was heavily influenced by this thesis, in adopting, adjusting and shaping his views with regard to issues that had arisen when his translation of the Suttanipata, The Group of Discourses (London: PTS. 1984) was made nearly two decades ago.

Now one needs to do a comparative study of these two translations in order to see their similarities and differences. Though I am not in a position to do it in this brief review, to my knowledge, both works are the finest translations of a Pali text, particularly seeing one from a philological point of view, and the other from a traditional point of view.

It must be noted that NAJ had the opportunity of using that of KRN. Unfortunately, since NAJ was preparing the text with a desire of appropriating to a general audience, he had to give up many of his academic notes. In referring to KRN’s work, NAJ writes: “After making my translation I compared it with Professor Norman’s and accepted some of his corrections but when his interpretation differed from the Buddhist tradition I felt that I was justified in retaining my original translation” (pp. i-ii).

From this it is also evident that NAJ had found himself closer to the tradition than KRN who is more of a philologist who followed a method of historical and comparative analysis, with lots of conjectures. While KRN often finds himself rejecting the traditional interpretations in favor of historical and philological interpretations, NAJ tries to be close to the Paramatthajotik( II (PJ) and Niddesa 1 and 2 (Nd). For example, where KRN interpreted maggajina to be “the knower of the path,” from marga-jña with a svarabhakti vowel, NAJ follows the traditional interpretation, “the winner of the path” (v. 85a and 86d); again, where KRN takes vivattacchadda (v. 372a) to mean “of widespread fame,” NAJ follows the commentary (vivata-raga-dosa-mohacchadano) and interprets, “he who has rolled back the veil (of the roots of evil).”

NAJ’s new volume is user-friendly. It is appearing as a paperback edition. In verse suttas where the context is not given, NAJ clarifies the context by stating the speaker of the verse or verses. See, for instance, (The questioner) (p. 357), and (Buddha) (p. 358). Unlike that of Norman, this volume consists of both the text and the translation together. This makes it easy for the savant as well as the student of Pali both in understanding the content of the text and in learning Pali.

The Pali text produced in this volume is not a new edition, but a reproduction of the current PTS edition, with few changes made on the basis of two other editions: the edition of Suriyagoda Sumangala and that of P. V. Bapat. It avoids variant readings. This leaves the reader with no other option but to read and understand the text in the way NAJ did.

The suttas are separated and each sutta begins on a new page. The titles of the suttas are given in both Pali and English. The verses are numbered within a sutta as well as in continuation to count 1149 verses all together. The abbreviations are avoided both in the text as well as in the translation. This makes it convenient for those who study individual suttas. See, for instance, the Selasutta (pp. 216-30) where the PTS edition is an abbreviated version.

The volume also contains brief notes at the end of each sutta. These notes are useful to see how NAJ dealt with complications in the text. However, these notes mainly show NAJ’s allegiance to Pj and to Nd; he sometimes rejects the PED meaning and confirms what is given in the commentaries. For example, see what is given in the commentaries. For example, see sibbani, p. 390.

In some cases, NAJ seems too literal. For example, he translates mettaya phasse tasathavarani as “let him extend thoughts of love to the trembling and the stable (alike).” Here it seems to me, as KRN has shown, to translate tasa-thavara in the Jain sense, that is, moving and unmoving beings, makes much more sense. It must be noted that in the early Buddhist environment what was prevalent was the Jain idea of dividing the fettered or baddha-jivas into moving and unmoving, implying all sentient beings, rather than taking the commentarial meaning of trembling (worldly people) and stable (arahants).

The volume contains a brief book list consisting of previous Sn editions and translations. The list missed the date of KRN’s translation. It is unfortunate that he also missed including the bibliographical details of two other editions that he mentions in the introduction to the volume which were used in preparing the Pali text.

The volume attaches a list of 12 printing mistakes already noted. To this, I would also like to add, Khaggavisana for -visan (p. v), characteristics for charactrisic (p. 17), one’s back for one’s baek (p. 23), paccayena for paccyena (p. 27), spiritual for spritual (p. 28), and because for becaues (p. 28).

I am sure that the non-specialists in particular will also find it necessary to have a list of abbreviations to follow the notes. See for instance, ppp (p. 6), st (p. 13), prp med (p. 26), and fpp (p. 38).

My overall judgment is that this volume breaks new ground in the study of Pali and in interpreting difficult Pali texts for a non-specialist audience. It understands the translating techniques and aims of translating a text from one language to the other. There is no doubt that despite his fine scholarship, Professor NAJ was careful enough to avoid scholarly details and conjectures and was able to convey the message of the Sn in plain English while remaining close to the traditional interpretation as much as possible.

G.A. Somaratne, University of Peradeniya.
(The author is senior lecturer at the Department of Pali and Buddhist Studies, Peradeniya University, Sri Lanka).