TNTS Pali Grammar Reading Group: The Saddanīti

By Category :

We invite students with an intermediate level of Pali and higher to join a group reading and study of Aggavaṃsa’s Saddanīti, the twelfth-century Pali grammar. This free online course will be led by Dr Aleix Ruiz-Falqués and Dr Anuja Ajotikar, both Lecturers at Shan State Buddhist University. If you are interested, please email arfalques@cantab.net by 7 Dec 2020. The group size is limited to 20, and priority will be given to previous TNTS Pali grammar course attendees.

Time

  • Wednesdays, 17:30–18:30 Myanmar time = 11:00–12:00 GMT, UK

Starting date

  • 16 December 2020, ongoing

Curators

  • Dr Aleix Ruiz-Falqués, Lecturer in Pali, Head of the Department of Pali and Languages, SSBU. Email: arfalques@cantab.net. Personal Website: www.kabbasetu.com
  • Dr Anuja Ajotikar, Lecturer in Sanskrit, SSBU; Lecturer in Sanskrit, The Sanskrit Library (www.sanskritlibrary.org)

Level

  • Intermediate and advanced (i.e. participants should have taken at least one or two Pali courses before).

Description 

  • This is a reading group—in Pali we would call it a reading maṇḍala “circle”. We are going to read and study Aggavaṃsa’s Saddanīti, an encyclopedic Pali grammar written around the twelfth century ce in Arimaddanapura, otherwise known as Pagan (Myanmar). Our focus will be on the Ākhyātakappa “Book on Verbs”, book XXV of the Saddanīti. We will also refer to the Dhātumālā section of the Saddanīti, which comprises books XV to XIX, whenever that is useful. We will consult other Pali grammars, especially Buddhappiya’s Rūpasiddhi, and also Sanskrit grammars such as Pāṇini’s Aṣṭādhyāyī and the Kātantra, with their respective commentaries, in order to understand the grammatical background of Aggavaṃsa. Burmese materials such as U Budh’s nissaya will be systematically consulted as well. 
  • The purpose of this reading group is to learn Pali grammar through the traditional methods taught by Aggavaṃsa. We will read slowly, paying attention to the detail. We will also discuss issues concerning the nature of scholastic Pali and possible ways to translate it into English. Participants may take an active role in the reading, reading a line or a short portion in turns. Participants who simply wish to audit are also welcome.

Materials on Google Drive

  • Materials for this course are freely available on the course’s Google Drive folder (see the Saddanīti sub-folder specifically). Our base text will be Helmer Smith’s edition (Vol. III: Suttamālā), reprinted by the Pali Text Society in 2001.