694 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY. 



Attha-salini, p. 408, lines 18-19 and 26, we read Atthasalini naina 

 Dhaniinasarjgah-atthakatha, 40 but in line 27, Dhanimasarjgani-attha- 

 katha. 



The titles of such texts are justly the despair of Occidental libra- 

 rians and bibliographers, who are inevitably at their wit's end in trying 

 to perform the well-nigh impossible task of making these Oriental books 

 available to Orientalists. Perhaps we ought not to blame the Hindus. 

 With their erudition, profound in many ways, but narrow, they had 

 no more conception of the many-sided knowledge indispensable for 

 a modern librarian than they had of aerial automobiles or wireless 

 telegraphy. 



Different names for the same commentary. — Comm's on books of 

 the Khuddaka-nikaya. — Comm. on Iti-vuttaka. The title Paramattha- 

 dipanl belongs of right to this text (see below, p. 695) ; but Childers, 

 as noted above, calls it Abhidhammattha-dipanl. Where he got this 

 title I do not know. It is not given in the Gnvrj. (p. 60), which simply 

 calls it Itivuttaka-commentary. — Comm. on Jataka. Buddhaghosa 

 himself, at the beginning (pages l 21 , 2 1 ), calls the work Jatakass' 

 Atthavannana. — Comm's on Vimana- and Peta-vatthu. Although 

 the Gnvrj., at p- 69, calls them simply Vimanavatthu-Petavatthu-ttha- 

 kathagandha, it gives to each of them somewhat earlier, at p. 60, the 

 fanciful style of The Spotless Charmer, Vimala-vilasinl. This title does 

 not appear in the mss. of these two texts, according to Hardy, p. 107. 

 Cp. again below, p. 695. — Comm. on Niddesa. I do not find the colo- 

 phon of this anecdoton in any of the ms. catalogs. The Gnvrj., at p. 70, 

 says Saddhamma-ppajjotika nama Mahaniddesass' atthakathagandho ; 

 but at p. 61, it is called (if I may coin the word) The Maintenancer of 

 the Good Religion, Saddhamma-tthitika nama. 



Comm's on Abhidhamtna treatises. — The first and second have each 

 a fanciful name, while the last five (see Table III) have one comprehen- 

 sive title, The Five-Treatise-commentary ; but all seven also are com- 

 prehended under the broader title, Account of the Supreme Meaning or 

 Paramattha-katha, by the Gnvrj., which says, at p. 59, satta-abhi- 

 dhamma-gandhanarj Paramattha-katha nama atthakatha. At p. 68 it 

 is called simply the "commentary-book of the seven Abhidhamtna 

 books ; " cp. also sattabhidhammagandha-atthakatha, at p. 60, line 3, 

 and Abhidhamm-atthakatha, at p. 60, 1. 15, and p. 69, 1. 18, and Sdhs., 

 p. 60, 1. 18. 



The same title for different texts. — Paramattha-dipanI This means 



a dozen commentaries, if not more. Not less than six texts of the 



40 



And so in Westergaard's Catal., p. 44, b, and in E. Miiller's ed., p. 430. 



