1878.] 
239 
The Lohaniti translated from the Burmese Paraphrase. — By Lieut. R. 
C. Temple, B. S. C., Offig. Whig Officer , Ltf GoorJchas. 
Introduction. 
There is probably no book so universally known to the Burmese as the 
Lokaniti, pronounced in Burmese Lawkanidi. It is read in all schools o£ 
any standing whether they belong to the Government or to enterprising 
Hpongyis or Priests. It has been copied into hundreds of palm-leaf MSS 
with more or less accuracy according to the learning of the various scribes, 
and about five years ago the Roman Catholic Missionaries published it at 
Bassein in Burmese and Pali, and soon afterwards the Government itself 
published an edition of it in Burmese and Pali in an issue of 10,000 copies. 
The book is as its title signifies a collection of Proverbs or Maxims on sub¬ 
jects of every day life, and as it now stands, is not I think of any great 
antiquity. It has a semi-religious character which it bears in common 
with many^ Buddhist works of a similar nature, and seems to belong to a 
series of books of Proverbs, though of very different dates to it, which are 
known respectively to the Burmese as the Dammanidi, Yazanidi, and Law¬ 
kanidi, i. e ., Books of Proverbs concerning the Law and Religion (“ the 
Law” having much the same signification to a Buddhist as it had to the 
Jews of the Bible), the King and Common Life. These titles are in Pali 
respectively Dhammaniti, Raj anit i and Lokaniti. 
I was never able in Burmah to find out much about the history of this 
book which is professedly merely a collection of passages from older reli¬ 
gious works, although I have personally and through the kindness of several 
friends made many enquiries from the Burmese Sayas or learned men. 
According to one account, it was written originally (date unknown) in 
Sanskrit (? Pali) by the Pongna (Brahman) Sannekgyaw (Burmese name) 
and paraphrased into Burmese in 1196 Burmese Era (= 1826 A. D.) by 
the Hpongyi U Pok of the Maha Oung Mye Bong San Ok Kyoung (the 
Great Brickbuilt Monastery in the Sacred Place) at Ava. This U Pok’s 
name as priest was Sek-kan-da-bi, to which the king of Ava added the 
titles of Thiri Thaddamma-daza, Maha Damma-yaza Guru, (= Sanskrit, 
Sri Saddharmadhaja, Maha Dharmaraja Guru) or the True Teacher of the 
Law, the Great High Priest, Master of the Law. Again one of my cor¬ 
respondents writes that the author was a priest “ with no very extraordina¬ 
ry knowledge of Pali” who either collected the maxims from old books or 
what is more probable collected some of them and added others of his own 
composition. This opinion is corroborated by the unequal merit of the 
original Pali verses, and by the many grammatical and other errors observa- 
H II 
