ABSTRACT

                 This thesis has three aims: (1) to study history and concepts of Milinda- pañhātฺīkā. (2) to edit and translate Milindapañhātฺīkā to Thai (3) to analyze the content, presentation method, literary style and form, use of language, idioms and value of Milindapañhātฺīkā.

                 The research found that this scripture named in full “Madhuratthapakāsinī  Milindapañhātฺīkā” composedby Pramahātipiṭakacūḷābhayatera or Pratipāti, hiangmai monk in 2017 B.E. to expand some vocabularies and sentences in Milindapañhā scripture which their meaning were difficult and not clear to be more definite.         Milindapañhātฺīkā composes of 6 themes: (1) Ganthārambhakathā, introduction of the scripture’s composition which included the salutation of the Tripple Gems (Ratanattaya Vandana) and indicated name of the scripture, the author, the objective and size of the scripture, (2)  Pakiṇṇakavacanavaṇṇanā, the explanation of vocabularies and sentences which were difficult and unclear for understanding, (3) Jātakuddharaṇa, the narration of Buddha and Devadatta’s past, (4) Gāthāsarūpa, the summary of 104 chapters of Milindapañhā, (5) Saṅkhayāsarūpa, categorizing the interesting topics in Milindapañhā to 25 categories and (6) Ñigamanakathā, postscript to descript the analytical method, scripture’s name, the author, the author’s qualification and the author’s intention.

                 We found shows that the contents of the scripture were partly taken from Tipiṭaka, Atthakathā, Ṭīkā, Pakaraṇavisesa and other scriptures to clarify the meaning of vocabularies and sentences, to refer or verify the story, to support the story more reliable, and expand the understanding.

                 The methods of transcription and presentation were 3 methods: (1) to transcribe and present all of chapter (2) to transcribe some part and present according to the copied text and (3) to transcribe partly, change some vocabularies or some text and modify partly. 

                 The author used 6 presentation strategies for scripture’s explanation: (1) Sambandha to explain the role of vocabulary in sentence (2) Pada to describe what is the mentioned Pada e.g. Nama, etc, (3) Padattha to explain the meaning of the sample Pada (4) Viggaha to analyze the vocabularies in order to know their meaning and their root (5) Jodanā to ask the questions (6) Parihara to answer the question asked and answered by the author.

                 The author explained 5 characteristic of vocabularies or sentences: (1) vocabularies or sentences which were not clear in grammatical meaning (2) unidentified adjectives (4) multiple meaning words (4) words or sentences which should have more explanation (5) difficult vocabularies or sentences.

                 Three literary styles were found in this scripture: (1) Pajja - Poetry, most of the poetry had been copied from other sources. There were 3 stanzas that the author composed as Paṭṭhayāvatta, Upendaravajira and Indaravaṃsa, (2) Gajja - Prose, the author mostly used this literary style in this scripture and (3) Vimissa, the author inserted the poetry in prose content.

              Pali language and idioms were Lankan Pali popularly used in Chaingmai at that time.  There were three dominant features: (1) easy and clear to understand (2) sharp, brief and not superfluous, and (3) owning their own idea.

              The following figures of speech were used in Milindapañhātฺīkā: narrative, descriptive, metaphor, and allegory. The language embellishment compound of Saddālaṅkāra, use of homophone vocabularies and Atthālaṅkāra, use of meaningful words which Sabhāvavutti, terminology used to describe the state of the matter and Vakavutti, metaphor used to describe indirectly for the purpose of enhancing the understanding of the story and virtual pictures.  

Download