Eleven Mon Dhammasat Texts.

• Author: GEROW, EDWIN
• Position: Review

Eleven Mon Dhammasat Texts. Collected and translated by NAI PAN HLA, assisted by RYUJI OKUDAIRA. Bibliotheca Codicum Asiaticorum, vol. 6. Tokyo: THE TOYO BUNKO, 1992. Pp. xxxvi + 620. [yen]10,000.

The ancestors of present-day Mon, a dwindling minority in Burma and Thailand, were instrumental in introducing Indian civilization in this part of Southeast Asia. The present corpus constitutes the quasi-totality of known Mon versions of early dharmasustra texts, showing both Hindu and Buddhist influence. These texts began to be compiled, it seems, in the fifteenth century, when the Mon were politically dominant and their language (related to Chinese) more developed than Burmese. Though vestigal in the present day, the Mon dhammasat literature subsequently exercised great influence on the development of both Thai and Burmese law codes.

This handsomely produced volume presents eleven photocopied manuscripts (pp. 1--535), not all complete, most dating from the early twentieth century, though their originals, of course, are much older. Appended is a set of "translations" (pp. 539-- 620) (most are precis only), which do give, at least, a fair sense of...