Pā Kham; Lung Sarā; their family inhabithing Bān Pā Pao
Subject matter:
Jataka
Copyist:
Anonymous
Copying date in native date:
3rd (waxing) 5th (lunar)
Copying date in Gregorian:
1900-1930
Script:
Shan; Burmese
Writing support:
Mulberry paper – Leporello format
Watermark?:
No
Countermark?:
No
Manuscript cover?:
Yes
Binding?:
No
Manuscript cover dimension:
18 x 45 cm
Manuscript paper dimension:
18 x 45 cm
Text block dimension:
14 x 37.5 cm
Number of pages:
283 pages
Number of blank pages:
14 pages
Rubrication?:
No
Illumination?:
No
Illustration?:
Yes
Manuscript condition:
Good
Description of manuscript content:
This manuscript is a Jātaka telling the story of a poor man named Kāli Dāsa. When he grew up, he worked as a servant of the city ruler. One day, the ruler had a sculptor of his wife carved. Kāli Dāsa knew that his wife had a birthmark on her vagina, he therefore painted a mark on the sculpture. When the ruler knew that, he was angry and suspected that Kāli Dāsa was an adulterer of his wife, thereby issuing an execution. The noblemen did not agree with the judgement and let him flee to the forest. Later, the ruler and his son hunted deer in a jungle. The ruler announced the execution of those who failed to arrest a deer. A deer was driven to the ruler’s son but could eventually escape. The son had a fear of being executed, thereby climbing up on a tree inhabited by a bear. The bear taught him to recite a stanza “Sa Se Mi Lā” and took him back to town. The son always chanted the stanza that made the ruler doubtful but Kāli Dāsa could then explain his action. Later, Kāli Dāsa was slandere
Colophon:
ၸတ်ၵံလိုၼ် ေမ်မွၵ်ယႃ မႃပိၼ်ၸိင်ၸမႃၼ၊၊ ၵုၼ် မိုင် ပႃရႃၼသီ လႆမႃထွံ ထံြၽႃပိၼ်ၸဝ်၊ ၶုၼ်ၼၼ်တႃ မႃပိၼ် ၸဝ်ဢႃၼၼ်တႃ၊၊ ၵႃလီတႃသ မႃပိၼ် ြၽႃပိၼ်ၸဝ် ဢွၼ် ဢဝ် သတ်တဝႃ ဢွၵ်ပုၼ် ၵိုတ် ေၵ် ၸိပ် တႆ၊ ၵႂႃၸူ ၼိပ်ပၼ် ဢံပွၵ်ၶိုၼ် မႃထိင်။
This Jātaka pertains a prostitute who was born to Nāng Kiñcamāṇavikā who lived in Vārāṇasī. The people in Vārāṇasī were the four assemblies of the Buddhist devouts. The king Nanda was born as Ānanda, (the principal disciple of the Buddha). Nāi Kālidāsa was born as the Buddha who leads all living creatures to be free from the Cycle of Rebirths and reach Nibbāna which is not returning to rebirth any longer.
Other notes:
The front cover and the back cover are not decorated. The manuscript is severely damaged by insects.
(The inner flyleaf)
I bow at the feet of the Buddha who takes the ship or the so-called Noble Eightfold Path bringing all living creatures to be free from mud and open the door to Nibbāna, to pay homage to the Dhamma that the Buddha teaches us to meet only goodness and reach Nibbāna, to pay homage to the Sangha, and my teachers. Now, I am starting to copy this Kālidāsa manuscript in Shan script and language from the original version written by Sò Phing Na Care Òn (Mòng Ngae), Müang Nòng, and sponsored by Phrā Takā Sāng Mòng Pò, Nāng Moy Òng, and their family inhabiting Bān Nā Huay Ūt.