The MilindapaÑhâ-Aţţhakathâ: Translation and analytical study

Abstract

The MilindapaÑhă-Aţţhakathăwas written by U Năradathera, a Burmese monk, as a commentary to the MilindapaÑhă scripture since Myanmar has included the MilindapaÑhăas part of the Tripitaka. In 1998, Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University converted the Pali commentaries written in the Burmese language in to Pali written in the Thai language. The researcher has translated the MilindapaÑhă-Aţţhakathă from the Pali language to Thai, and has analyzed several parts of interest by compiling the history of The MilindapaÑhă from related documents for the sake of a better historical understanding of not only the scripture recording the conversation between King Milinda (Menander) and Nagasena, but also U Năradathera’s commentaries on the MilindapaÑhă. The researcher then summarized the translation of the Milindapa Ñhă-Aţţhakathăso that the reader would be able to appreciate the Pali parts of the composition, and also analyzed other elements such as the language, the teaching, and the usage of contents from the Tripitaka and the commentaries according to Theravada principles.