Buddhist library in Thaton, Myanmar
U Pho Thi Library (Burmese: ဦးဘိုးသီးပိဋကတ်တိုက်), officially known as the Sādhu-janapāsādika Mahādhammacetī (lit. 'great temple of the Dhamma which pleases good people'), is a Buddhist library or pitakataik in Thaton, Mon State, Myanmar. The library houses a rare collection of 785 traditional manuscripts, including palm leaf manuscripts and parabaiks, in a three-storey building donated by U Pho Thi, who is the library's namesake.[1] Monastic examinations are held at the library, which part of Thaton's largest centre for Buddhist studies.[2]
History
The library was the brainchild of Burmese literature professor Kyaw Tun, and was funded and established by merchant U Pho Thi in 1923, along with the Suvaṇṇabhūmi Pariyatti Sāsanahita Trust.[1][3]
In February 2013, the Pali Text Society, Sendai University, and the University of Toronto, along with local partners, began an ongoing initiative to digitise and catalogue Myanmar's palm-leaf manuscripts, including collections from this library, and Bagaya Monastery in Inwa.[2][4] The digitised manuscripts are now available at the open-access Myanmar Manuscript Digital Library.[5]
In 2019, the Pali Text Society published the Catalogue of Manuscripts in the U Pho Thi Library.
Collection
The manuscripts date from the mid-16th century to the 1920s.[1] Extremely rare manuscripts held by the library include Saddanītiṭīkā by Paññāsāmi, an advisor to King Mindon Min, Mukhamattasāra, Commentary on the Nāmacāradīpaka, by Chapaṭa Saddhammajotipāla from the Inwa era.[1]
References
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