Dhammapada version in various languages

@Henry made me aware that there are a number of translations of the Dhammapada available in various languages in the library of Munich. A full listing is here:
https://opacplus.bsb-muenchen.de/metaopac/search?&query=dhammapada

If anybody is interested in these then @Henry is happy to make scans and OCR-ed version.

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This post ought to be here!

That won’t work @Henry: you cannot link to a PM. So here is the text:


The following jumble is the result of digging some more on “exotic” Dhammapada editions:
(I have not cross-checked if any of these are already somehow used on suttacentral.) The Turkish edition mentioned is based on an English text.

== Slovene ==

  • Pečenko, Primož [late of ANU]; Dhammapada: Besede modrosti; Ljubljana 1987, ²1990 (Mladinska knjiga)
    Seems not to be available in libraries outside Slovenia.
  • Bhikku Hiriko; Dhammapada; 2019
    pdf (CC: by-nc-nd 4.0) is based on http://buddhism.lib.ntu.edu.tw/en/lesson/pali/ lesson_pali3.jsp, with reference to Pečenko

== Hindi ==

  • Siṃha, Mahendranātha; Bauddha tathā Jainadharma: Dhammapada aura Uttarādhyayanasūtra ke pariprekṣya meṃ tulanātmaka adhyayana; Vārāṇasī 1990 (Viśvavidyālaya prakāśana)

== Prakrit/Kharosṭḥi/Gāndhārī ==

  • Prakrit Dhammapada based upon M. Senart’s Kharosṭḥi manuscript with text, translation and notes; Calcutta 1921 (University of Calcutta), scanned
    Senart’s Kharosṭḥi manuscript being: Manuscrit “kharoṣṭhī” du Dhammapada. Les fragments Dutreuil de Rhins, par M. Émile Senart…; Paris 1898
    background in:
    ** Lüders, Heinrich; Bemerkungen zu dem Kharoṣṭhī Manuscript des Dhammapada (MS. Dutreuil de Rhins); Nachrichten von der königl. Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen. Phil.-hist. Klasse, (1899), pp. 474-494; Scan, DOI: https://doi.org/10.11588/xarep.00004095
    ** Bailey, H. W.; Khotan Dharmapada; BullSOAS, Vol. 11 (1945), S. 488-512. “The famous manuscript in Kharoṣṭhī script which contains an anthology of Buddhist verses similar to the Sanskrit Udānavarga and the Pali Dhammapada became known first in 1892, when portions came into the hands of MM. Dutreuil de Rhins and Grenard in Khotan. They were told that the MS. had been found in the ruins of the Vihāra at the Gośṛnga hill (on this site see M. A. Stein, Ancient Khotan , pp. 185 ff.). Other portions were acquired by the Russian Consul-General in Kashghar, M. N. Th. Petrovskii, and were sent by him to M. S. F. Oldenburg in St. Petersburg in February, 1897. In the same year, 1897, M. Oldenburg prepared a photograph and transcription of one folio of the St. Petersburg collection, which was published and presented by the Oriental Faculty of the University of St. Petersburg to the Eleventh International Congress of Orientalists held in Paris in 1897 (Predvaritel’naja zametka o buddijskoj rukopisi, napisannoj pismenami Kharoṣṭhī , St. Petersburg). Meantime, also in 1897, the portions of the MS. which had been brought to Paris were placed in the hands of M. Émile Senart, who published his reading and interpretation of the MS., with five facsimiles, in the Journal Asiatique (1898, ii, pp. 193–308).”
    ** Dialectical Position of the Niya Prakrit; BullSOAS, Vol. 8 (1936), p. 419-435; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0041977X00141060. “J. Bloch examined the dialectical peculiarities of the [Dhammapada] Manuscript Dutreuil du Rhins and showed that they appeared in modern times in the languages of the North-West.” [‘North-West Prakrit’ nowadays referred to as Gāndhārī.]
  • Senarts and Oldenburg fragments combined are in: Brough, J.: The Gandhari Dharmapada; London 1962 (Oxford Uni Pr.), [in all ca. 350 verses]
    review: Orientalistische Literaturzeitung; Berlin Vol. 59 (1964), Iss. 1, p. 70.
  • No need to further dwell on the Patna Dharmapada.
  • Lenz, Timothy; A new version of the Gāndhārī Dharmapada and a collection of previous-birth stories: British Library Kharoṣṭhī fragments 16 + 25; Seattle 2003; ISBN 0295983086
  • The 2 vols of: Le Dhammapada / avec introduction et notes par Fernand Hû, 1878 are available on gallica.

== Bibliographies/Word Indices ==

  • Bollée, W. [ed.]: Reverse Index of the Dhammapada, Suttanipata, Thera- and Therigatha Padas; Reinbek 1983 (Wetzler)
  • Hecker, Hellmuth; Dhammapada: ein bibliographischer Führer durch Übersetzungen der berühmtesten buddhistischen Spruchsammlung; Konstanz 1993; ISBN 3930959038
  • Yamazaki, M.; Osaka, Y.; A pāda index and reverse pāda index to early Pāli canonical texts: Suttanipāta, Dhammapada, Theragāthā and Therīgāthā; Tokyo 2000 (Kosei Publishing Co.), based on the PTS edition. For limitations see the review
    This is based on Yamazakis earlier: Indexes to the Dhammapada; 1997 (PTS)

To dig even deeper one might want to look at:

  • Catalogue of Palm Leaf Manuscripts Kept in the Otani Library; Kyoto 1995. pp. lxxxi + 778. (Price: free for instiutions + postage for individuals. Contact address (1995): Otani UnivKoyama Kamifusa-cho, Kitaku, Kyoto 603, Japan; email: tmarra@oms.otani.ac.jp (Toshie Marra).)
    Review: Indo-Iranian Journal, vol. 41, no. 3, 1998, pp. 301–304. JSTOR . Accessed 10 Mar. 2020.

== archive.org ==

Although I have downloaded most of the articles mentioned, almost all of them are copyrighted therefore I make them only available as personal use copies on direct request.

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@seniya made me aware that the last link on the list (Chinese Dhammapada by Dhammajoti) is broken and has been taken off archive.org. So here is a new link that @Henry was so kind to find:

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A few more “exotics” that are available online. I haven’t ascertained the copyright status of any of them.

Afrikaans, by J.S. Krüger (2017).
Translated from the Pali and with an impressive-looking word commentary by the translator.

Belarusian, by Сяргей Калееў / Sergei Kaleyev (2012).
Based mainly on the Polish translation of Zbigniew Becker, which in turn is based on the English translation by Acharya Buddharakkhita.

Bulgarian, by Пламен Градинаров / Plamen Gradinarov.
Based on the 1881 translation of Max Muller.
https://duhovno-razvitie.com/dhamapada.htm

(There is another Bulgarian one, but it’s based on Thomas Byrom’s absolute horrorshow of a translation, so I won’t bother linking to it).

Estonian, by Linnart Mäll (2005)
Most likely from the Pali as Mäll was a polyglot orientalist.

Hungarian
Three online translations. The one by László Fórizs (Az erény útja / “The Way of Virtue”) is already at Sutta Central.

The others are by József Vekerdi: A Tan ösvénye (1999)

and Beáta Oborny & Csaba Szendrő: A törvény útja (1998).

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Thank you so much for sharing this! I know prof. Krueger and have coded his Suttanipata translation for SuttaCentral. When I say “coded” I mean I typed up the whole thing and along the way learned to read Afrikaans. :grinning: I’m sure he is happy to share this!

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This appears to be a good Serbo-Croatian translation (a language entirely unrepresented on SC at the moment).

(PS: the license on the page is “Samo za besplatnu distribuciju, kao dar Dhamme” -> “For free distribution only, as a gift of Dhamma.”)

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Thank you, Ayya @vimala :anjal:

I have found the alternative link which can be downloaded freely here:

This is the only one Henry could find I’m afraid …

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Hvala vam!

That was according to Google translate. :upside_down_face: I’m third generation Croatian-American, but don’t speak or read the language.

I think that there are different literary standards developing for Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, and Montenegrin. That may have some bearing on future collecting?

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Pozdrav! Yes, I’m a second-generation Croatian-American myself :smile: Also didn’t learn the language :pensive: though my dad and his family speak it.

Yes, if you’re looking to be specific, this translation is indeed in the Croatian dialect and may be tagged as such (hrv), though I heard the differences with Serbian are a bit overblown by nationalistic sentiments. “A language is a dialect with an army,” as they say :joy:

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Wow, I even didn’t realize that Croatian is so similar to Polish. We also have Pozdrawiam and chwała wam.

Back to the topic tho, we also have at least 4 translations of the Dhammapada in Polish and the earliest one is from 1927.
I will paste reviewed Google translation of the introduction to this translation because it contains information about why some people still use this translation although being in many places totally wrong translation. But in short - it’s because it was translated very poetically.

Stanisław Franciszek Michalski, b. 29 January 1881, d. August 8, 1961, Indologist, writer, publisher.

Editor’s Note: Michalski’s translation is the first Polish translation of the Dhammapada. A large group of Buddhists believe that this text is inconsistent with the original and contains many factual errors. It was probably influenced by Michalski’s fascination with Hinduism.

Nevertheless, for several reasons, the editors of the portal wanted to present this already historical translation. First, the following translation is distinguished by a beautiful, poetic language. Those interested will surely benefit from comparing this reading with later translations, as it will enable them to better understand the controversial passages. Second, it is a good example of how an incomplete understanding of the Buddhist message can negatively affect the text of a translation. This is proof that Buddhist science is a coherent and separate system, and any attempt to update or compare it to other religious systems is detrimental to the true transmission of the Buddha’s teachings. Anyone who would like to translate Buddhist texts, and any Buddhist in general, should read Michalski’s text to know what mistakes not to make when explaining the Dhamma to others.

http://sasana.pl/dhp-mic

There is also even more beautiful audio version of it and when I was teenager I used to binge listen to it, especially when felt down and bad.

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