A collection of pirith texts set out in Pali with Sinhala alongside, compiled by Ven. Kiriwaththuduwe Dharmakirti Sri Pragnasara Himi and published in Colombo by Godage. The National Library of Sri Lanka catalogues it under the subject headings Tipitaka and Sutrapitaka, which places the contents where they belong: these are canonical Pali suttas, gathered into the form in which Sri Lankan Buddhists have long kept them to hand for recitation.
The book is in Sinhala. The Pali is given in Sinhala script, with Sinhala accompanying it. There is no English in it, and an international buyer who does not read Sinhala should order it with that clearly in mind. For a reader who does, or for a household that keeps a pirith potha for family and temple use, it is the standard sort of volume for the purpose — a bound compilation rather than a study edition with commentary apparatus.
Ven. Kiriwaththuduwe Dharmakirti Sri Pragnasara Himi worked across Pali and Prakrit scholarship as well as devotional compilation. The National Library catalogue lists several other works under his name, among them an edition of the Kathina Vamsa, an edition of the Itivuttaka Pali with explanations, and a study of Prakrit language literature. That background shows in the shape of this book: it is the work of someone accustomed to handling canonical Pali texts and preparing them for Sinhala readers.
Godage International Publishers is an established Colombo house publishing in Sinhala and English, with a long list in Buddhist texts, Sri Lankan history and literature.
Pirith books of this kind are used for chanting and recitation, and the arrangement of a volume matters to anyone who uses it that way — the texts are set out to be followed aloud rather than read through as prose. We describe this simply as a collection of religious texts; what a reader takes from it is their own concern.
Suited to Sinhala-reading Buddhist households abroad, to temples and Dhamma schools outside Sri Lanka that need Sinhala-script Pali texts, and to anyone studying the Pali canon who wants the traditional Sri Lankan recitation collection in the form in which it is actually used.
- Author: Ven. Kiriwaththuduwe Sri Pannasara Himi
- Publisher: Godage International Publishers
- Language: Sinhala
- Pages: 422
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