Imatges de pàgina
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s—órz ($) De-Learn the doctrines of Rishees. qui—Eva (9) -Take (believe) not the word of women.

උන් ග් - ටතුන්ගේ (උන්ගේ) විරිදුකොරැකෙත් - How can the enemy of the powerful prosper?

නගේ - වියත්නගේ (නගේ ) සිරිත්රඩවව්-Be wishful of the

habits of Pandits.

ආනගේ —ඇදුරානග් (ආනගේ)වදන් සිහිකර - Bemindful of

the doctrines of teachers.

God-Bed (ina) Di Ba6-The words of Pandits are true.

අන්ගේ—ලියන්ගේ (අන්ගේ) දොස් සලකව් - Regard the frail

ties of women.

case.

Note*-p. 43.

NOMINAL INFLECTIONS.

Nouns in their primary form, destitute of terminations, frequently occur in books to represent every relation of This is, as in Sanscrit, more frequently the case in the primary form at the beginning of compounds. Yet the use of inflectional terminations is the rule, and an attention to them is of the most paramount importance; as otherwise it would be next to impossible correctly to understand any writer. From the following Table it will be found that the case affixes in the Singhalese are the (10+2) twelve vowels either with or without modification, and the consonants,, ∞, and ∞, inflected with the ten vowels given in the Sidathsangara.

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com. 88.

Aux.

{ 8. and p. {,,

Dat.

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et, qL, GA, I com. món

I 8. & @, q@, cf, mo, yê, ĉ.
p. alo,
p. අක්නට,උන්ට,නට,ආනට, න්ට,අන්ට.

Ab.

Gen.

Loc. {

Voc.

කොට

com. 9,

වස්.

8. ඉන්. එන්, න්නෙන්, ඉනි, එනි, ණෙනි, හි, අගෙන්,

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පී. හට, අට, උට, ආට, හුව, ට, අ, උ, ආ, හු, අගේ, උගේ, ආගේ, හුඟේ.

p. අනට, උන්ට, නට, ආනට, න්ට,අන්ට, උන්, න, ආන, න්, අන්, උන්ගේ, නගේ, ආනගේ,

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න්ගේ, අන්ගේ,

Note (*) at p. 45.

තුනු හොලවටහලයතලබස තොස්සිත්හල. This, according to the commentator, is a passage taken from the poem called the Asakda, which no longer exists. The commentator has left this as well as several other passages without a paraphrase; and hence the difficulty to render them into English in the absence of the context. Before these sheets went to the press, we asked many native pandits in Ceylon to decipher the meaning of the above passage, but in vain. Every one told us that it was "impossible." We at length gave up all idea of translating it; and left it as the only passage which we were unable to render into English. We have, however, since consulted one of our friends at the Meeripenne temple, the Rev. Tudàwe, as a Singhalese scholar, perhaps, the most talented pupil of the late priest of Meeripenne; and he has given us a literal translation, with which we have reason to

be perfectly satisfied. e (he or she) 'has extinguished

'the continuance' of the ills of the flesh;' හල ‘ and has ceased ' සතොස්සින් ' to be pleased ’ යතලබ 'with gifts of whatsoever kind.'-She has extinguished the continuance of the ills of the flesh; and has ceased to be pleased with gifts of whatsoever kind.-We have said that we had reason to be satisfied with the above translation; and we shall briefly state our reasons. Asakda must have been a poetical version of one of the Incarnations of Budha, and the only one which answers to the 'Asankawati Jatake.' Now Asankawati (so runs the story) was a young virgin who had been nourished by a hermit, and who subsequently became the consort of a king. Hence it is reasonable to suppose that the writer of the passage in question refers to the circumstance of Asankawati's having left that state of self-denial and privation, which were, according to the doctrines of Budhism, more particularly attended with the ills of this life, and which rendered it necessary to be satisfied with any thing whatsoever.

Note 12-page 78.

§ 63. "No person who is well read in the works of Rishies, will ever open the last word of the first hemistich into the first word of the second, either by compounding two words together, or by dividing a compound term, or an affix from its root, or the noun from its case-termination."

The rule is not exemplified in the text; and it is remarkable that our best writers are entirely free from all such defects of style. Indeed we have not met with a single departure from the rule in any of our standard works. We therefore feel constrained to supply the deficiency ourselves: 1. Example, where the compound term geɩ 'bluelotus-eyed-female' (see § 5.) is split at the middle of the

verse.

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කෙලේ එසලෙළුනොපමනින්නෙ ල්

“The voluptuary, having seen the blue-lotus

Eyed female, of pearly teeth, and of coral lips and palms,

conceived for her an inordinate affection."

2. Example, showing that the two words do, which are permuted into one (sec § 2.), are found split into two:

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දිලේවා පුන් සඳසෙ සුවිම ල්

"O illustrious chief, mayest thou crown

Like, on the summit of the world; and with the rare wisdom with which thou art blessed, continually, until life’send, prosper like a spotless full-moon."

3. Example, shewing that the affix is removed from the root කෙල. (see 7.)

බඳිමින් නිල් සර වර ල
නඟිමින් සදලටනීතිකෙ ල
නා අඟනන් දකමනක
කවුරුන් සිත්නෙවෙඳකුහු ල

"Who would not be disturbed in mind, at see

Ing the lovely women, who having dressed their long jet-black hair, ever sport in the storied piazzas of the city!” 4. Example, shewing the post-position

from the noun which it governs.

මෙපුර පතර තුඟු සටිකෙ ල
නිතර ලෙලෙන දිගුඳඳපෙ ල
විසිනනයින් රැගෙනඉපි ල
අඹර කෙලෙන ගුරුඑකිය ල

separated

"The immeuse flags which continually wave upon lofty staffs in this city, represent gigantic cranes, who, having snatched snakes by-means-of their talons, sport in the sky." 5. It would be incorrect also to separate an inseparable particle, such as from the word which it governs: as රති ගුණ නැ အာ

5

තු

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පතමුසග සැප දෙවිඳු බෙලෙ නා

"Kind and discreet friend! Since

'tis known that Death will come, let us through the might of God fervently hope for heavenly bliss.'

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We should not forget to notice here, that it is highly incorrect and inelegant so to place a word in any part of a verse, that the poetical pause may fall in the middle of that word. Meeripenne, than whom few have ever been more scrupulously particular in this respect, has however occasionally fallen inte this error. The following is an instance where the word es 659 'famous,' is divided into two, so that it conveys to the car the meaning of two words,-'exposed,' and 'stranger.'

පිරිසිදුයසසේ
පමයස්ස මුළුලෝ

පා...සේ උසස්වී වැඩේ
පා... රට්ටු වී ගොස් සංදේ

වා

อง

නුවන් සමිනිදී පා...ලෝකයක්සේම වේ. වා

මැතිඳුට අමනා පා...සීනයෙන්වත් නොවේටා

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"May his honor grow in great splendour like the moonand may the fame of that splendour reach the whole world: may the eye of his wisdom shine forth as the light of a lamp of gems-and may he not be afflicted in mind even in a dream."

*This word in the Singhalese is . It is a fabulous animal the vehicle of Krishna. Mr. Colebrooke in his Amaracòsha translates @, the Sanscrit of the above term, thus: "Variously described as a gigantic crane or vulture, or an eagle."-p. 5.

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