| Summary: | The objective of this thesis is to present the PadyacDdmani, a previously untranslated
Sanskrit poem on the life or the Buddha. This text has been ascribed to the Pãli scholar
Bhadantcariya Buddhaghosa.
My study will focus upon this text as a biography of the Buddha. To do so, I will present
only those verses which move the Padyacüdmani’s narrative forward. These verses
will be presented within the thesis and recollected in an Appendix.
To study the Padyacadamani as a biography of the Buddha I will compare it with the
traditional Buddha biographies. These are the Buddhacarita, Lalitavistara and Mahvastu
[all Sanskrit works] and the Nidnakathã, the only biography of the Buddha written in
Päli. What is illuminated by such a comparison is the striking similarity between the
PadyaciJdmani and the Avidüre Nidäna [Intermediate Epoch] of the Nidnakathã
biographical account. This similarity is made more interesting by the fact that the
Nidnakathã has also been ascribed to Buddhaghosa. However, Buddhaghosa’s authorship
of the Nidãnakath has been questioned due to its difference in style and expression
from his other works.
I will argue that the PadyacOdãmani is also a peculiar work for the Buddhist scholar
Bhadantcariya Buddhaghosa, for, it is his only Sanskrit work, his only poem and, unlike
his other works, is primarily not a Buddhist work. I will argue that the association of
Buddhaghosa’s name with the Padyacadamani is not to indicate his authorship of this
text but a way of highlighting the relationship between the Padyacüdãmani and the
Nidänakath, which has been ascribed to Buddhaghosa.
By presenting the PC as a biography of the Buddha, two avenues for further exploration
are illuminated. Firstly, more research should be done on the relationship between the
PadyacOdmani and the Nidnakath biographical accounts. Secondly, it seems that
there are good grounds to question whether the Pãli scholar Buddhaghosa was indeed the
author of this text. === Arts, Faculty of === Asian Studies, Department of === Graduate
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