Introduction to the Prosody of the Dhammapada
by
Ānandajoti Bhikkhu
The text of the Dhammapada as presented here has been established through a comparison of the four standard printed editions:
BJT: Dhammapadapāḷi. Buddha Jayanti Tripitika Series, volume XXIV. Colombo 1960.
PTS: Dhammapada. Edited by O. von Hinüber and K. R. Norman. Pali Text Society, Oxford, 1994.
Thai: Dhammapadagāthā. The Royal Thai Edition, volume 25. Originally published 2469 (i.e 1915), reprinted Bangkok, 2500 (i.e 1956).
ChS: Dhammapadapāḷi. Chaṭṭha Sangāyana Edition, 1956, reprinted Rangoon 1972.
I have also consulted the following texts for comparison of the readings (but have not entered the variants in the notes):
The Dhammapada. A new edition by Sūriyagoḍa Sumaṅgala Thera, Pali Text Society, London 1914.
The Dhammapada. Edited by Nārada Thera (4th Edition). 1993, reprinted Taiwan, 1999.
Dhammapadaṭṭhakathā. Edited by Kahave Siri Ratanasāra Thera & Mahagoḍa Siri Ñāṇissara Thera. Simon Hewavitarne Bequest vol V. 1919; vol XIII, 1922 (= parts I & 2), reprinted Colombo 1991(?)
For the prosody I have also consulted:
WD: The Word of the Doctrine (Dhammapada). Translated with an introduction and notes by K. R. Norman. Pali Text Society, Oxford, 1997.
PM: Pali Metre. A. K. Warder. Pali Text Society, London, 1967.
When I started preparing the Dhammapada for the Sri Lanka Tipitaka Project, I really had no intention of re-establishing the text, but as the work progressed, and I grew more familiar with the Buddha Jayanti Tripitaka edition (BJT), it became clear that there were many problems in the text, including non-standard forms, Sanskritisation, and unmetrical readings. I therefore began a comparison of BJT with the other main editions and started entering the variant readings found therein. During the process of that work it became clear that none of the other texts were quite satisfactory either, and what had started out as a simple re-presentation of the text as it is found in the Sri Lankan tradition, has finished up requiring a complete re-appraisal of the text, especially from the point of view of its metre.
As with any verse text, of course, it is essential to understand the prosody that underlies the composition, otherwise the likelihood is that wrong readings will find their way into the text. This should not be understood as implying that every verse should be rigidly conformed to a standard metre. Indeed it is such unskilful editing that is one of the faults in the main editions available to us. To understand the prosody correctly, one must know not only what is its standard pattern, but also what amount of deviation is allowed from the norms that otherwise prevail. And to understand that we must let the texts themselves be our guide.
1: Resolution
A normal feature of Pāḷi prosody is the resolution of one presumed long syllable into two short ones.
2 As I have explained elsewhere 3 there is an underlying rule regarding resolution which states that only the first two syllables in a word may be resolved (including words that appear as the second half of a compound, or after a prefix). 4 With the help of this rule we are able to identify more accurately the underlying variation, especially in the Vatta prior lines. 5 In the text as here established I count resolution 59 times. 58 of these comply with the rule outlined above, and there is only one example where the rule may not hold, that is at 27a, where the line in question is the opposite of a line in the preceding verse - something which often disturbs the prosody.As can be seen from the table below the syllable most liable to resolution is the 1st, and in the Tuṭṭhubha/Jagatī verses that occur in the Dhammapada it is the only resolution found (marked in red in the table - all the rest of the resolutions occur in Vatta lines).
6|
Syllables |
Resolution (total: 59 instances) |
|
1st: |
(23 instances): 8a; 20e; 40b; 51d; 52d; 73a; 99a; 108d; 125d; 126d; 140d; 153c; 161d; 183b; 185a; 227e; 271c; 302f; 307d; 328c; 346d; 347d; 411c. |
|
4th: |
(17 instances): 8e; 9b; 14bd; 74b; 131d; 185a; 223d; 228a; 231d; 232d; 233d; 248a; 291d; 302f; 333d; 364d; 414a. |
|
5th: |
(2 instances): 21a; 27a. |
|
6th: |
(14 instances): 7a; 8a; 47a; 48a; 181c; 182a; 183a; 275a; 283c; 292a; 302a; 333c; 389a; 418a. |
|
7th: |
(3 instances): 246c; 387c; 409c. |
|
doubtful: |
27a |
We may note here that resolution is found in two places within the same line in the following lines: 8a (1st & 6th); 185a (1st & 5th); 302f (1st & 4th).
2: Replacement
The compliment to the rule of resolution is the rule of replacement, which states that when 2 presumed short syllables are replaced by a long one, it is always the first two syllables in a word that are presumed to be short.
In this edition of the Dhammapada there is replacement in line with the rule at 40c & 125c. As with resolution, the application of the rule of replacement can also help us to identify the underlying structure of the verse, in a way that has not been recognised before. The reading at 19d (together with its repetition at 20f) has a Tuṭṭhubha line with the following structure:
1212,|22|2121
In discussing lines like this it has hitherto been thought that there is replacement of two shorts syllables in 6th & 7th position by one long (as is, indeed, normally the case).
7 However if we accept the rule, we can see that it is in fact the 5th & 6th syllables that have been replaced, and the underlying structure of the break is ,112. This shows once again how helpful the discovery of these rules has been to understanding the correct prosody of the texts.
3: Changes in word form
Because of the need to meet the requirements of the metre, which demands syllables of a specified length in certain places, to produce the rhythms which make up a verse, there are certain changes which take place in word form.
8 As can be seen from the following lists it is the lengthening of i > ī, especially at the end of a word, that is by far the most common change that occurs.long ī at the end of a word (36 instances):
long ī medially (12 instances):
-
other vowels lengthened medially (8 instances):
shortening of vowels (6 instances):
consonants doubled in an unhistoric way (8 instances):
consonant groups simplified (4 instances):
niggahīta dropped (13 instances):
There are 5 metres that are employed in the Dhammapada, they are:
2. Vetālīya (Vaitālīya)
3. Opacchandasaka (Aupacchandasika)
4. Tuṭṭhubha (Triùṭubh)
5. Jagatī (Jagatī)
Vatta
By far the most common metre in the canon, and in the Dhammapada in particular, is the Vatta which accounts for some 83% of the verses found in the collection.
10 The Vatta is an aḍḍhasamavutta syllabic metre, which means it has two dissimilar lines which make up a pādayuga; two pādayugas (or occasionally three) make a verse. There are normally 8 syllables to each half of the pādayuga (pair of lines). 11The Vatta has a pathyā (normal) structure and 7 variations. The normal structure can be described as follows:
12|
5 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
| |
1 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
|| |
5 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
| |
1 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
In the text as it has been established here there are pathyā lines in 82% of the Vatta pādayugas.
13 Another way to emphasize how high this percentage is, would be to note that there are only 7 Vatta verses in the whole collection that do not have pathyā lines in them. 147 variations occur in the first half of the pādayuga. They have the following structure (with the percentage of their occurrence
15):|
|
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
|
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
|
|
|
Anuṭṭhubha |
|
5 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
s |
1 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
|
2% |
|
1st vipulā |
|
5 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
s |
1 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
|
2% |
|
2nd vipulā |
|
5 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
s |
2 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
|
3% |
|
3rd vipulā |
|
5 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
s |
2, |
2 |
2 |
3 |
|
7% |
|
4th vipulā |
|
5 |
3 |
3 |
3, |
s |
2 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
|
1% |
|
5th vipulā |
|
5 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
s |
1 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
|
3% |
|
6th vipulā |
|
5 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
s |
2 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
|
(1 instance only) |
There are also 6 lines that are irregular.
16Verse no 150 is unusual because, as it stands, it is in Anuṭṭhubha metre, but whether we should count this as a seperate metre, or as Vatta with 2 Anuṭṭhubha variations in the prior line is not sure.
It is well established that in the opening of the Vatta metre, 2 shorts are normally avoided in 2nd and 3rd positions. That this is so can be simply proved by reference to the texts themselves, and noting that the number of times this opening appears is very much less than a random choice could possibly entail. Besides this though, we can also see that changes are regularly made to word forms in order to avoid the opening.
When we examine the Dhammapada itself we can see that changes have been made in the following words in order to avoid the unwanted opening: 13b, 14b (
vuṭṭhī); 79c (Ariyappavedite; -pp- is m.c.); 143a (Hirīnisedho) ; 231a (Kāyappakopaṃ; again -pp- is m.c.); 245a (Hirīmatā); 269b (munī); 374c (Labhatī); 399c (Khantībalaṃ); 413c (Nandī-). This pattern is repeated in any of the Vatta texts found in the canonical works.However, on closer inspection we can see that there are a significant number of occassions in the Dhammapada when the pattern
3113| does in fact turn up in the opening, sometimes even when it would be easy to `correct' the metre if the redacters had felt that it was wrong. Note that there are no `correcting' variants at all recorded for the following lines, where this `wrong' opening occurs: 3a; 4a; 68c; 99b; 148c; 265a; 268c; 363a; 375c; 420a; 421a. That is 11 times, and is more than the number of corrections m.c. that are listed above. Because of this I have not felt obliged to correct this opening when it occurs, if there is not good manuscript evidence for it, and have therefore let it stand at 1c; 2c; 140b; 382b; 415c. In all 5 instances there are metrically more correct readings found in the PTS edition, but they are based on the slim evidence of just 2 old Thai manuscripts, which can be shown to have a habit of `correcting' the metre, when they felt it to be wrong.
Vetālīya & Opacchandasaka
The most popular of the mattacchandas (measure) metres in the Dhammapada is the Vetālīya. Whereas the Vatta, Tuṭṭhubha & Jagatī
17 metres are syllabic metres, and organise their lines by counting the syllables, in the mattacchandas metres it is the total number of measures (mattā) to the line which is the determining factor. In Vetālīya the prior lines normally have 14 measures, and the posterior lines 16. With both the cadence is the same: 21213. There are 105 lines in 30 verses in this metre, which is roughly 6.5% of the total number of verses.There are only two verses in the Opacchandasaka metre, Nos 184 & 371, and some odd lines that turn up in what are otherwise Vetālīya verses.
18 This metre normally has 16 measures in the prior line, and 18 in the posterior. The cadence is similar to Vetālīya, with an extra, long, syllable in penultimate position: 212123 .The description of the openings is the same for both metres, so they will be treated together here.
In the prior lines the openings are:
2211
(sometimes syncopated to 2121), 33 instances (= 52%). 1911211
(sometimes syncopated to 12111) 17 instances (= 26%). 20In 4 places we find this opening
2112 (179a; 235a; 348a; 388a); once 21111 (284a); once 11112 (95a); and once 222 (349c). In this text I count the following prior lines as irregular: 24c; 45c; 237c; 334c; 349a; 350c; 362a. 21In the posterior lines the openings are:
22211
24 instances (= 36%). 22112211
24 instances (= 36%). 23In 2 places we find this opening
1111211 , which looks like a variation of the 2nd opening above (235b; 324d); once 211211 (342d); 24 and once 12212 (179b). There are 5 irregular lines: 236d; 240b; 324b; 343d; 362b. 25The first of the openings listed above seems to have a secondary form, with a long syllable where we would expect to find a short one, giving the form
212211 . This opening occurs with such frequency, 26 that there can be no doubt that the redacters felt that it was an acceptable variation. Various theories have been suggested to account for this variation, 27 but upto now none of them are really very satisfactory. 28It is perhaps worth noting here that in
mattacchandas verses, the last syllable in the line is always counted as long, no matter what its real length is. We could perhaps suggest that his phenomena, which is known as pādantagaru, may well find its compliment here, where the first syllable sometimes has to be counted as short m.c., no matter what its true length is. We could perhaps call this phenomena pādādilahu, which would also be complimentary to the phenomena of pādādigaru, which is found in gaṇacchandas verses.
Tuṭṭhubha & Jagatī
Tuṭṭhubha is a syllablic
samavutta metre normally having 11 syllables to the line, 29 and 4 lines to the verse. Approximately 8% of the verses in the Dhammapada are in this metre. The shape of the Tuṭṭhubha line can be defined thus: 3232|31e|2123.Jagatī
is similar but has an extra, short, syllable in penultiumate position, giving a line which is defined thus: 3232|31e|21213.The most common form of the opening is
3212, but we also come across the Vedic opening 2222 (142b); the syncopated opening 2211 (144f; 281b); and once we find 2122 (354a).There are many forms to the break, but note that the sequence
211 is very common, accounting for approximately 72% of the breaks, no matter where the caesura falls:, 211
19b; 40ab; 46a; 54d; 83a; 94b; 108d; 127cd; 128cd; 141b; 142ad; 144d; 151ad; 208c; 221abd; 280b; 281c; 306c; 325bd; 326a; 328b; 329b; 331c; 338d; 345a; 346ad; 347b; 353a; 354bc; 390cd.2,11
19c; 20de; 40d; 46b; 54ac; 83bc; 84b; 108a; 127ab; 128ab; 141ad; 144cd; 151c; 177c; 208b; 280d; 281a; 306ad; 309cd; 310c; 329c; 331b; 338ab; 345c; 390b; 326d.21,1
20c; 46c; 94c; 125ab; 142c; 144c; 151b; 177d; 208a; 280ac; 309a; 310ab; 325ac; 328c; 331ad; 346c; 347c; 353b; 353d; 390a.,2|211
208d; 328d; 338c; 345d.Other regular forms:
,111
54b; 108c; 281b.1,11
20b; 84a; 94ad; 328a; 329a.,112
19a; 20a; 125d; 142b; 309b; 310d; 330c; 346b.,212
46d; 83d; 84d; 177b; 326bc; 345b; 347d; 354a.2,12
354d.The extended form of the metre, pausing at the fifth and restarting from the same syllable, occurs in 3 places, showing the following forms:
2,112
306b.2,212
141c; 177a.Normally in the Tuṭṭhubha break there is a short syllable in 6th position and most scholars
30 have refused to countenance the possibility of a long syllable occurring in that position. However, as I have shown elsewhere, 31 in the early verses there is one pattern to the break which does have a long 6th which occurs so regularly that it must be regarded as an acceptable variation. In this edition of the Dhammapada we find the same break occuring in 3 places:22,1
144a; 221c; 281d.There are 3 other occassions where we have a long 6th. They are
,221 144b; 353c. & ,121 108b. In each case we should probably correct the way we take the reading. See the notes in the text for a discussion.There are 4 places where the break has only 2 syllables owing to replacement occurring at the 6th (see below).
2,2
40c; 125c.,22
19d, 20f.It should be noted that 347a is unusual in that there is nowhere we can easily count a break as occuring. The following lines, which are irregular, are commented on in the text: 84c, 329d; 330d.
End Notes
1 I would like to note here that throughout this work I have also had the opportunity to consult with Prof. Norman on various points to do with the establishment of the text, and he has always answered most courteously and promptly - I am very grateful to him for all the help he has given. The debt I owe to his written works, of course, should be evident on every page. Refrences to The Word of the Doctrine (WD) are always to the note to the verse concerned, unless otherwise stated.
2 In this text syllables in resolution are normally coloured green and are underlined for the sake of identification.
3 See my Pāḷi Prosody 1.15, on the same Website.
4 There is one exception to this, in that it appears from the texts themselves that na, when it precedes the word it modifies may form the first half of a resolved syllable. This is no doubt because of the close syntactic proximity of the negative with the word it is modifying. Examples of resolution including the negative can be seen in the text at 131d; 291d; 302f; 364d.
5 The general usefulness of this rule may be emphasized by noting that with its help we can certainly identify the variation involved in the following pādas: 8e; 14bd; 21a; 47a; 48a; 182a; 183a; 183b; 185a; 223d; 228a; 231d; 232d; 248a; 283c; 292a; 302a; 333c; 389a; 414a; 418a - whereas otherwise we would have no way of correctly identifying the variation.
6 Because of the nature of the prosody we do not normally count resolution as occuring in the mattacchandas verses (Vetālīya/Opacchandasaka).
7 See Norman's comments in his notes to these verses in The Word of the Doctrine.
8 It should be noted that in the lists that follow an attempt has been made to collect all the words that have been changed in the text metra causi. In the notes to the text itself there is no attempt to be comprehensive (which would only multiply the notes without good reason). There changes in word form are normally only discussed when there is need to explain why I have taken the reading in the text in preference to a variant reading.
9 Identified as Anuṭṭhubha (øloka) by Norman in The Word of the Doctrine (against his normal practice of calling the metre øloka). However the Anuṭṭhubha is a samavutta metre; the Vatta (or øloka) is aḍḍhasamavutta, and they shouldn't be confused.
10 I count only one verse (No 330) as being mixed. The following are Vatta verses (giving a total of 352 verses, or 741 pādayugas): 1-14, 21-23, 25-39, 41-43, 47-53, 55--79, 81-82, 85-93, 96-107, 109-124, 126, 129-140, 146-149, 152-176, 178, 181-183, 185-207, 209-220, 222-234, 239, 241-279, 282-283, 286-305, 307-308, 311-323, 327, 330, 332-333, 335-337, 339-340, 351-352, 355-361, 363-370, 372-387, 389, 391-423.
11 Occasionally we find 9 syllables if one is resolved; or, more rarely, 10 if 2 are resolved in the same half of the pādayuga - for the latter see 8a (1st & 6th); 185a (1st & 5th); 302f (1st & 4th).
12 In what follows 1 = a short syllable; 2 = a long one; 3 = anceps, the syllable can be either short or long; 5 = one short, or one long, or two shorts.
13 For the references see the tables in the Index of Metres.
14 Nos 23, 69, 87, 183, 196, 274, 303.
15 Note that percentages are approximate only.
16 27a; 116c; 218c; 222c; 274c; 315a. These are commented on in the text.
17 The latter two are discussed below.
18 179a; 342d; 344a; 362d.
19 15c; 16c; 17c; 18c; 24a; 44c; 45a; 80c; 145c; 179c; 180ac; 184a; 235c; 236ac; 238ac; 240c; 284a; 285ac; 324c; 341c; 342c; 343c; 344ac; 348c; 362c; 371ac; 388c;
20 15a; 16a; 17a; 18a; 44a; 80a; 95c; 145a; 184c; 237a; 240a; 284c; 324a; 341a; 342a; 343a; 350a
21 These are commented on in the notes to the text.
22 15d; 16d; 17d; 18d; 45c; 80d; 95d; 145d; 180b; 184b; 235d; 236b; 237d; 238b; 284d; 285d; 334b; 341d; 344d; 348b; 350d; 362d; 371b; 388d;
23 16b; 18b; 24b; 44bd; 45bd; 80b; 145b; 179d; 180d; 184d; 238d; 240d; 284b; 285b; 334d; 341b; 342b; 343b; 344b; 348d; 350b; 388b;
24 We should perhaps regard this as a syncopated variant of the second opening.
25 These are discussed in the notes to the text.
26 15b; 17b; 24d; 95b; 237b; 349b; 349d; 371d. The last two of the lines listed here syncopated. Possibly 343d should be regarded as an example of this variation also, see the note to that verse.
27 See Warder, PM, pg 121ff. for an assessment of the various ideas put forward.
28 In The Word of the Doctrine Norman makes various suggestions on how we could regularise these lines to give a normal opening, but it is worthwhile pointing out here, that a number of the changes suggested there are unusual and that not one of the suggestions has any manuscript support for it.
29 Sometimes, because of resolution, we find a Tuṭṭhubha line with 12 syllables: 20e; 40b; 108d; 125d; 328c; 346d; 347d. In each case the resolution is of the 1st syllable giving the opening: 11212 .
30 Helmer Smith simply ignores the break in the appendix on the metres in his edition of Saddanīti (pg 1151-1154). Warder (PM, pg 208) says that it `should perhaps always be corrected'.
31 See my study of the metre in Pārāyanavagga, also on this Website.