A new reading of the 1756 A.D. Syāmasandesa preserved in the Malvatte vihāraya monastery at Kandy, Sri Lanka

Abstract

Here is given for the first time an accurate transliteration of the original syāmasandesa, a Pāli letter in Khom script dating to 1756 A.D., sent from the Siamese court of Ayudhya to the royal court of Sirivaḍḍhanapura (Kandy). The letter gives an account of the mission and sojourn in Siam of the Sinhalese envoys of King Kīrti Śri Rājasiṃha, accompanying the Siamese monks who were returning to Siam after restoring the ordination of monks in Laṅkā. It contains a list of texts brought from Siam to Laṅkā, and is also accompanied by a kammavācā text, not yet published, which shows that the original mission to Laṅkā had been arranged, at least in part, to ensure the correct pronunciation of the stanzas dealing with the taking.