Chanda Textbook: From Jambūdvīpa to the Cindāmanī

Abstract

This article focuses on the inherited pattern of Chanda knowledge from the Piṅgalachandasūtra of Jambūdvīpa to the Vuttodaya of Ceylon and to the Cindāmanī in the end, as well as presents the methods that the Thai scholars adopted the forms of Chanda learning to Thai context. This study showed that the main prosodies used in Thai verses from the ancient time are Klong, Chanda, Kāvya, Klon and Rāi. On these prosodies, there is a subject of Chanda in the Cindāmanī, the oldest Thai textbook, composed by Horāthibodī in the reign of King Narāi of the Ayuddhayā period. Horāthibodī wrote the Chanda subject based on the Vuttodaya, the Magadha Chanda textbook, composed by Saṅgharakkhita of Ceylon. Moreover, even though the Vuttodaya was actually written by the Ceylon monk, it was done by the manner of inheritance of knowledge about Chanda from the Piṅgalachandasūtra, the Sansakrit Chanda textbook, composed by Piṅgalācārya from Jambūdvīpa. Therefore, it can be said that the content associated with Chanda that appears in the Cindāmanī has traces inherited from the Chanda textbook of Jambūdvīpa.