Return to Pali word list
“A Dictionary of Pali of synonyms attributed to the twelfth century Sinhalese scholar monk Moggallana, which, in style and method, is similar to the Sanskrit lexicon the Amarakosha. The text is arranged into three sections, dealing with celestial, terrestrial, and miscellaneous topics. The three sections are further subdivided into various chapters, each composed of groups of synonyms arranged in verse for ease of memorization. For example, the first section of the thesaurus includes 179 different entries, each of which offers multiple entries: e.g., thirty-two different epithets for the Buddha and forty-six synonyms for nibbana (Sanskrit: Nirvana). The second section has six different chapters, which include twenty-four synonyms for a house, ten for man, fifteen for woman, etc. The third section has four chapters on miscellaneous topics. A Sinhalese paraphrase and commentary on this dictionary were produced in Sri Lanka by chaturangabala (d.u.), while a Burmese commentary was composed by nanavasa (d.u.) in the fourteenth century during the reign of King Kittisihasura (c. 1351); a Burmese vernacular translation was subsequently made during the eighteenth century.”