ame of one of the early disciples of the Buddha, and
therefore constantly chosen as their name in religion by Buddhist
novices on their entering the brotherhood. The most famous of the
Bhikshus so named was the great commentator who lived in the latter half
of the 5th century A.D. at the Badara Tittha Vih[=a]ra, near the east
coast of India, just a little south of where Madras now stands. It is to
him we owe the commentaries on seven of the shorter canonical books,
consisting almost entirely of verses, and also the commentary on the
Netti, perhaps the oldest P[=a]li work outside the canon. Extracts from
the latter work, and the whole of three out of the seven others, have
been published by the P[=a]li Text Society. These works show great
learning, exegetical skill and sound judgment. But as Dhammap[=a]la
confines himself rigidly either to questions of the meaning of words,
or to discussions of the ethical import of his texts, very little can be
gathered from his writings of value for the social history of his time.
For the right interpretation of the difficult texts on which he
comments, they are indispensable. Though in all probability a Tamil by
birth, he declares, in the opening lines of those of his works that have
been edited, that he followed the tradition of the Great Minster at
Anur[=a]dhapura in Ceylon, and the works themselves confirm this in
every respect. Hsuean Tsang, the famous Chinese pilgrim, tells a quaint
story of a Dhammap[=a]la of K[=a]nchipura (the modern Konjevaram). He
was a son of a high official, and betrothed to a daughter of the king,
but escaped on the eve of the wedding feast, entered the order, and
attained to reverence and distinction. It is most likely that this
story, whether legendary or not (and Hsuean Tsang heard the story at
K[=a]nchipura nearly two centuries after the date of Dhammap[=a]la),
referred to this author. But it may also refer, as Hsuean Tsang refers
it, to another author of the same name. Other unpublished works, besides
those mentioned above, have been ascribed to Dhammap[=a]la, but it is
very doubtful whether they are really by him.

AUTHORITIES.--T. Watters, _On Yuan Chwang_ (ed. Rhys Davids and
Bushell, London, 1905), ii. 169, 228; Edmund Hardy in _Zeitschrift der
deutschen morgenlaendischen Gesellschaft_ (1898), pp. 97 foll.; _Netti_
(ed. E. Hardy, London, P[=a]li Text Society, 1902), especially the
Introduction, passim; _Theri G[=a]th[=a] Commentary_, _Pet