Prakrit Dhammapad
by B.M. Barua

Among the most popular Books in Buddhist literature, Dhammapada (Skt. Dharmapada) stands prominently. This work is critically edited and translated with copious notes by Beni Madhav Barua and Sailendranath Mitra with a long introduction which discusses many problems of editions and translations of the Dhammapada. The present work began by the editors as a disgression from working on a monography on Asoka’s Dhamma with encouragement and support by Ashutosh Mukherjee, the great Buddhist savant. The present work is mainly based on E. Senart’s publicationo f the Kharosthi manuscript of the text on the basis of the fragments discovered by Petroffsky, and Dutreuil de Rhins, Russian and French, scholars. This is the only text found in Khroshthi script in Prakrit dialect. All other texts are generally found in Pali, Sanskrit or Mixed Sanskrit. Barua and Mitra have published it with improved readings, adding copious notes and cross references. The present book is published under the series Bibliotheca Indo-Buddhica, with a foreword by Dr. N.H. Samtani.