NOTE ON THE BHÂNAVÂRAS.

As the division into Bhânavâras or Portions for Recitation is of some value in the history of the way in which the books were handed down, and is now overshadowed by the more practical division for modern purposes adopted in this translation into chapters and sections, the following table may be of use:--

		MAHÂVAGGA.
Present division.		Pali title.	Page in text.	Extent in text.
KHANDHAKA	I.
Chapter	6.	Pathama-bhânavâram	14	14
	14.	Dutiyaka-bhânavâram	24	10
	21.	Uruvela-pâtihâriyam tatiyaka-bhânavâram nitthitam	35	11
	24.	Katutthaka-bh. nitthitam	44	9
	30.	Upagghâya-vatta-bh. nitthitam pañkamam	58	14
	33.	Khattham bhânavâram	61	3
	38.	Sattamam bhânavâram	71	10
	53.	Abhayûvara-bh. nitthitam	81	10
	79.		98	? 17
KHANDHAKA	II.
Chapter	16.	Añña-titthiya-bh. nitthitam	115	16
	27.	Kodanâ-vatthu-bh. nitthitam	128	13
	36.	Uposatha-khandhake tatiyam bhânavâram	136	8
KHANDHAKA	III.
Chapter	8.	Vassâvâsa-bh. nitthitam	148	11
	14.		155	7
KHANDHAKA	IV.
Chapter	6.	Pathama-bh. nitthitam	164	9
	18.		178	14
KHANDHAKA	V	has no Bhânavâras, and ends in the text on page	198	20
p. 416
KHANDHAKA	VI.
Chapter	15.	Bhesagga-anuññâta-bh. pathamam	209	10
	30.	Likkhavi-bh. nitthitam	233	24
	33.	Katu-vîsati-bh. nitthitam	240	7
	40.		251	11
KHANDHAKA	VII.
Chapter	7.	Adâya-bh. nitthitam	259	7
	13.		265	6
KHANDHAKA	VIII.
Chapter	1.	Pathamaka-bh. nitthitam	281	14
	15.	Visâkhâ-bhânavâram	294	13
	32.		310	16
KHANDHAKA	IX.
Chapter	4.	Vâsabha-gâma-bhânavâram pathamam	322	11
	6.	Upâli-pukkhâ-bhânavâram dutiyam	328	6
	7.		333	5
KHANDHAKA	X.
Chapter	2.	Dighâvu-bhânavâram pathamam	349	13
	6.		359	10
		KULLAVAGGA.
KHANDHAKA	I-IV.	None.
KHANDHAKA	V.
Chapter	21.	Dutiya-bhânavâram	129	25
	37.		143	14
KHANDHAKA	VI.
Chapter	3.	Bhânavâram nitthitam pathamam	154	9
	11.	Dutiya-bhânavâram	167	13
	21.		177	10
KHANDHAKA	VII.
Chapter	2.	Pathamaka-bhânavâram nitthitam	188	9
	3.	Bhânavâram nitthitam dutiyam	198	10
	5.	Bhânavâram nitthitam tatiyam	206	8
KHANDHAKA	VIII.
Chapter	4.	Bhânavâram pathamam	215	8
	12.	Dutiya-bhânavâram	231	16
	14.		231	---
p. 417
KHANDHAKA	IX.
Chapter	3.	Pathamo bhânavâro 1	247	12
	5.		251	4
KHANDHAKA	X.
Chapter	8.	Pathama-bhânavâram	261	9
	16.	Dutiya-bhânavâram	271	10
	27.	Tatiya-bhânavâram	281	10
KHANDHAKA	XI.	has none	292	9
KHANDHAKA	XII.
Chapter	1.	Pathama-bhânavâram	301	8
	2.		307	6

On this it may be observed--

1. The last Bhânavâra in each Khandhaka is not referred to either by name or by number, except in Mahâvagga II, and in Kullavagga VII and X. In the Mahâvagga fourteen of the Bhânavâras have special titles, independent of their number in the particular Khandhaka.

2. Probably two Bhânavâras in Mahâvagga V, all the Bhânavâras in Kullavagga I-IV, and the first in Kullavagga V, are not noticed in the printed text.

3. Making allowance for these we have in the Mahâvagga 31 (? 32) Bhânavâras, occupying about 350 pages of Pâli text, and about 610 pages in our translation. In books V-XII of the Kullavagga we have 20 Bhânavâras, occupying about 200 pages of Pâli text, and about 350 pages in our translation. Total 51 (? 52) Bhânavâras, occupying about 550 pages of Pâli, and about 960 pages of translation.

4. As in the printed text repetitions have been avoided by a mode of reference to former passages which was impossible in the MSS., the average length of the matter contained in a Bhânavâra, as written much more in full in the MSS., would be somewhat greater than its average length as actually printed. It would probably amount to what, if printed verbatim, would occupy in space not much less than a sheet of the size and type used in the edition of the text. Thus the three Bhânavâras in Mahâvagga VIII, which owing to the subject-matter are printed with only a few such contractions, occupy respectively 14, 13, and 16 pages of the text.

p. 418

5. The recital in the usual sara-bhañña (or intonation, see Kullavagga V, 3) of such a 'portion for recitation' would occupy in time about half-an-hour.

6. Spence Hardy informs us in his 'Eastern Monachism' (p. 168) that the Dîgha Nikâya contains 64, the Magghima Nikâya 80, the Samyutta Nikâya 100, and the Aṅguttara Nikâya 120 Bhânavâras. In fact it is only a few of the longer Suttas in the first two collections which are actually divided into Bhânavâras in the MSS.; and only the longer Nipâtas in the Aṅguttara. There are no Bhânavâras in the Eka- and Duka-Nipâtas of that collection; and there are also none in the Samyutta Nikâya, and none in any of the books of the later literature contained in the Abhidhamma Pitaka (including all those in the Khuddaka Nikâya) as yet published.

Footnotes

417:1 Sic. This is the only instance in the Vinaya of a masculine use of the word.

7. The division into Bhânavâras is not made use of in many books of the Pitakas themselves, or in the fifth-century commentaries of Buddhaghosa and others. In the Sutta-vibhaṅga it is only used in Pârâgikas I-III, and in the Parivâra not at all. When Spence Hardy says therefore (loc. cit. p. 172) that the Pitakas and commentaries combined contain 5347 Bhânavâras, he must be referring to a mere calculation and not to the actual use of the MSS. On the other hand, the fact of Bhânavâras being used in the Dîpavamsa and the Khudda-sikkhâ may possibly afford some clue to the age in which those works were composed.