Milinda Panha
Template:Short description Template:Infobox pali text Template:PaliCanon Template:TheravadaBuddhism The Milindapañha (Template:Lit) is a Buddhist text which dates from sometime between 100 BC and 200 AD. It purports to record a dialogue between the Indian Buddhist sage Nāgasena, and the 2nd century BC Indo-Greek king Menander I (Pali: Milinda).
The Milindapañhā is regarded as canonical in Burmese Buddhism, included as part of the book of Khuddaka Nikāya.<ref>Template:Cite book </ref> An abridged version is included as part of Chinese Mahāyāna translations of the canon. The Milindapañha is not regarded as canonical by Thai or Sri Lankan Buddhism, however, despite the surviving Theravāda text being in Sinhalese script.
The Chinese text titled the Monk Nāgasena Sutra corresponds to the first three chapters of the Milindapañha.Template:R It was translated sometime during the Eastern Jin dynasty (317–420).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
History
It is generally accepted by scholars<ref name=vonH>Template:Citation</ref>Template:Rp that the work is composite, with additions made over some time. In support of this, it is noted that the Chinese versions of the work are substantially shorter.<ref>According to Hinüber (2000), p. 83, ¶173, the first Chinese translation is believed to date from the 3rd century and is currently lost; a second Chinese translation, known as "Nagasena-bhiksu-sutra," (那先比丘經) [[[:Template:Cite web]]] dates from the 4th century. The extant second translation is "much shorter" than that of the current Pali-language Mil.</ref>
The earliest part of the text is believed to have been written between 100 BC and 200 AD.Template:R The text may have initially been written in Sanskrit; Oskar von Hinüber suggests, based on an extant Chinese translation of Mil as well as some unique conceptualizations within the text, the text's original language might have been Gandhari.Template:R However, apart from the Sri Lankan Pali edition and its derivatives, no other copies are known.
The oldest manuscript of the Pali text was copied in 1495 AD. Based on references within the text itself, significant sections of the text are lost, making Milinda the only Pali text known to have been passed down as incomplete.Template:R
It is mentioned in the Grande Inscription d'Angkor engraved in 1701 on the walls of Angkor Wat in Cambodia.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
The book is included in the inscriptions of the Canon approved by the Burmese Fifth Council and the printed edition of the Sixth Council text.
Thomas Rhys Davids says it is the greatest work of classical Indian prose, saying:
Moriz Winternitz however maintains that this is true only of the earlier parts.<ref name=Winternitz>Template:Cite book </ref>Template:Rp
Contents
The contents of the Milindapañhā are:
- Background History
- Questions on Distinguishing Characteristics: (Characteristics of Attention and Wisdom, Characteristic of Wisdom, Characteristic of Contact, Characteristic of Feeling, Characteristic of Perception, Characteristic of Volition, Characteristic of Consciousness, Characteristic of Applied Thought, Characteristic of Sustained Thought, etc.)
- Questions for the Cutting Off of Perplexity: (Transmigration and Rebirth, The Soul, Non-Release From Evil Deeds, Simultaneous Arising in Different Places, Doing Evil Knowingly and Unknowingly, etc.)
- Questions on Dilemmas : Speaks of several puzzles and these puzzles were distributed in eighty-two dilemmas.
- A Question Solved By Inference
- Discusses the Special Qualities of Asceticism
- Questions on Talk of Similes
According to Oskar von Hinüber, while King Menander is an actual historical figure, Bhikkhu Nagasena is otherwise unknown, the text includes anachronisms, and the dialogue lacks any sign of Greek influence but instead is traceable to the Upanisads.Template:R
The text mentions Nāgasena's father Soñuttara, his teachers Rohana, Assagutta of Vattaniya and Dhammarakkhita of Asoka Ārāma near Pātaliputta, and another teacher named Āyupāla from Sankheyya near Sāgala.
Menander I
According to the Milindapanha, Milinda/ Menander, identified as Menander I,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp embraced the Buddhist faith. He is described as constantly accompanied by a guard of 500 Greek (Yonaka) soldiers, and two of his counselors are named Demetrius and Antiochus.
In the Milindanpanha, Menander is introduced as the "king of the city of Sāgala in India, Milinda by name, learned, eloquent, wise, and able". Buddhist tradition relates that, following his discussions with Nāgasena, Menander adopted the Buddhist faith "as long as life shall last"<ref name=RhysDavids>Template:Citation</ref>Template:Rp and then handed over his kingdom to his son to retire from the world. It is described that he attained enlightenment afterwards.Template:R
Translations
The work has been translated into English three times, once in 1890 by Thomas William Rhys Davids (reprinted by Dover Publications in 1963); once in 1969 by Isaline Blew Horner (reprinted in 1990 by the Pali Text Society); and most recently in 2025 by Maria Heim (Murty Classical Library of India).
- Template:Cite book; reprinted by Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi Vol. 1, Vol. 2
- Template:Cite book 2 volumes.
Abridgements include:
- Template:Cite book Based on Rhys Davids (1890, 1894).
- Template:Cite book Based on Horner (1963–64).
A Chinese counterpart of the Milindapanha has been translated into English by Bhikkhu Analayo and published by Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai.<ref>Bhikkhu Anālayo, trans. (2021). The scripture on the monk Nagasena. BDK America.</ref>
See also
- Anatta, doctrine of "non-self"
- Anupiṭaka
- Greco-Buddhism
- Greco-Buddhist monasticism
- Khuddaka Nikāya
- Mahāvaṃsa
- Paracanonical texts (Theravada Buddhism)