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Manuscrise cultura Kammavaca

ENGLISH

Silver Burmese Manuscript KAMMAVACA, with ornate wood covers and decorated with red, green and silver sparkles. Total: 250 + 94 + 214 = 558 pieces. 9 ornamental circles set with 51 stones each (some of them lost). Signature 2121/…

Thick lacquered text on gilded base. These kinds of folios are recognized by their distinctive slightly tarnished silvery sheen – by adding a small amount of gold to silver, a piece of which was pounded repeteadly in a leather pouch to produce mogyo leaves of „sky string”, said to resemble the color of lighting. The silver found in this set is extremely rare. Size: Wood covers – 645 x 160 mm; Metallic file – 617 x 152 mm; Letters: 100 mm; Capital letter: 20-30 mm.

The Cultural and Religious Significance of Kammavaca

Kammavaca is the Pali name of a text describing a set of passages from the Tipitaka – the Theravada Buddhist canon, which deal with ordination, donning robes and various other rituals of monastic life. Kammavaca manuscripts are richly ornate, being usually executed by persons outside the monastery to be donated as a special gift to monasteries where a son enters the Buddhist Order as a novice or when he is ordained as a monk.

The initiation ceremony of a Buddhist monk is an important family ritual, the main purpose of which is to gain merit for his future life. A novice can remain a monk for as long as he wishes: a week, a season of fasting, or even for life, undergoing the initiation ceremony as often as he wishes. The most important Kammavacas were prepared for the upasampada (higher ordination), a ritual dedicated to the ordination of a Buddhist monk. The Kammavaca manuscript in the square-shaped Pali script of Burma is usually written on gilded and lacquered palm leaves. The recto sheets have eight octagonal panels with lotus designs in circles, while one of the sheets contains the ordination text (upasampada), text flanked by larger lotus designs.

The Kammavaca manuscripts are written on a variety of materials, primarily palm leaves, but also on stiff cloth, or on sheets of gold, silver, metal, or ivory, in the shape of a palm leaf. Thickly applied varnish or gilded decoration is placed on the leaves and cover plates. The Pali text is written in black lacquer with ornate Burmese characters, known as the „tamarind seed” script, also called the „square” script, which differs from the traditional Burmese round script. Festive and less common kammavacas can be made on monastic robes covered with heavy black lacquer, on which inlaid mother-of-pearl letters are placed. In the 12th century, the Sihala Ordination was introduced into Burma by Chappaṭa, who studied the Buddhist canon and commentaries in Sri Lanka, which in the 15th century again became a source of orthodoxy – in 1476 twenty-two disciples and „bhikkhus” (monks) were chosen as messengers and sent in two ships to the island.

Contents of Kammavaca Texts

They were duly ordained by the Mahavihara monks at the Sima or hallowed ordination hall built on the Kalyani River near Colombo. On the return of these monks, King Dhammaceti (1471-1492) built Kalyani Sima in Pegu (Bago), where they came to receive ordination „Monji” from neighboring countries. Two types of ordination ceremonies take place in Sima: the ordination of novices (Pabbajja) and the ordination of monks (Upasampada). In order to become a novice, the adept must recite the Ten Precepts and the Three Refuges intended for a monk. In order to become a monk, the Sangha or monastic community will perform the Upasampada ordination only after fulfilling the five conditions: Perfection of a person, Perfection of an assembly, Perfection of Sima, Perfection of movement, and Perfection of Kammavaca.

The assembly is led by the most senior monk, who will ordain the new monk, while selected monks will recite the Kammavaca, taking great care in articulation and pronunciation. The Kammavaca Pali manuscript in square Burmese script is written on gilded metal and lacquered in red. The outer sides of the first and last leaf of the Kammavaca manuscript have unusual and fine decorations in gold and red with scenes from the life of Buddha. At the top, Prince Siddhartha cuts his hair with a sword, the symbolic gesture of renunciation, and Sakka, the king of the heavenly abodes, receives him, while on the right devas present Prince Siddhartha with a robe and an alms bowl. On the last tab, when Prince Siddhartha becomes a monk, Sakka plays the harp to show Siddhartha the way to the Middle Path, and the devas come to pay their respects.

Artistic Features of Kammavaca Manuscripts

The outer edges of the text tabs are decorated with deva, being covered with varnish-impregnated cloth to provide a rigid surface, then gilded with background decorations of floral sprigs. At the edges  kneeling devas or heavenly figures are depicted with folded hands in reverence for the Kammavaca text. The text sheets are stored between a pair of bound wooden barks, red on the inside and lacquered and gilt on the outside, with devas inside the panels. Burmese inscriptions on the inner side of the slab of a Kammavaca may state that the manuscript was a pious gift of a lay devotee and his wife or the like.

The manuscript contains the following Kammavaca texts: Upasampada (Official Deed for the Conferral of Higher Ordination), Kathinadussadana (Official Deed for Holding the Kathina Ceremony), Ticivarena-avippavasa (Text for Investing a Monk with the Three Garments), Sima-sammannita (Official Deed for the Agreement of Limits boundaries), Thera-sammuti (Official act to agree on the seniority of theras), Nama-sammuti (Official act to agree on a name), Vihara-kappa-bhumi-sammuti (text of the dedication of a Vihara), Kuṭi-vatthu-sammuti (Official act to search and agree on a place for building a hut), Nissaya-muti-sammuti (Official act to agree on relaxation of requirements).

The outer sides of the first and last tabs of the Kammavaca are usually decorated with panels containing designs of birds, lotuses, flowers, leaves, devas, Buddha figures, or/and geometric patterns. The tabs of a Kammavaca contain two holes into which small bamboo sticks are inserted to hold the tabs together, these being fastened between decorated binding bark-covers. The kammavacas were usually wrapped in cotton or silk cloth and secured with a woven ribbon, after which they were placed in a gilded box.