U Pho Thi Library | |
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ဦးဘိုးသီးပိဋကတ်တိုက် | |
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16°55′24″N 97°22′37″E / 16.923302374017855°N 97.37694950628828°E | |
Location |
Thaton, ![]() |
Type | Pitakataik |
Established | 1923 |
Collection | |
Items collected | |
Size | 785 manuscripts |
Other information | |
Affiliation | Sadhammajotika Monastery |
U Pho Thi Library ( Burmese: ဦးဘိုးသီးပိဋကတ်တိုက်), officially known as the Sādhu-janapāsādika Mahādhammacetī ( lit. 'great temple of the Dhamma which pleases good people'), is a Buddhist library or pitakataik in Thaton, Mon State, Myanmar. The library houses a rare collection of 785 traditional manuscripts, including palm leaf manuscripts and parabaiks, in a three-storey building donated by U Pho Thi, who is the library's namesake. [1] Monastic examinations are held at the library, which part of Thaton's largest centre for Buddhist studies. [2]
The library was the brainchild of Burmese literature professor Kyaw Tun, and was funded and established by merchant U Pho Thi in 1923, along with the Suvaṇṇabhūmi Pariyatti Sāsanahita Trust. [1] [3]
In February 2013, the Pali Text Society, Sendai University, and the University of Toronto, along with local partners, began an ongoing initiative to digitise and catalogue Myanmar's palm-leaf manuscripts, including collections from this library, and Bagaya Monastery in Inwa. [2] [4] The digitised manuscripts are now available at the open-access Myanmar Manuscript Digital Library. [5]
In 2019, the Pali Text Society published the Catalogue of Manuscripts in the U Pho Thi Library.
The manuscripts date from the mid-16th century to the 1920s. [1] Extremely rare manuscripts held by the library include Saddanītiṭīkā by Paññāsāmi, an advisor to King Mindon Min, Mukhamattasāra, Commentary on the Nāmacāradīpaka, by Chapaṭa Saddhammajotipāla from the Inwa era. [1]