U Pho Thi Library (), officially known as the (), is a Buddhist library or

pitakataik ''Pitakataik'' ( my, ပိဋကတ်တိုက်; also spelt ''bidagat taik'' and ''pitaka taik'') is a library of Buddhist scriptures, including the Tipiṭaka, found in Buddhist societies in modern-day Myanmar (Burma). History The ''pitaka ...

Thaton Thaton (; mnw, သဓီု ) is a town in Mon State, in southern Myanmar on the Tenasserim plains. Thaton lies along the National Highway 8 and is also connected by the National Road 85. It is 230 km south east of Yangon and 70 km ...

, Mon State, Myanmar. The library houses a rare collection of 785 traditional manuscripts, including

palm leaf manuscripts Palm-leaf manuscripts are manuscripts made out of dried palm leaves. Palm leaves were used as writing materials in the Indian subcontinent and in Southeast Asia reportedly dating back to the 5th century BCE. Their use began in South Asia and sp ...

and parabaiks, in a three-storey building donated by U Pho Thi, who is the library's namesake.

Monastic examinations Monastic examinations comprise the annual examination system used in Myanmar (Burma) to rank and qualify members of the Buddhist sangha, or community of Buddhist monks. The institution of monastic examinations first began in 1648 during pre-colonia ...

are held at the library, which part of Thaton's largest centre for

Buddhist studies Buddhist studies, also known as Buddhology, is the academic study of Buddhism. The term ''Buddhology'' was coined in the early 20th century by the Unitarian minister Joseph Estlin Carpenter to mean the "study of Buddhahood, the nature of the Budd ...

History

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. In February 2013, the

Pali Text Society The Pali Text Society is a text publication society founded in 1881 by Thomas William Rhys Davids "to foster and promote the study of Pāli texts". Pāli is the language in which the texts of the Theravada school of Buddhism are preserved. The ...

Sendai University is a private university in Shibata, Miyagi, Japan, established in 1967. The predecessor of the school was founded in 1879. It is the only university specializing in physical education in northern Japan. Organization Undergraduate *Faculty of Ph ...

, and the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institu ...

, 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 Bagaya is a settlement in Senegal in the department Bignona, in the region Ziguinchor Region, in the Casamance area. Bagaya belongs to the rural community of Balinghore in the arrondissement of Tendouck. It is located on the road from Bignona ...

in Inwa. The digitised manuscripts are now available at the

open-access Open access (OA) is a set of principles and a range of practices through which research outputs are distributed online, free of access charges or other barriers. With open access strictly defined (according to the 2001 definition), or libre o ...

Myanmar Manuscript Digital Library. In 2019, the Pali Text Society published the ''Catalogue of Manuscripts in the U Pho Thi Library.''

Collection

The manuscripts date from the mid-16th century to the 1920s. Extremely rare manuscripts held by the library include ''Saddanītiṭīkā'' by Paññāsāmi, an advisor to King

Mindon Min Mindon Min ( my, မင်းတုန်းမင်း, ; 1808 – 1878), born Maung Lwin, was the penultimate King of Burma (Myanmar) from 1853 to 1878. He was one of the most popular and revered kings of Burma. Under his half brother King ...

, ''Mukhamattasāra'', ''Commentary on the Nāmacāradīpaka'', by Chapaṭa Saddhammajotipāla from the Inwa era.

References

{{library-stub Libraries in Myanmar Buildings and structures in Mon State Buddhist libraries Libraries established in 1923 1923 establishments in Burma