Dhammapāla
? · Kāñcīpuram
fl. c. 6th–7th c. CE (after Buddhaghosa); dates uncertain
Dhammapāla was a major Theravāda commentator of the post-Buddhaghosa period, probably the 6th–7th century CE, traditionally from Kāñcīpuram in the south Indian Tamil country and associated with the monastery at Badaratittha. He wrote subcommentaries and commentaries on several of the shorter canonical texts and on Buddhaghosa's works, second only to Buddhaghosa in the Theravāda exegetical tradition. His exact dates are uncertain—anchored partly by the Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang's 7th-century notice of a scholar of that name—and several authors of the name may be conflated, so the life is held loosely.
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Kāñcīpuram
What they did here
TRADITION: remembered as his place of origin in the southern Indian Tamil country, a noted center of Buddhist learning.
About Kāñcīpuram
Kāñcīpuram, in modern Tamil Nadu, India, was the capital of the Pallava dynasty and an important centre of learning where Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism all flourished. It is associated with the Theravāda commentator Dhammapāla, said to have been born there, and with the Buddhist logician Dignāga, who is reported to have studied or taught in the region.
Works
No works attributed in the corpus yet.