Did the Buddha address the monks in Māgadhī?

Abstract

‘Contrariwise, continued Tweedledee, if it was so, it might be, and if it
were so, it would be; but as it isn’t, it ain’t. That’s logic.’ Lewis Carroll,
Alice in Wonderland.

§ 1. The purpose of this paper is to study the distribution of the two vocatives bhikkhave and bhikkhavo in the Pāli canon, and to analyse the astute comments on the issue by Aggavaṃsa, the eminent 12th century AD Burmese Pāli scholar, who addressed it in a paragraph of his Pāli grammar, the Saddanīti. Aggavaṃsa’s analysis of the evidence sheds light on their distribution in the Pāli canon. Moreover, it raises some intriguing questions regarding the distribution of bhikkhave and bhikkhavo in Burmese Pāli manuscripts, which deviates from that of Sinhalese manuscripts. I have therefore found it necessary to re-examine the question in the light of the evidence. I shall trace the textual background of the readings that Aggavaṃsa’s analysis presupposes and draw the conclusion that the distribution of the two vocatives reflects canonical prosody and has no historical or regional implications for the occurrence of bhikkhave and bhikkhavo in the Pāli canon. In fact, their occurrence is parallel to the distribution of the two vocatives bhante and bhaddante.