The prefatory verse to the Aṅgulimāla Paritta, on the words that bring about a safe delivery.
- When chanted
- Chanted immediately before the Aṅgulimāla Paritta, introducing it.
A note on this chant. The book prints this chant in Pali only, with no Thai translation. The English here is a working translation prepared for this edition — it is not the book's own, and has not yet been checked by a teacher.
Historical background
The most practical of the introductions, and the most specific. It names one use and one occasion: the safe delivery of a child, in that very moment.
It also describes a physical practice, which is rare in this book — the water that washes the place where the reciter sat is itself held to destroy danger.
Meaning and purpose
That detail about the washing water is worth not glossing over. The power is treated as something that settles on a place and can be carried away in a bowl, which is a much more concrete idea of blessing than most of this collection uses.
The occasion named — childbirth — explains why this paritta has stayed in constant use where others are chanted only in full services. It answers a need that recurs and cannot be postponed.
The introduction closes as the Vaṭṭaka one did, with the same phrase: lasting an aeon and of great power. The two chants it links are both acts of truth spoken by a particular person on a particular day, and the tradition rates both the same way.
The chant
As the book prints it: page 96 →
page 96ปะริตตัง ยัมภะณันตัสสะ นิสินนัฏฐานะโธวะนัง
Parittaṃ yambhaṇantassa nisinnaṭṭhānadhovanaṃ
The paritta which, for one reciting it, the water that washes the place where he sat
อุทะกัมปิ วินาเสติ สัพพะเมวะ ปะริสสะยัง.
Udakampi vināseti sabbamevaparissayaṃ.
destroys every danger whatsoever;
โสตถินา คัพภะวุฏฐานัง ยัญจะ สาเธติ ตังขะเณ
Sotthinā gabbhavuṭṭhānaṃ yañca sādheti taṅkhaṇe
and which brings about a safe delivery of the child in that very moment;
เถรัสสังคุลิมาลัสสะ โลกะนาเถนะ ภาสิตัง.
Therassaṅgulimālassa lokanāthena bhāsitaṃ.
spoken by the Refuge of the World to the elder Aṅgulimāla;
กัปปัฏฐายิ มะหาเตชัง ปะริตตันตัมภะณามะ เห.
Kappaṭṭhāyi mahātejaṃ parittantambhaṇāma he.
lasting an aeon and of great power: that paritta let us now recite.