Last year I made a set of first translations from the Extended edition of the Mahāvaṁsa (sometimes known as the Cambiodian Mahāvaṁsa), which has been published both as a text together with a close translation and also as a more fluent English-only version.
Following completion of that work I compiled extracts from the English version about the great Arahat Bhikkhunī Sanghamittā, who was instrumental in bringing the bhikkhunī ordination to Sri Lanka, and at the same time, bringing the national palladium, a sapling from the original Bodhi Tree.
I later managed to get permission from Wat Pho in Thailand to use photographs of the murals about the Mahāvaṁsa stories, which are found in the Hall of the Reclining Buddha in that monastery, to illustrate the work.
Now I am glad to say that this short book (50 pages) has just been published by Sentul Temple in Kuala Lumpur, and they are in the process of sending out 1,400+ copies to women’s centres worldwide.
The book is also available online from this page in the html, pdf, epub, mobi & mp3 formats.
Errata to the printed book (these are corrected online):
pg 11, para 3: “Why are so you wasted away?”; read “Why are you so wasted away?”
pg 20 para 2 …arranged to send missionaries to the border area; read …arranged to send missionaries to the border areas
pg 32 and pg 38 Title should both times read Ven. Saṅghamittā…
pg 33, note 57: add the name Vicakkhaṇā after Uttarā.
pg 45 para 2 being fifty-nine years old; read: fifty-nine years (after arriving), and delete the note.
…..hey….it’s me……I looked for the mp3 for this, but didn’t see it…….are you narrating it?
So, Bill, you want me to read it to you now, is it? Here you go: http://www.ancient-buddhist-texts.net/English-Texts/Arahat-Sanghamitta/05-02.htm.