ရွှေဘိုမြို့နယ် သီလုံးရွာ ကန်ရင်းကျောင်းစာစု

The collection of Kanʻ raṅʻʺ kyoṅʻʺ monastery (pronounced Kan-yin-kyaung) in Sī luṃ‘ʺ (pronounced Tha-lon) village is a relatively small body of curricular, liturgical, and disciplinary works. A notable place in the collection is occupied by copies of works of monk Candimā (1786-1860), who is believed to be the founding abbot of that monastery. Candimā or Thalon Hsayadaw was a prolific writer and one of the most influential ascetic monks of Dipeyin and Shwebo areas in the mid-nineteenth century. His career has become a cornerstone of local monastic identity and is celebrated to this day. Yet, no manuscripts kept at Kanʻ raṅʻʺ kyoṅʻʺ might be directly attributed as his property, instead, most of them belonged to later monks from the village. The collection also contains four documents on sugar palm leaves dating to the 1890s and related to monastic politics of the period. Custodial history: Custodial history of this collection has not yet been researched. From what might be concluded on a basis of a short preliminary visit, it appears that no clear separation exists between the manuscript holdings of Kanʻ raṅʻʺ kyoṅʻʺ and neighboring Maṅʻʺ krīʺ kyoṅʻʺ. Items found at the former site are likely a fraction of a composite archive accumulating manuscripts from various monasteries in Sī luṃ‘ʺ. Administrative context: Normally, manuscripts are owned by monasteries, however, in case of Kanʻ raṅʻʺ kyoṅʻʺ it is not clear to us to what extent it might be considered an independent entity of Maṅʻʺ krīʺ kyoṅʻʺ. Perhaps, the ultimate authority over manuscripts kept at both monasteries rests with the abbot of the latter institution. Extent and format of original material: The collection is made of thirty five palm-leaf manuscripts and manuscript fragments. Four of them were digitized in the framework of the project. 4 series. Owner(s) of original material: Apparently, Ūʺ Vāyaminda, the present abbot of Sī luṃ‘ʺ Maṅʻʺ krīʺ kyoṅʻʺ, might be considered the ultimate custodian of manuscripts kept at Kanʻ raṅʻʺ kyoṅʻʺ. Operationally, the manuscripts are in custody of Ūʺ Kusala, a resident monk at Kanʻ raṅʻʺ kyoṅʻʺ.