Talk:Arahath Mahinda Thero

The final -th in "Arahath" is used in this function only in Ceylonese English, to distinguish the purely dental t from the retroflex ("thick") one. In Indian English, however, and in Latin transliterations of Indo-Aryan languages, the same -th- combination is used to distinguish the aspirated t (which doesn't exist in modern Sinhalese) from the un-aspirated one. Since the final t of the word "arahat" is not aspirated, the spelling "arahath" is not recommendable outside Sri Lanka. See also the article in this Wikipedia "Arhat", which begins: 'An arhat (also arahat or arahant; Chinese: &#38463;&#32645;&#28450;, aluohan; Tibetan: dgra-bcom-pa; Jp. arakan) is a highly realized Buddhist practitoner. It literally means "foe destroyer".'

Also, "Mahinda" has here been written in the stem form, but "Thero" in the nominative form. I think this article should be moved to "Arahat Mahinda Thera", being the internationally common transliteration of the Pali form of his name. (In Sanskrit, it would be Arhat Mahendra Sthavira, but I have never seen that.) Gunnar Gällmo 14:52, 13 Feb 2005 (UTC)