<p>You can find a <a href="https://suttacentral.net/mnd" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Sinhala translation of the Mahaniddesa</a> and a <a href="https://suttacentral.net/cnd" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Sinhala translation of the Culaniddesa</a> on SuttaCentral. Both were translated by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._P._de_Zoysa" rel="nofollow noreferrer">A. P. de Zoysa</a>.</p>
<p>From there, you can copy and paste the Sinhala texts into <a href="https://translate.google.com" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Google Translate</a>, and get it translated into English or another western language of your choice.</p>
<p>For example, I managed to translate the first paragraph of <a href="https://suttacentral.net/mnd6/si/zoysa" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Mahaniddesa 6 in Sinhala</a> to:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>This life is definitely short. ”Life is the existence of life,
dependence, existence, control, life, sense of life. Again, in two
respects life is short, a little, life is short because it exists,
life is short because it is small in nature. How can life be short in
existence? Lived in the past emotional moment. Not alive. Will not
live. Does not live in the future psyche. Did not live, did not live.
Did not live and did not live in the present time mentality. Will not
live.</p>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-01-13T16:34:08.733Z
Awesome, thank you! That will probably be faster than learning Pali :)
Zac Anger
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-01-13T17:14:25.453Z
Turns out Sutta Central's [data is also publicly available](https://github.com/suttacentral/sc-data/blob/5c060c479f4cb17a0891011d57d4933c81918ead/html_text/si/pli/sutta/kn/mnd/mnd16.html), which means I may be able to automate at least a halfway-readable Google Translate translation all in one go.
Zac Anger
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-01-13T17:16:38.620Z
@ZacAnger That's perfect!
ruben2020
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-01-13T19:13:08.680Z
If anyone happens to come across this later, I'm working on doing exactly that over [here](https://github.com/zacanger/niddesa).
Zac Anger
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-01-13T14:14:15.790Z
2021-01-13T14:41:40.717Z
2021-01-13T14:41:40.717Z
ruben2020
<p>I've hunted around a bit online but haven't found much besides some vague &quot;probably not&quot; answers. Has anyone ever come across an English (or other western language) translation of both parts of the Niddesa? I have the Pali Text Society's printings thanks to the Internet Archive, and enough resources to get started learning Pali if I need to, but figured I should try asking here before I attempt that.</p>

<theravada><pali-canon><pali><translation>
Niddesa Translations
# Niddesa Translations

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-01-13)

I've hunted around a bit online but haven't found much besides some vague "probably not" answers. Has anyone ever come across an English (or other western language) translation of both parts of the Niddesa? I have the Pali Text Society's printings thanks to the Internet Archive, and enough resources to get started learning Pali if I need to, but figured I should try asking here before I attempt that.

**Tags:** theravada, pali-canon, pali, translation


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2021-01-13. Score: 1 | Accepted answer

You can find a [Sinhala translation of the Mahaniddesa](https://suttacentral.net/mnd) and a [Sinhala translation of the Culaniddesa](https://suttacentral.net/cnd) on SuttaCentral. Both were translated by [A. P. de Zoysa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._P._de_Zoysa).

From there, you can copy and paste the Sinhala texts into [Google Translate](https://translate.google.com), and get it translated into English or another western language of your choice.

For example, I managed to translate the first paragraph of [Mahaniddesa 6 in Sinhala](https://suttacentral.net/mnd6/si/zoysa) to:

> This life is definitely short. ”Life is the existence of life,
> dependence, existence, control, life, sense of life. Again, in two
> respects life is short, a little, life is short because it exists,
> life is short because it is small in nature. How can life be short in
> existence? Lived in the past emotional moment. Not alive. Will not
> live. Does not live in the future psyche. Did not live, did not live.
> Did not live and did not live in the present time mentality. Will not
> live.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Awesome, thank you! That will probably be faster than learning Pali :)  
> **username_0**: Turns out Sutta Central's [data is also publicly available](https://github.com/suttacentral/sc-data/blob/5c060c479f4cb17a0891011d57d4933c81918ead/html_text/si/pli/sutta/kn/mnd/mnd16.html), which means I may be able to automate at least a halfway-readable Google Translate translation all in one go.  
> **username_1**: @ZacAnger That's perfect!  
> **username_0**: If anyone happens to come across this later, I'm working on doing exactly that over [here](https://github.com/zacanger/niddesa).  

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