bhanavara

bhanavara, any of the units, usually 8,000 syllables in length, into which Pali Buddhist texts were divided in ancient times for purposes of recitation. The system developed as a means of preserving and transmitting canonical material before it was committed to writing and before written texts were in general use among the people. At first, different groups of bhanakas (“reciters”) were responsible for different parts of the canon; Dighabhanakas, for example, specialized in the Digha...