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Comparative Study of the Language of the Acārānga and the Isibhāsiyāiṁ both edited by Prof. Schubring.
1 K. R. Chandra
While going through the text of the Svetambara Jain canonical works one is unable to form a proper idea of the main linguistic features of the Ardhamāgadhi language. In the edited texts there is a mixture of archaic and younger usages. In the absence of any authentic grammatical treatise on Ardhanagadhi and due to the oral tradition a number of phonetical and morphological changes entered the original Amg. from time to time and place to place. This historical truth is well-known to all of us.
We are giving below a comparative list of usages from the ch. IX of the Acaranga' and the Isibhāsiyaim' both belonging to the earliest strata of the Amg. canonical works. When we compare linguistically the usages from these two works one is surprised to note that Acäränga (Erster Śrutaskandha), the earliest Amg. text is full of Mahārāṣṭri usages without any Amg. usage whereas the Isibhāsiyaim has generally the archaic (Amg.) usages with some what Mahārāṣṭri usages also.
Comparative List of Usages
Acārānga, I, Ch. 9
अणेग, एगचरा, एगत, एगया, एगेसि,
पावर्ग; एगइया, कंटए, मूसिय, लोइय लोए, वियड
(-k
(no original -k-)
Medial - k- (मध्यवर्ती -क्- )
=-g- and -a-, -y-)
Isibhāsiyāim
अणेक, एक, एकत, एका, परलोक, पावक, मूसिकार एगग्ग, एगतो,
एगो
(-k
generally -k- and
-g- also but no -a--y-)
=
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अनुसंधान-१७.48 Ācārānga
Isibhāsiyain Medial -g. (मध्यवर्ती -ग्-) नाओ
णागो . (-g- - -a-)
(-g- = -g-)
Medial •j- (मध्यवर्ती -ज्-) तेओफासे
| तेजसं, तेजसा (•j- = -a-)
(-j- = --)
Medial -th- (मध्यवर्ती -थ्-) अहाकडं, अहासुयं
अधासच्चं, जधा; जहा
जहा (-th- = -h- only)
(-th- = mostly -dh- and
sometimes -h-)
Medial -d- (मध्यवर्ती -द्-) वित्तिच्छेयं, सया
सव्वच्छेदं, सदा;
इयाणि (-d- = -y-)
(-d- = mostly -d- and
sometimes -y-)
Medial -dh- (-47-) मेहावी, विविहं, विही, मेधावी, विविध, समाधि, अहियासए, दुविहं, समाहि अधियासेज्जा, दुविधा;
दुविहं, मेहावी (-dh- = -y.)
(-dh- = mostly -dh- and
sometimes -h-)
Medial -n- (मध्यवर्ती -न्-) अपु uniformly
अणु- mostly but sometimes अनु- also; medial -n- also. अनवदग्गं, अनिच्चाणं, निच्चानिच्वं
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अनुसंधान-१७.49
Ācāränga
Isibhāsiyāim (medial -n- = -n- uniformly) (sometimes medial -n- also)
Medial -p- (मध्यवर्ती -प्-) अइवाय-.
| अतिपातं (-p- = -y- uniformly) (sometimes -p- = -p- also)
Medial -t- (मध्यवर्ती -त्-)
Nouns (नाम-शब्द) अइ-(uniformly)
अति-(mostly) अइवाय--
-अतिपातं अरइ
अरति
रती
सीयपिण्डं
सीताहतो
Pronouns (सर्वनाम) एयं, एएहिं
एतं, एयं, एतेण
Nominal Suffixes (नाम-विभक्तियाँ) भगवया, मईमया, पुरओ अरहता, एगतो, पुरतो
Termination of Present Tense (वर्तमान काल का प्रत्यय) अइवत्तई, अच्छइ, गच्छइ, झाइ, | पवत्तती, अच्छती, गच्छति, लुप्पई, सेवइ
झाति, लुप्पती, सेवते; अच्छइ
कुणइ, गच्छइ Past Passive Participle (भूत कृदन्त) अइवाय, अहासुयं, अभिन्नाय, । अतिपात, विस्सुत, परित्रात, कप्पिया, गए,ठियं,विरए,समिए कप्पिता, -गते, ठितं, विरते, समिते, हयपुव्वो, हिमवाए
पडिहत, पातो; हयणायक (-1- = -y- and -a- but no] (-t- = -t- mostly and sometimes
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A
-89.50
It is not a thorough list of all the usages but some examples are given here to form a tentative idea.
The above comparative list of usages clearly indicates that the editor has adopted Mahārāştri usages only in the edition of the Ācārānga whereas he has given proper place to the archaic usages in the Isibhāsiyāim. Ācārānga is the earliest canonical text and therefore how could it have younger usages (of Mahārāstri) when there are archaic usages in the Isibhāsiyāim which is in no way a composition of earlier date than that of the Ācārānga. While re-editing the first chapter of the Acárănga' linguistically I had an opportunity to go through various Mss. of the text but there was no uniform elision of medial consonants as prescribed by the Prakrit grammarians. On this ground and considering the antiquity of the text as well as the liguistic form of the contemporary Pāli language and additionally the form of the language of the Asokan inscriptions of the East of the 3rd century B. C. did it not occur to Prof. Schubring that his edition of the Acãrãnga needs to be re-edited linguistically in the light of the linguistic form of the Isibhāsiyāim. I have no knowledge whether he has discussed this problem anywhere. If he has done so to clarify this odd situation I would like to have information about it from the indologists who are aware of it. Otherwise the language of the Ācārānga edited by Prof. Schubring becomes unauthentic and unreliable and the same rule applies to his editions of other Jain Amg. texts.
Further I would like to draw the attention of the indologists that his predecessor Prof. H. Jacobi had also edited the Acãrânga in 1882 A.D. but he has preserved all the medial (non-aspirate and aspitate) consonants wherever they were not found elided in the Mss. He did not make any attempt to standardize the language of the whole text either into Mahārāstri or Ardhamāgadhi when the latter of these two is said to be akin to Päli in the Preface to his edition of the Acārānga The question is why did Prof. Schubring prefer to distort the original Amg. into Mahārāstri Prakrit when the Jacobi's edition and the Mss. retaining the original medial consonants were before him. This situation
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________________ HET-89.51 is very odd and it requires a proper answer for the solution of the problem. Finally it would be worthwhile that Prof. W. Schubring's editions of Jain canonical works get re-edited linguistically, otherwise the form of the language of his editions does not seem to be correct and gives a distorted look. Foot-notes 1. See the glossary at the end of the Acaranga-Sutra, ed. W. Schubring, Leipzig, 1910. 2. See the fans #1 -4taa Tee-71, f. 37. p, mga FARA, 3harara, 1998. 3. See the H us, yen - Report, 794 37749, fam-2, pp. 32 to 46, comparative tables of usages in various Mss. (especially the usages from the Ms. from Poona which is consulted by Prof. Schubring but he has not adopted archaic usages from it.)