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THE COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE LANGUAGE
OF THE SATKHANDĀGAMA AND THE PRAVACANASĀRA
K. R. Chandra
Th Satkhandāgama' and the Pravacanasăraare regarded as 'senior' texts of the Siddhanta by the Digambara sect of the Jains. The dates of their composition are uncertain, varying as they do from early Christian centuries to sixth and eighth century A. D. Some scholars assign earlier date to the Satkhandāgama whereas others to the Pravacanasāra. The authors of the former work according to the commentator Vīrasena (A. D. 815) are Puspadanta and Bhūtabali, and of the latter, the illustrious Kundakundācārya. A study of the language of the above-noted two texts is attempted for deciding on the chronological priority of the one over the other. This study covers the PS fully whereas the SA's four parts of the ist volume are covered. The editors of these works in their Introductions, claim that their language seem to be of the earlier Christian centuries. I here propose to test the validity (or otherwise) of their claims through the study of the linguistic usages that are available in these texts. In the beginning, we will compare the main features of their language with that of the grammar of Sauraseni as quoted by Hemacandra'. (i) Initial and medial dental n-, --- -7 -7-), conjuncts-nn-(-)and -ññ-(-5), and conjunct of palatal nasal with a palatal consonant -nc- (3) are optionally quoted by Hemacandra in his Prakrit grammar, e.g. 712, fafel, af, 976 71, , 317, 3981, but in the śA and the PS there throughout is used. The cerebral nasal n., -n-, -nnand anuswara - for palatal (-ñ-) (ii) Hemacandrācārya prescribes the augment -ssi- (- -) for the future tense, e.g.
faftis, feta, etc. but in the PS we come across -ssa (-1) only, e.g. f ifa 7.70, sauf 8.44. (iii) The bhuv- and huv- stems of the root vbhū as quoted by Hemacandra, e.g. bhuvadi, huvadi are not traced in the SA and the PS. In the text of Ps, Upadhye at times has adopted words of the usage of Mahārāstrī when the variants in the MSS. are of the Sauraseni usage.
Pravacanasāra, Ch. I
Text
Verse no.
verse no.
२४,२५
56!
६८
(A) Text
अहिओ लोय सयलं
Variant
अधिगो लोग सकलं
क्
Variant जधा तध तधा
तह
8,8€ ५३,६८,७६
३४ -
तहा
थ्
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20
सहियं
अइसय
रयणं
सुयकेवलि त्
(B) Text
त्
त्
अधिक क्
पत्तेगं
क्
-लोग- क्
खाइगं
क्
घादि
मुंचदि
होदि
द
सहितं -दं
अदिसय
रदणं
सुदकेवलि
On the other hand one would find that at several places the readings of the Sauraseni usage have been adopted leaving out those of the Maharastri usage found in the same works (Mss).
त्
त्
Variant
अहियं
पत्तेयं
-लोय
खाइयं
K. R. Chandra
घाइ
मुंचइ
होइ
७६
१३
३०
३३
verse no.
2. Medial-k-is generally voiced and at time elided.
1. A tendency towards preservation of intervocalic consonants than that of elision.
3. Medial -g-retained
4. Medialt normally changed to -dat times dropped.
१९
6. Medial d- almost preserved, very scarcely elided.
३
१६
५०
१९
३२
३१
जइ
जदि
द् अहिओ ध् अधिगो
तिहा ध्
तिधा
लहदि भ्
लभदि
5. Medial th at times softened and also changed to -h-.
Text
कथं
जदि
सदा
अधिक
ध्
द्
ध्
चक्कधरा श्रृं
भू
अणुभवन्ति
अणुहवन्ति
When Upadhye is of the opinion that the date of Kundakunda, the author of the Pravacanasara falls in the beginning of the Christian era, then why are the Mahåråstri usages given preference in place of the Saurastri usages? This question remains
_unanswered.
Variant
कहं
जइ
सया
अहिय
चक्कहरा
I am at this junture tabulate what Upadhye and Jain's edited versions of the respective works show on the state of phonetic changes in the language of the texts of PS and SA':
PS: Upadhye
SA: Jain
Medial consonants are elided also.
Nirgrantha
६७
२४
३६
८१
often d for medial-t-.
Verse no.
५०
३१, ५०
२२
१९
७३
७५
-g- for medial -k- but it is often elided.
sometimes -th- = -dh- but often -h,
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Vol. III, 1997-2002
The Comparative Study....
Medial -dh- sometimes preserved but often changed to -h-.
7. Medial -dh- is normally preserved and at
time changed to -h-. 8. Medial -bh- generally changed to -h- at
times retained.
These findings reveal that phonetically the language of PS is of an earlier stage than that of the SA. A sample analysis of phonetic changes in the SA. and PS. by us : (A) Pravacanasara (=PS), Ch. 1 (Verses 1 to 92).
Medial Consonants (Nos.)
(Percentage)
Critical Remarks on Prof. Upadhye's opinion.
3
%
-- = -K
-8- -y-
58 %
1 19 13 15
Not fully correct because -k- is optionally voiced. Fully correct.
8- = -8
--
0
Fully correct.
-- = -t
-d-
-y- = -th-
dh-
-h- -d- = -d-
-y- -dh- = -dh-
162 40
0 5 13 22 0 4
39 % 100 %
0 %
3 % 78 % 19 %
0 % 28 % 72 % 100 %
0 % 28.5 % 71.5 %
13 % 87 %
Not correct because it is often changed to-h
Fully correct.
Incorrect because it is often changed to -hFully correct
-bh- = -bh
-h-
4 27
The above-cited analysis reveals that there are 52 instances of retention, 186 instances of voicing and 103 instances of elision of medial consonants, i.e 15% retention, 49% voicing and 36% dropping, hence, the elision is more than twice the retention.
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22
K. R. Chandra
Nirgrantha
(B) Satkhandāgama (SA), khanda 1, part 1, book 1 (sūtras 1 to 90).
(Percentage)
Medial consonants (Nos.)
-K- = --
Critical remarks on Prof. Upadhye's opinion.
2
It is mostly elided.
3(-) % 1.5(-) % 95(+) %
950 % 50 %
No comment
Fully correct
16
82(-) % 18(+) %
Scanty instances
1
0 % 100 %
No comment
32 % 68 %
-th- = -th
-h- -d-.-d
-y. -dh- = -dh-
h -bh- . -bh-
-b-
Fully Correct
51
2 31
0 16
6(+) % 94(-) %
No comment
0 % 100 %
The above-recorded analysis reveals that there are 113 instances of retention, 73 instances of voicing and 189 instances of elision, i.e. 30 % retention, 19.5% voicing and 50.5% dropping. In the PS the voicing is 49% i.e. 30% more than that in the SA but the dropping in the SA is 14% more than that in the PS. Analysis of morphological usages. Suffixes of Locative Singular PS.
SA. -T EY, FE PE, FEHT 89
-I 30, -f R. -fi 8
-fre is an archaic declensional suffix of locative singular which is nearly 25 % in the PS. whereas in the SA. its percentage is only 6. As far as the absolutive forms are concerned the - GU suffix is popular in the PS. and there is no -507 suffix in the PS. whereas Jain traces the absolutive forms with the - 370 suffix in the SA. Thus both on the phonological and morphological grounds we find that the language of SA. is of a later stage than that of the PS. in the evolutionary process of MIA dialects.
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________________ Vol. III, 1997-2002 The Comparative Study.... 23 Therefore the date of composition of SA. is younger than that of the PS. Thus Kundakundacarya happens to have lived a few centuries before the composition of the Satkhandagama. [As we have observed on Dr. Chandra's learned paper he contributed to the Jambujyoti where, too, these two works were involved in comparison, his analysis and, as its result, the date-determinations made can be valid only after removing the earlier verses incorporated in the Pravacanasara. -Editors) Annotations : 1. SA = Satkhandagama, Ed. H.L. Jain, Amravati 1939. 2. PS = Pravacanasara Ed. A. N. Upadhye, Agas 1964. 3. See Siddha-Haima-sabdanusasana, 8.4. 260, 261, 263, 269, 270, 274, 275, 277, 282 and 285. 4. The editor has made use of four works (as Mss A, P, C And K) containing the text and commentary in Sanskrit. These Mss are of the 19th and 20th century A. D. and they were copied from Mss of 15th 18th century A. D. While editing the PS he has not given preference to any work (Ms.) for adopting a particular texual reading. 5. "I am inclined to believe, after this long survey of the available material, that Kundakunda's age lies at the beginning of the Christian era". Introduction, p. 21, Pravacanasara. 6. PS "Intro.," pp. 106-120. 7. SA Vol. I, Book 1, Preface, pp. 78-87.