On Gatha 56 of Nalinikajataka

Author(s): M A Mahendale
Publisher: Z_Nirgrantha_1_022701.pdf and Nirgrantha_2_022702.pdf and Nirgrantha_3_022703.pdf
Catalog link: https://jainqq.org/explore/269026/1

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ON THE GATHA 56 OF THE NALINIKAJATAKA M. A. Mehendale While demonstrating verbal similarities between the Gathas of the Nalinikajataka (526) and the stanzas in the narrative of Rsyasonga' in the Mahabharata, Luders? compares Gatha 56 of the Jataka with the stanzas 1-4 of the Adhyaya 113 of the "Aranyakaparvan". The concerned Gatha runs asbhutani etani caranti tata viruparupena manussaloke / na tani sevetha naro sapanno asajjanam tassati brahmacari // The last of corresponding Moh. stanzas (3.113.4) starts with the line-asajjanenacaritani putra.... The meaning of the first three lines of the Gatha is clear : "These are evil beings, my child, who, assuming different forms, wander among men. A man of intelligence should rot associate with them." The fourth line of the Gatha offers difficulty. Luders has drawn attention to the verbal similarity between asajjanam of the Gatha and asajjanena of the Mbh. stanza. He rightly observes that in the Pali word asajjanam we do not have asajja, but asajjana. The next word tassati, according to him, is also possibly corrupt since there is a variant nassati. Now, the last line of the Mbh. stanza 3.113.3 reads papacaras tapasas tan na pasyet. Hence Luders opines that one would be tempted to read passati in place of tassati. The whole line, as emended by Luders, then reads as : nasajjanam passati brahmacari "one who observes chastity does not see (associate with a person of bad conduct." In this regard, however, one would differ from Luders. In the first instance, on the basis of tan na (pasyet) of the Mbh. stanza, he is required to add na at the beginning of the Pali line and read nasajjanam in place of asajjanam. Next, he is also required to look upon tassati as a corrupt form of the original passatis. All this can be avoided and one can yet get good meaning out of the line asajjanam tassati brahmacari. Luders? has pointed out that some words in Pali having an -am ending are not acc. sg. but abl. sg.. In his opinion -am was the regular abl.sg, ending in the eastern dialect of the original Buddhist canon. When this original canon in the eastern dialect was translated into western Pali, some of the features of the dialect of the original canon crept into the Pali translation. To the examples of abl. sg. in an (like dukkatam for dukkata Dhammapada 314, etc.) collected by Luders from Pali one may now add asajjanam. Treating this form as abl. sg. the line can be rendered as : "one who observes chastity recoils from a person of bad conduct." Annotations : 1. This is how Luders spells the word throughout in his article, and not as Rsyasrnga which is found in the critical edition of the Mahabharata.

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Vol. III, 1997-2002 On the Gatha.... 25 2. "Die Sage von Rsyasrnga", Gott. Nachr. Phil.-Hist. Kl. 1897, pp. 87-135. Reprinted in Philologica Indica (Gottingen, 1940) pp. 1-43. The comparison in question is found on p. 33 of Phil. Ind. 3. Phil. Ind. p. 33, footnote 1. 4. This was how the line read in the text of the Mahabharata then available to Luders. The reading of the Critical Edition is papacaras tapasas tany apapa. The line is printed in the critical edition with a wavy line below the last three words in order to indicate their doubtful authenticity. 5. As noted in the above footnote the text in the critical edition does not have na pasyet on the basis of which Luders emended tassati to passati. 6. That is only by reading asajjanam in place of asajjanam 7. Beobachtungen uber die Sprache des buddhistischen Urkanons, Berlin 1954, $8 188-195, pp. 138-143. One may specially note the use of abl, sg. with nivid- ($194) and bhi- ($195) with that of tas- (tras-). 8. The norma! Pali abi. sg. endings are -a, -asma, -ahma. 9. These are known as hidden "Magadhisms" (cf. Beob. Budh. Ur. p.7).