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In Search of the Original Ardhamāgadhi
K.R. Chandra Ganadharas - immediate disciples or apostles undertake the task of arranging them in the sūtra - form, in the form of scriptures). If we remember this fact, we need not bother or worry too much about the nature of word forms--whether older or younger as both convey the original true meaning. Looked at from this point of view any attempt to restore old Ardhamāgadhi would amount to a futile exercise.
The above view is, it would seem, one-sided. The problem has another side too. From among the forty-five texts of the Jain Agama some like the Acāranga, Sūtrakstānga are decidely the oldest which retain older forms of the ancient Prakrit to a considerable extent. By adopting modern tools and methods of research and generally accepted principles of text editing we can fairly certainly hope to restore the ancient Prakrit - Ardhamāgadhī—in which Mahāvīra spoke and his immediate disciples-the Ganadharas-tried to preserve his discourses.
Dr.K.R.Chandra, a veteran Prakrit scholar, has devoted a number of years to a study in depth of this problem of restoration of the ancient Prakrit - Old Ardhamāgadhīin which Mahāvīra gave his religious discourses and his Ganadharas embodied them. In the work under review Chandra presents, after carefully applying the principles of restoration evolved by him, the restored text of Ayāramga 1.1 by way of a sample demonstration.
Chandra divides his work into the following six sections : Section 1 : consists of Introduction both in English and
Hindi. (pp.1-12) Section II: presents Comparison of the word-forms of
the text of Ācārānga with that of its various editions and manuscripts, other Agama texts
and older Prakrit texts. (pp.15-72) Section III : gives restored text of Āyāramga 1.1, on the
basis of available archaic word-forms. (pp. 75-156)
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