Outline of Avasyaka Literature

SR No.: 006911
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Ernst Leumann, George Baumann
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad
Publication Year: 2010
Total Pages: 256
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 9 MB

Page 15

Introductory essay and tools by Nalini Balbir
whereas the former is an amplified version. Nothing could be clearer than the subtitle "Mūlācāra VII: Die Digambara-Original der Avaśyaka-niryukti" opening the critical edition of the relevant text based on a Strasbourg manuscript, later confronted with a Berlin one. The commentary by Vasunandin, available in the Strasbourg manuscript, was used by Leumann as well, and is referred to at several places in the Übersicht. Since then, both the Mūlācāra and Vasunandin's commentary have been fully published in India, whereas a monograph has been devoted to the fifth chapter by the Japanese scholar Kiyoaki Okuda who worked in Hamburg under the inspiration of Ludwig Alsdorf. Moreover, in consistency with his global approach, Leumann also takes into account extraneous connected Digambara material such as Prabhācandra's commentary on the Kriyākalāpa (see below), non-narrative portions of Jinasena's Harivamsapurāņa (p. 54, 78) and later texts such as the Dharmāmsta (Sāgara and Anāgara) by Aśādhara (13th century; e.g. p. 40) which throw light on the Mālācāra. The critical edition of Mülācāra VII (as well as other textual samples available in the Übersicht) are as many building blocks for the overall structure. The layout of the texts and the care in noting the subdivisions (here "I-VI” corresponding to the six āvasyakas) or the strata (by having an indented layout for verses differing in their metre from the general pattern in use) are visual means to highlight both the structure of the text under consideration and its connection with the ensemble.
The plaidoyer in favour of acquiring Jaina manuscripts from India (see below p. II) resounds with some impatience, as the author is clearly convinced of the importance of the Digambara tradition for the history of Jaina scriptures without being able to show it clearly for lack of accessibility to the relevant material. On the other hand, the Übersicht contains an investigation of the Digambara ritual textual complex known as Kriyākalāpa which occupies a relatively important space in the book (pp. 36) and remains unequalled, at least in the West. In Leumann's perspective this is not at all an excursus or a digressive analysis, for the Kriyakalāpa offers components which make it belong to the ensemble of “Avaśyaka-literatur", containing as it does formulas connected with the "obligatory duties" and hymns, in a way comparable to Svetāmbara Pratikramana manuals. It is to be regretted, however, that the layout of the Übersicht is not always clear and does not prepare the reader for what he gets, namely a detailed study of the three components of the Kriyākalāpa: A. The Airyāpāthikī, B. The remaining Bhakti parts, C. The other hymns. The discussion proceeds in three stages and takes into account the four different recensions in which the work is known. First, it describes the contents of each three components in the four different available recensions evidenced by Leumann's material: two Devanāgarī ones, a Kanarese recension and the recension followed by the commentator Prabhācandra (probably from Southern, Kannara, origin). Then it concentrates on the distribution of material peculiar to these two latter recensions. Finally comes the
13 Shri Vattakeracharya's Mülāchāra (With Acharavritti, a Sanskrit commentary of Acharya Vasunandi Siddhantachakravarti). Edited by Siddhantacharya Pt. Kailash Chandra Shastri, Pt. Jaganmohanlal Shastri, Pt. (Dr.) Pannalal Jain Sahityacharya. Translated [into Hindi] by Venerable Aryikaratna Janamatiji, Bharatiya Jnanpith Publications, First edition : vol. 1, 1984 ; vol. 2, 1986. This edition is currently available. For references to older editions see Kiyoaki Okuda, Eine DigambaraDogmatik. Das fünfte Kapitel von Vattakeras Mülācāra, herausgegeben, übersetzt und kommentiert von K. Okuda, Franz Steiner Verlag, Wiesbaden, 1975 (Alt- und Neu-Indische Studien herausgegeben vom Seminar für Kultur und Geschichte Indiens an der Universität Hamburg 15), p. 34. Okuda's work is a continuation of the previous work done by W. Denecke in his unpublished thesis prepared in Hamburg and entitled Digambara-Texte. Eine Darstellung ihrer Sprache und ihres Inhalts (1922) which contains a detailed synopsis of the Mulācāra and the full text of its fifth chapter based on a Berlin manuscript.
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