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 46

E. Leumann, An outline of the Avasyaka literature
p. 67 [2447] The unpublished additions to the Übersicht (Plutat 1998: No. 180) suggest that the reading tapobhrd is perhaps to be preferred to tapodhrd in verse 25, because the word tapodhrd is not attested otherwise.
p. 67 [24 57-58] "Prabhācandra's epitaph" is Leumann's article "Prabhācandra's Epitaph, the oldest Digambara Inscription" in Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes 7 (1893), pp. 382-384 (reprinted in Kleine Schriften pp. 275-277). It refers to the document which opens Lewis Rice's Inscriptions at Śravana Belgola, Bangalore, 1889. Some of the readings are corrected on the basis of the roman transliteration. One of these corrections is of consequence: "it offers a better exploration of the purport of the inscription. Its prose part now records two events that belong to entirely different epochs, viz. 1. the Jaina emigration to the south at Bhadrabahu's advice, 2. Prabhācandra's religious suicide by starvation on the hill Katavapra".
p. 68 [24 25-27] "The modern Bhadrabahu-caritra by Ratnanandin, which Jacobi has extensively dealt with and edited in ZDMG XXXVIII 9-42": this refers to Jacobi's article "Über die Entstehung der Svetambara- und Digambara-Sekten", ZDMG 38 (1884), pp. 1-42 (reprinted in Kleine Schriften, pp. 815-863). Ratnanandin's work, which contains 498 Sanskrit verses divided into four chapters, has a polemical intention. It was composed in the second half of the 15th century or the first half of the 16th century. A chronological indication is provided by the date sam. 1527 as the time for the rise of the Lunkamata. Jacobi's article provides a detailed analysis of the contents, followed by a critical edition of the text based on two manuscripts from the Deccan College. This contribution was supplemented by "Zusätzliches zu meiner Abhandlung: Über die Entstehung der Svetambara und Digambara Sekten", ZDMG 40 (1886), pp. 92-98 (reprinted in Kleine Schriften, pp. 857-863).
p. 68 [2429-30]: "Av.-niry. XVII" and the "five śloka-s, which list the 32 jogasamgaha" = verses 1274-1278 in the Indian ed. with Haribhadra's commentary.
p. 68 [24 n. *]: Padmamandira is the commentator on the Rṣimandalastotra. In this commentary he renders in Sanskrit verses the legends of the heroes whose names are mentioned in the Prakrit mūla. See, for extracts, Appendix pp. 358-364 in Sthaviravalicarita or Parisiṣṭaparvan... by Hemacandra, ed. by Hermann Jacobi, 2nd ed., Calcutta, 1932.
The unpublished additions to the Übersicht (Plutat 1998: No. 180) provide additional information about other Sanskrit versions of Sthulabhadra's biography, the most famous being the Sthulabhadracarita by Jayananda written around 1350-70 A.D. and read by Leumann through four manuscripts from Bhau Dāji's collection (i.e. Bombay Branch of the Asiatic Society) and from Poona. He gives an analysis of the relationship of this version with the Prakrit versions of the legend and concludes that Jayananda had at his disposal the Avaśyaka commentaries (but not the Uttaradhyayana tradition) and Hemacandra's Parisiṣṭaparvan. A short metrical analysis of the work is then given (śloka is the main metre, but other metres are found too). Prakrit is attested in one Apabhramsa stanza (the contents of which correspond to Parisiṣṭaparvan VIII 50) and in stanzas 279 and 579. A synoptic table shows the precise concordances between the Avaśyaka story, Hemacandra's version and Jayananda's version.
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