Indian Antiquary Vol 21

SR No.: 032513
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 430
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 17 MB

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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[APRIL, 1892.
I have been able to discover no further information that would prove the connection of nandi and anuoga with the painna group. The lists and MSS. of the painna group, which I possess, pay no attention to these two texts, [431] and limit the pažnnas to a smaller number, generally to ten.
The enumeration in the Ratnasagara (Calc. 1880) is as follows:-chausaran (1) 1, samthára (4) , tamdula (5) 3, chamdavijjiyâ (! 6) + gañavijjiya (! 8) 5, dévavijjiyâ virathuva (10), gachhayâra s, j(y)ôtishkaramda y, malápachchakkhâna (9) 10. Three names found in Bühler's list (2, 3, 7) do not occur here. To compensate for this omission there are 3 texts mentioned, of which one, No. 6, is quite anknown; the second, No. 8, is found in the V., and the third, No. 9, is referred to even in Åvi. among the païnnas.
In the enumeration of Rajendra Lala Mitra and of Kashinath, see pp. 226, 227, we find the list of Bühler (arranged 1, 2, 3, 9, 5, 6, 8, 7, 4). No. 10 isomitted and replaced by marana. Samabi, the acquaintance with which name we had already made in Avi. and V., and which here occupies the eighth position (between 8 and 7).
I possess a MS. of the dasapainnas which contains a recension varying from that given in Bühler's list. The first page having disappeared, a page which does not belong there has been inserted in its place. It is, therefore, doubtful whether the first part is chaüsaraṇam (1) or not.12 The arrangement of the following parts is (2, 3, 4, 8, 6, 9,43 5. Instead of 7 we have the gachhayara, [432] which we find in V. (see p. 429) and Ratnasagara (p. 431); but there is nothing to compensate for the omission of 10.
The foregoing considerations prove conclusively that it is a matter involved in uncertainty what texts really belong to the painna group, a fact that must be held to render this secondary character a matter of great probability. All that can be drawn from the contents of the present 10 païnnas makes for the same conclusion.
A considerable portion of the 10 païnnas refers to the proper sort of euthanasy, the confes. sion necessary for this end and the abjuration of everything evil. Several portions, however, treat of different subjects, viz. : - 5 physiology, 7 mythology, 8 astrology, 10 hymns. That portion which is of mythological content recalls the Atharvaparibishta, though the Atharvaparisishta must precede the pažnnas in order of time, since the latter contains the Greek terms hori and dikkaņa.
It is difficult to give a review of the contents of most of these small tests, since we possess no commentary. The character of some portions (1, 5, 6-8) is very dissimilar from that of others; 6-8 are of a similar type, which marks them out as a separate inter-dependent group. A peculiar characteristic of this group is that the author speaks of himself in the first person, and addresses his listeners in the plural cr singular. In No. 7 a woman is the object of his instruction; and this païnna has a special claim to antiquity since it is said to be identical with the isibhásiyaim mentioned in angas 3 10 4,44! See p. 429. It is, however, possible that another text (433] of the same name is there referred to. In the summary which I now give I follow the extant usual list of the 10 païnnas which is found in Bübler.
XXV. The first païnnam, chaüsaraṇam, chatuḥbaranam; in 63 vy. The first seven verses refer to the shadivaśyakam, the six daily duties necessary for the purification of life. See above pp. 161 , 244.
42 Though the extent of the chaüsarana with its 63 gåthis, appears to be very large for one leaf, it is, nevertheless possible that the missing leaf may have contained this part, since this MS. has upon each page 19 lines of 74 aksharan so that the 2,800 akshards of the front and reverse side would be entirely sufficient for these 63 gåtbils.
19 No. 9 has here not 86 but 31 verses.
" The first verae reads: skvajjajógaviraf ukkittaņi gunavao ya padivatti khaliyassa nimadaná vanatigichchhs gunadhArun cheval It recurs in similar form in the Anuyôgadivaras, ete.