Some Observations On Manuscript Transmission Of Nyayabhasya

SR No.: 269206
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Yasutaka Muroya
Publisher: Yasutaka Muroya
Total Pages: 42
Language: English
Classification: Article
File Size: 5 MB

Page 26

Journal of Indological Studies, No. 18 (2006)
somewhat convincing evidence for accepting the reading of MSSA, T and the Jaisalmer ms.; moreover, the optical confusion of śca with cca (for example, in Saradă script) should be regarded as one of the major causes for the textual corruption in MSSB. However, further examination of Vātsyāyana's usage of adhikarana and adhikara is required.
The divergent readings adduced and discussed above as representative of the two groups of mss. are only samples of other instances known to us. As already mentioned, the discussion of further variants found in the two traditions of transmission is beyond the scope of the present overview. Although it can be said that in general MSSA and MSSB read rather closely, there are some noteworthy cases where their divergence does not concern trifling variants, but rather affect the basic understanding of the text, as seen especially in the fourth and fifth examples presented above. These instances indicate that the transmission of the text in MSSA enjoys more support from secondary testimonies as well as from the Jaisalmer and Trivandrum mss. than the transmission in MSSB. The designating of MSSA as the "better" group that preserves more original readings is, in my opinion, premature. In the above I have merely adduced some evidence which suggests that these two groups may reflect two separate streams of the textual transmission of the NBh. Further examination beyond the trisütribhāsya is required. It is furthermore to be noted that MSSA play a significant role in evaluating the variant readings found in the Jaisalmer ms. and often support them.102
4.2 The relation of the Jaisalmer and Trivandrum manuscripts
In the previous section, a substantially positive aspect of Thakur's two editions has been brought out, namely, that they allow us to show that the phenomenon of the striking deviations of the Jaisalmer ms. from the printed editions should not be understood as mere evidence for the ms.'s peculiar identity, and that the only apparently isolated variants of this ms. are indeed shared by a whole group of primary testimonia that have not been considered until now, namely MSSA.
In this section, attention will be paid to another aspect of the Jaisalmer tradition, and instances provided which show that some deviations of the Jaisalmer ms., as reported in Thakur's two editions, find, from among the primary witnesses, their only support in the Trivandrum ms. Such instances of mutual agreement, complete or partial, can frequently be noticed in the Trivandrum ms. Although they cannot exhaustively be mentioned within the scope of the present article, a few instances of this agreement should suffice to demonstrate the point.
102 Another tendency that has been observed so far may be pointed out, namely, that the transmission of MSSB is closely reflected in the readings in the printed editions. It is rather probable that most of the printed editions are based upon the mss. pertaining to the recension of MSSB.