Bhartrharis Familiarity With Jainism

SR No.: 269489
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jan E M Houben
Publisher: Jan E M Houben
Total Pages: 22
Language: English
Classification: Article
File Size: 2 MB

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languages. According to his explanation, "prakệti is the natural use of speech made by all beings of the world which is not refined by grammar etc.; that which is derived from this (prakȚti), or this (prakȚti] itself, is prāksta." After giving a different possible etymology for prākta, according to which it would be that which is created first (prāk kệta), Namisādhu goes on to explain how Prakrit and Sanskrit are in his view related: prāksta is the speech easily intelligible to children, women etc., and the source of all other speeches. It is of a homogeneous character like rain falling from the clouds. That same speech, being differentiated according to differences in place and on account of refinement, obtains the subsequent divisions into saṁskýta and other speeches. For this reason, the author [Rudrata) first mentions (in sloka 2.12 of the Kāvyālamkāra) Prāksta and then Saṁskṛta and other speeches. It is called Saṁskệta on account of being refined by Pāṇini and others, in the rules of their grammar."10 1.2.4 With this interpretation we would get a sensible alternative view on the permanence of sabda, suitable to the context of Bhartshari's enumeration. The prākstāḥ śabdāḥ are what we would call Prakrit words; the praksti from or in which they arise is the natural speech of the common people. The prākstāḥ sabdāḥ are in this view not derived but original, and may be considered permanent, not in an absolute, metaphysical sense, but in the sense that they are naturally spoken by common people. Finally, the non-eternal counterparts of these prākītāḥ sabdāḥ are the refined, sanskrta words regulated by grammatical rules, and other derived speech varieties. The view which thus comes to the fore is sufficiently distinct from the next view about the daivi vāk to deserve separate mentioning. 11
9 Namisādhu on Rudrata's Kävyālaṁkāra 2.12: prākṣteti sakalajagajjantūnāṁ vyākaranādibhir anāhitasamskårah sahajo vacanavyāpărah praktih, tatra bhavam saiva vā prakstam. (ed. R.D. Sukla, 1966:31; Cf. Acharya, 1968:40). 10 Namisādhu on Rudrata's Kávyālamkāra 2.12: prākstar bālamahilādisubodham sakalabhāsănibandhanabhūtar vacanam ucyate meghanirmuktajalam ivaikarūpam tad eva ca desaviseșāt saskārakaranāc ca samāsāditavišeșar sat saṁskytādyuttaravibhedân āpnoti / ata eva Šāstrakstā prākstam ādau nirdiştam tad anu saṁskstādini pāņinyādivyäkaranoditaśabdalakṣaṇena saṁskaranāt sarskstam ucyate (ed. R.D. Sukla, 1966:31-32; Cf. Acharya, 1968:40). Kavyālamkāra 2.12 enumerates different 'speeches' as follows: prāksta-samskȚta-māgadha-pisācabhāṣās ca sūraseni ca / sastho 'tra bhūribhedo deśaviseşād apabhraṁsah II 11 Neither the view that Prakrit derives from Sanskrit, nor the opposite view can do full justice to the linguistic situation in ancient India (cf. Pischel, 1981, 891-9, 16). By the time Namisädhu wrote
Jan E.M. Houben, Pune, March 1994 (pre-final version)
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