Bibliography Of Studies Connected With Avasyaka Commentaries

SR No.: 269496
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Klaus Bruhn
Publisher: Klaus Bruhn
Total Pages: 18
Language: English
Classification: Article
File Size: 2 MB

Page 7

Bühler would have marked an epoch in Indian Philology, - he would, indeed, have remodelled it by giving it a new and larger base, even if he had done nothing else than securing for scientific investigation the three thousand manuscripts that we owe to him." Refer for BÜHLER's work also to CAILLAT forthc. (ubi alia). Prof. CAILLAT's review includes several observations on contemporary publications: R.P. GOLDMAN, J.E. CORT, and the late K.W. FOLKERT. These authors had criticized in one form or another artitudes of Indological schools and Indologists. We fully agree with the objections raised by Prof. CAILLAT against the relevant theses. We would like to add that the difficulties faced whenever we want to analyze studies in attitudes are considerable. FOLKERT criticizes for example the tendency, found according to him with JACOBI and BOHLER, to regard the "non-ascetic features" of Jainism as "secondary accretions" (FOLKERT 1993: 104). A systematic analysis of such contentions and their relevance would require a terminological apparatus which is beyond the philological standard methodology. Besides, we must remember that scientific attitudes (patterns, premises, presuppositions, etc.) are "everywhere," so that a comprehensive study will have to throw light on the network of attitudes which is a normal element in many sections of the humanities. BOHLER had presented or sold "nearly 500 manuscripts" to the Royal Library in Berlin (LEUMANN 1898: 369; SPH 1892: VII-VIII). They included eight Āvasyaka manuscripts. The first scholar to examine Avaśyaka texts was therefore A. WEBER (1825-1901), who catalogued the Brahmanical and Jaina manuscripts in Berlin (ABC Nos:20-21) and described BŪHLER'S Jaina manuscripts in SPH 2.2 and 2.3 (1888 and 1892). The former volume (nos. 1773-1928) contains the Svetambara canon with the avafyaka manuscripts (nos. 1911-18). The eight Avasyaka entries occupy pages 739-806 of SPH 2.2 and give substantial information about the Av. Niryukti (no. 1913), about Haribhadra's Tikä on the Av. Niryukti (no. 1914), and about Hemacandra Maladhårin's commentary on Jinabhadra's Višeşāvaśyaka Bhäşya (no. 1915). WEBER had described the Av. Niryukti already on pp.50-76 of his study on the Svetămbara canon (WEBER 1885). But his treatment of the canon had been comparatively short, and the reader should also consult, along with WEBER 1885, the Avaśyaka entries of WEBER'S Berlin catalogue which appeared three years later.
$ 2.2. Ernst LEUMANN We now return to the subject of the Übersicht. WEBER was followed by ERNST LEUMANN (11.4.1859-24.4.1931) who wrote on p.ive of the Obersicht: "Schon 1882 in Berlin bemerkte ich bei meiner Beschäftigung mit den Jaina-Handschriften der Königlichen Bibliothek, daß die Avaśyaka-niryukti (der Svetambara-Literatur) eine besondere Beachtung verdiene." The Avaśyaka literature in all its strangeness, complexity, and immensity had been recalled to life. Nor was LEUMANN content to study the Berlin material which he had hit upon by chance, but rather he built up his "logistics" with amazing thoroughness. From different countries he procured a great number of Jaina manuscripts (Avasyaka manuscripts and other material), thus demonstrating that international cooperation could be launched without difficulty even in a little known field such as Jainology. The actual study of the Avaśyaka texts lasted from 1882 (supra) to 1898, the year when the Übersicht in its present form was printed. The reader will find the chronological details on p.iv of the Übersicht. In column IV', LEUMANN mentions the printed but unpublished materials:
"die Excerpte (p. 1-20) sind im Herbst 1894 gedruckt, die Lichtdrucktafeln (1-35) sind zur gleichen Zeit hergestellt, die Pratika-Liste (p.21-32) ist im darauffolgenden Winter gedruckt..."
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