Book Reviews

SR No.: 269680
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: J W De Jong
Publisher: J W De Jong
Total Pages: 24
Language: English
Classification: Article
File Size: 3 MB

Page 15

REVIEWS
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National Archives in Kathmandu (MS B). The two other manuscripts (MSS P and T) are copies of MS B. Manuscript B comprises 335 leaves, but the following leaves are missing: 22—36, 250-262, 265–272 and 301-320. The text as edited comprises 50 chapters and 9277 stanzas, whereas the complete text consisted of 52 chapters and about 11,000 stanzas. The MJM is not an original work, but is based upon older texts which were used by the compiler. In his introduction, Hahn gives a general characterisation of the MJM and indicates the sources used. The main sources used by the compiler were the Karunāpundarīka, the Jātakamālās of Aryaśūra, Haribhatta and Gopadatta, and the Subhāṣitaratnakarandakakathā. Chapter 49 is based upon a version of the Manicūda legend. The contents and sources of the MJM are studied in detail by Hahn in the fourth section of his introduction (pp. 22-66). In the previous section, 'Zur Einordnung der MJM in das Genre der buddhistischen Erzählungsliteratur' (pp. 10–22), he describes the development of Buddhist literature from the Avadānaśataka and Karmaśataka (first century A.D.) up to Kșemendra's Bodhisattvāvadanakalpalatā (11th century A.D.). Of particular interest are Hahn's remarks on the Jātakamālās of Haribhatta and Gopadatta, on which texts he has published several important studies. The same section contains a bibliographical survey of the medieval collections of Buddhist literature which have been preserved in Nepal. Hahn remarks that “Dieser Komplex der mittelalterlichen buddhistischen Erzählungsliteratur ist noch weitgehend unerschlossen und daher bezüglich vieler wichtiger grundlegender Fragen ins Dunkel gehüllt.” To the bibliographical information on the Kalpadrumāvadānamālā, one can add an edition of chapter 25 ($addantāvadāna).
As mentioned before, chapters 4 and 5 were edited by Lang but only on the basis of one manuscript (MS P). Two chapters have been edited by Ratna Handurukande, chapter 45 and chapter 49. Her editions are based upon the same manuscripts as those used by Hahn. Handurukande is more inclined to correct the readings of the manuscripts, whereas Hahn only rarely proposes corrections in his notes. In his edition of the text, Hahn adds between brackets missing aksaras, such as anusvāra-s and visarga-s. In several instances Hahn seems to have been more successful in deciphering the readings of his manuscripts. In a few instances the readings given by Handurukande are preferable, as, for instance, in 49.12: bhaveyam (Hahn: bhaveya) bhūpatih, and in 49.20: samcareyam (Hahn: samcareya) jagaddhite. It is, of course possible that the anusvāra is not found in the manuscripts, but in that case it ought to have been added between brackets.
Hahn's careful edition of the MJM makes known an interesting specimen of medieval Buddhist narrative literature. In his introduction Hahn