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all the known variants contained within the available manuscripts and compared them to the older stratum of the Ardhamagadhi texts. As the framework of his methodology he chose to:
• List the variant forms in the published text and its MSS. • List the Sutra numbers of each variant of a word. • List the frequency of each variant in MSS.
List the total number of each variant in all the MSS. List the variants of ksetrajna in the Sutrakrtanga. List the similar older forms from other older
Ardhamagadhi texts. • Compile a comparative list for final analysis.
Using this model as a typical case-study, Dr. Chandra concludes that this type of analysis demonstrates that isolated archaic word-forms preserved in manuscripts are suggestive pointers that can give us a glimpse of the original language of the texts
In conclusion, when one takes into account Dr. Banerjee's observations that inscriptional Prakrits and Pali should not be the only primary external-language models, and keeps in mind that the development of Ardhamagadhi sometimes shows a greater affinity with old Persian rather than classical Sanskrit, ontcan view the text as an integral first step in the linguistic re-editing of the oldest Ardhamagadhi canonical texts. O
Vaddamanu Excavations: 1981-85. By T.V.G. Sastri et al. i + 328 pp., figs 58. Birla Archaeological and Cultural Research Institute, Hyderabad, 1991.
Although difficult to obtain in North America, the Birla Archaeological and Cultural Research Institute's Vaddumunu Excavations (1981-85) is an extraordinary report well worth
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