Agam 01 Ang 01 Acharanga Sutra

Author(s): K R Chandra, Dalsukh Malvania
Publisher: Prakrit Jain Vidya Vikas Fund Ahmedabad

Page 304

Ayāramgasuttam edited by Prof. H. Jacobi, 1882 A.D.
Though late but fortunate to get a copy of the Ācārānga, Part I cdited by Prof. H. Jacobi' who cdited it on the basis of a palm Icaf MS. A of 1292 A.D. and a paper MS. B of 1442 A.D. He consulted a number of other MSS. (all of latcr date) but they did not differ much, therefore he did not think it advisabe to note down variants from them.? According to him MS. A at times retains original mcdial consonant whereas MS. B prefers a substitute. In his text medial consonant is retained provided both thc MSS. agrce and if one of them drops medial consonants then an italicised letter is used e.g. *vadati' is printed if both give this reading and if one of them has 'vayai' then ‘vadati' is printed. An italicised h indicates that one of thc MSS preserves the original aspiratc.
His text of the first chapter is reproduced here in its original form. It reveals that Prof. W. Schubring did not follow him verbatim and he dropped the medial consonants in consonance with the rules of Prakrit grammars composed at a very late age, i.c. almost 1000 years after the composition of the earliest and oldest parts of the Amg. canonicat works.
Jacobi's text has its own merits for us as it preserves archaic readings which arc in cnsonance with those of this linguistically reedited text and it authenticates the contention of Āgama Prabhākara Muni Sri Punyavijayaji that in the Amg. Prakrit mcdial consonants were not dropped so often as it is done in the case of Mahārāștri Prakrit.
The method of Prof. Jacobi is worth commenadable in the sense that he has donc grcat service in prescrving the archaic nature of Amg. at least by taking note of older forms wherever they were available in contrast to Prof. W.Schubring who avoided noting down such variants in the text of Ācārāṇga edited by him and that way one is at loss in discovering the real archaic nature of the language of ancient Jain canonical works.
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Published by the Pali Text Society, London, 1882 A.D. See Preface, page, No. 4 of his Ayārāmgasuttam. The author of this book is very grateful to Prof. J.C. Wright, SOAS, London for his kind gesture to supply the Xerox of the text. See pp. XVIII - XXV of this edition.
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