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...[446]...
Suttagame edition alone. Regarding the text of all the Agamas printed in Suttagame we can say as to how many are the places where the editor of Suttagame has either altogether dropped the reading or changed it, provided we compare the text of each and every Agama contained therein with the concerned text contained in old manuscripts. When the readers will study paragraphs No. 64-69 written under the headings of Examination of some of the readings of Prajñāpanäsütra', they will have a clear idea of what mischief he has played with the text of Prajñāpanasutra by either dropping the readings or changing them. So, we feel that he must have played mischief with the texts of other Agamas also. Though the state of affair is like this, the editor who has played mischief with the texts of Agamas has charged others with that unscholarly and unholy action. This is really wonderful! 9
We deem it proper to elucidate one point at this juncture. We have critically examined thousands of manuscripts of Agamas. Therein some learned and studious monks have added words or phrases, mostly on the basis of commentaries, simply to make the original laconic text easily understandable. For instances, one may refer to paragraphs No. 34, 44, 53 and 57, written under the heading, Examination of some of the readings of Prajñāpanāsutra'. Sometimes the manuscripts contain the interpolated readings which do not fit in the context. We have given the instances of interpolated readings of this type in paragraphs No. 4, 5, 10, 16, 17, 22 and 38 written under the above-mentioned heading. Study of these interpolated readings makes it clear that they might have been incorporated in the body of the text proper by the students who did not possess the thorough knowledge of the concerned subject. Again, at the end of a particular topic there occur in the body of the text proper recapitulatory verse (sangrahani gāthā). Sometimes it is from the pen of the author himself, sometimes it is borrowed from some other works by the author himself and sometimes it is interpolated in the body of the text proper by some learned monk after having composed it. In Prajñāpanäsutra there are instances of interpolated recapitulatory verses. Refer to the verse in lines 15-16 on page 26th. This is an interpolated verse. The sutra-portion containing the Pañcananamaskāramantra is also an interpolation. The two verses which occur in the beginning of Prajñāpanāsutra and contain the information about the author are again interpolation.
As we have critically examined so many interpolated readings,
9. In this connection one may refer to Pt. Shri Kalyanavijayaji's 'Paṭṭāvaliparaga-sangraha', p. 449.
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