Book Reviews

Author(s): J W De Jong
Publisher: J W De Jong

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REVIEWS
der ältesten buddhistischen Überlieferung", pp. 24-34). Bechert remarks (pp. 13-14): "It is highly probable that there is linguistic diversity already in the earliest tradition, so that there we cannot speak of one particular 'language of the earliest Buddhist tradition"." He adds that these views were already formulated by Mrsg. Lamotte in his Histoire du bouddhisme (Louvain, 1958, p. 608): "Il est naturel qu'au cours de ses tournées de prédication à Rajagṛha, Śrāvastī, Vārāṇasī, Vaisalī, Kausāmbi, etc., le Buddha ait enseigné les vérités saintes dans le ou les parlers en usage parmi les Magadha, Kosala, Kāsī, Vṛji, Vatsa, etc., parlers qui peuvent être considérés comme des variétés de la langue sainte' (aryāvāc) ou encore de la langue du pays du milieu' (madhyadesavac)." More than fifty years before Lamotte Ernst Windisch had written: "Wenn Buddha in Magadha die Mâgadhî sprach, so wird er sie doch gewiss nicht genau so wie ein Eingeborener gesprochen haben. Aber Buddha wanderte umher in weitem Umkreis und lehrte auch in Benares, Kosambî, Sâvatthî, Vesâlî. Er wird sich unwillkürlich überall mehr oder weniger dem Dialekte der Gegend angepasst haben" ("Ueber den sprachlichen Charakter des Pali', Actes du XIVe Congrès International des Orientalistes, I, Paris, 1906, p. 283).
Misprints are very few. The following have come to my notice. P. 8, Alsdorf passed away on March 25, 1978 (not 1975). P. 11, read E. W. A. Kuhn for E. A. W. Kuhn (also p. 24). P. 55, note 55, fourth line from below, read voir for voi,. P. 63, 7th line from below, read all for als; 4th line from below, read Buddha- for Buddhal. P. 89, line 2, read brāhmaṇassa for brāmanassa; line 22, read 'nor revile him' for 'not revile him'. P. 93, 5th line from below, read translation for translatiom. P. 96, line 12, read Varga for Verga, P. 101, line 4, read Samma-sambuddha-desitam for Samma-sambuddha-sesitam? P. 124, verse 302b, read dhanam for shanam? P. 125, verse 307, read Uv 11.10 for Uv 21.10. P. 140, line 22, read T.I.24 for T.I.2.
The contributions to this volume give an excellent idea of the complexity of the problems relating to the language of the earliest Buddhist tradition. It becomes more and more hazardous to advance an all-embracing theory based on a limited amount of information as has-so often been done in the past. The papers and the discussions show clearly that many more detailed studies have to be undertaken before it will become possible to construct a theoretical framework which does not do violence to the facts. We must be very grateful to Heinz Bechert for having organized this symposium and for having published the results with so little delay.
Australian National University
J. W. DE JONG
R. Ananthakrishna Sastry, Visnusahasranama with the Bhāṣya of Śrī Samkarācārya. Translated into English in the light of Sri Samkara's Bhāṣya (Adyar Library General Series No, 8). Adyar, The Adyar Library and Research Centre, 1980. XXX, 475 pp. Rs 40.00; AUS $7.00; US $8.00; £3.50.
Ananthakrishna Sastry's translation of the Visnusahasranāma was first published in 1901. A revised and enlarged edition appeared in 1926 and was reprinted in 1927. This new edition not only contains the English translation but also the Sanskrit text of Sankara's Bhāṣya. Ananthakrishna Sastry's translation has been revised by A. G. Krishna Warrier and A. A. Ramanathan.
Both the Visnusahasranāma and Śankara's Viṣṇusahasranamastotrabhāṣya are very popular works. Two recent editions are listed by Mario Piantelli in his Sankara e la rinascita del Brahmanesimo (Fossano, 1974, p. 291): Viṣṇusahasranama, with extracts of Sankarabhāṣya, edited by Svāmin Vimalananda, Tirupparaitturai, 1965, and Visnusahasranama, with the bhāṣyas by Sankarācārya and Parasara Bhatta, edited with English translation by K. E. Parthasarathy, Madras, 1966. Another translation was published by P. Sankaranarayana in 1978 in Bombay.