Buchbesprechungen Comptes Rendus

Author(s): Johannes Bronkhorst
Publisher: Johannes Bronkhorst

Page 1

BUCHBESPRECHUNGEN / COMPTES RENDUS
Ludwig ALSDORF: Kleine Schriften. Nachtragsband. Herausgegeben von Albrecht Wezler. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1998. (GlasenappStiftung; Band 35.) - Pp. 1-VIII, 763-935. - ISBN 3-515-06366-8.
The Kleine Schriften of the Glasenapp-Stiftung do not only collect the articles of Indologists who are no longer alive. Occasionally volumes are dedicated to scholars who are alive and active. Supplements are then required to take care of work appearing later. The present Nachtragsband fulfils precisely this purpose. Ludwig Alsdorf's Kleine Schriften appeared in 1974, four years before his death. The present volume contains the six articles that Alsdorf was still able to write in those remaining years: "The impious Brahman and the pious Candāla", "Pali miscellanies". "Zwei Proben der Volksdichtung aus dem alten Magadha", "Das Bhüridatta-Jätaka. Ein antibrahmanischer Någa-Roman", and "Ardha-Magadhi" (not "Ardha-Magadhi" as in the "Inhaltsverzeichnis"). The "Inhaltsverzeichnis" (p. VII) incorrectly calls the second article "Pali Miscellanies: uddhamsara". The word uddhamsara is a subheading which covers only part of the article; the remainder has the subheading "Pali u <sa, upa and ud".
These articles cover 68 pages. Another 69 pages are filled with a reprint of Alsdorf's "Beiträge zur Geschichte von Vegetarismus und Rinderverehrung in Indien", originally published in 1962, and now out of print in its original version.
The volume contains a detailed "Register" - 1. Sach- und Namensverzeichnis (10 pages); 2. Verzeichnis der behandelten Wörter (2 pages): 3. Text- und Stellenverzeichnis (21 pages) - which covers both the original Kleine Schriften and the present Nachtragsband. It replaces therefore the "Register of the earlier volume. It is to be noted that the "Text- und Stellenverzeichnis" follows the order of the Indian alphabet, even where it enume rates non-Indian items: Bibel p. 928 (between Prithiraj Rasau and Buddhacarita); Chinese Tripitaka p. 919 (under aspirated ch); Tausendundeine Nacht p. 926 (with diphthong au); Nibelungenlied p. 927, Materialien zum Apabhramśa (Pischel) p. 929. The "Corrigenda" (p. 935), too, concem both volumes.
The preface by Albrecht Wezler draws attention to a work by Alsdorf, published in 1942 under the pseudonym Botho Ludwig. Indiens Weg zur