Gandhari Prakrit Version of Rhinoceros Sutra

Author(s): J C Wright
Publisher: ZZ_Anusandhan

Page 15

15 required pratyaya "an external cause' (Norman, op. cit., 244). The distinction that attested Gandhari orthographies make between prace'a = pratyaya and pracagabudha = pratyeka-buddha could be an indication that the confusion was restricted to Sanskrit (and hence also Jain Prakrit and Chinese) sources. The remarkable success of the rescue and conservation by British Library staff, and of the decipherment and reconstruction by the team in Seattle, holds a promise of yet more revolutionary insights into the construction and meaning of the earliest Buddhist texts, with opportunities to identify more certainly, and to appreciate more directly, the intentions and skills of the poets. ES PROFESSOR J. C. WRIGHT clo SOUTH Asia DEPT., SOAS, THORNHAUGH ST., RUSSELL SQ. LONDON WCIH OXG.