Grammatical Riddles from Jain Works

Author(s): Nalini Balbir
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Grammatical Riddles from Jain works
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43. Cf. ha vinirgrahe according to Medini, quoted in the Amaravyakhyāsudhā
(information provided by Prof. P. S. Filliozat). 44. R. Birwé, introduction to sākatāyana's grammar (e.d. by Pt. Shambhu Nath
Tripathi. Kashi, 1971), p. 3. 45. This is Abhayacandrasūri's commentary, ed. by G. Oppert. Madras, 1893, p. 75;
the Amoghavrtti (ed. by Shambhu Nath Tripathi. Kashi, 1971) is more extensive. 46. The verse in point, clearly of Jain origin, is :
jayati jagadisa-mastaka-mani-kirana-kalapa-kalpitărgha-nidhi Jina-carana-kamala-yugalam ganadhara-gananiya-nakha-keśarakam (AC 5.301), identified by the editor as "sākatāyana Prakriya kā mangala padya" on p. 365. What the editor exactly means is not clear to me, since neither Abhayacandrasuri
nor the Amoghavrtti include this verse as their mangalas. 47. See F. Kielhorn, “On the grammar of sākatāyana", Indian Antiquary 16 (1887),
24-28 and "Die śākatayana-Grammatik", Göttinger Nachrichten 1894, 1-14 = Kleine Schriften, p. 246-250 and 276-289 (“jenes fast krankhafte Streben nach
möglichster Kürze", p. 285). 48. This variety of riddle is akin tocitrakāvya and can be best represented as a cross,
the centre of which is occupied by a syllable common to all the answers of the riddle. There is then one horizontal answer which can be read in both directions, a vertical answer which can also be read in both directions. A circular reading ending in the centre makes the last answer. E.g., in the present case :
na
ma
li
ni
na
1) malini/ nilima; 2) nalina / Nalina; 3) mánanīnam āli. There are several such instances in JP (32, 74, 143, 145, 152, 154), but this variety does not seem to have
been very popular outside this work, and the VMM does not seem to know of it. 49. See e.g., Kedārabhatta's Vrttaratnākara 1.8, Hemacandra, Chando'nušāsana 1.2. 50. See M. Kraatz's translation of VMM : "(Wenn) ein Rätselvers als Antwort den
Namen (seines) Versmaßes hat - das ist vrttanamaka benannt nach dem Versma". 51. Let us note, by the way, that this riddle is quored with its source in the Pali
grammar of the Burmese monk Aggavamsa from the 12th century : tathā hi Vidaddhamukhamandanatikāyām mālini ti padass' attham vadatā 'ma vuccati Lakkhi, alini ti bhamari' ti vuttam (Saddaniti. Ed. H. Smith. Lund, 1928, p. 244, lines 19-21).