In Search of the Original Ardhamagadhi English Translation

Author(s): K R Chandra, N M Kansara, Nagin J Shah, Ramniklal M Shah
Publisher: Prakrit Text Society Ahmedabad

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In Search of the Original Ardhamāgadhi K.R. Chandra
Dr. Chandra has tried to take us one step nearer the Jina Vacana. His method is realistic. He has taken the best available edition of the Ācārārga, viz. of Mahāvira Jaina Vidyālaya, Mumbai (1977) as the basic text. It also contains some new AMg., i.e. pro-Maharaştri forms. He substituted them with old AMg. forms culled from ancient (senior) AMg. texts like Sūtraktäriga, Rși-bhāṣitāni, Uttarādhyayana. He did not try to emend the text as per his discretion. Thus the restored text appears like one excavated at Vaiśālī or some other ancient site in Magadha. He has given us an alphabetical list of such words utilised by him (Part V, pages, 167195), a tabular statistical statement of phonological changes in AMg. (See part IV, Pages 157-166) and he modestly states that this statistic table shows general tendencies in soundchanges in old AMg.
The most interesting part is his word to word comparison of his restored text with that in the editions of W.Schubring (1910), Agamodaya Samiti (1916), JVB.Ed (1974) and MJV.Ed. Mumbai (1977).
Any unbiased scholar will concede that the restored text presents the ancient AMg.(Part VI, pages, 198-269), as compared with other editions of the Ācāranga.
It is not feasible to discuss the phonological, morphological and syntactical characteristics of old AMg. in the context of the present work.
I think the Amg. forms traceable to Vedic Skt.rather than to classical Skt. may be regarded as original or older AMg. forms. Thus forms like adhe in adhe disāto, adha, idha, Aorist forms like ahesi, ähaṁsu, akarissaṁ can be accepted as old AMg. Pischel in his Grammatik der Prakrit Sprachen (516,517 & 518) has given Prakrit derivatives of Skt. past Imperfect and Perfect.
On the basis of his variants from various old AMg. texts Dr. Chandra notes the following characteristics of old (or original) AMg.:
(1) Retention of initial and medial dental nasal n, the change of in, ny, nn to nn. For example :
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