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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THE ORIGINAL ARDHAMAGADHİ FORM OF THE WORD "KŞETRAJNA' period (in the Western India) due to the regional influence, even then, if the reading 'kheyanna' occurs to a greater extent in the manuscripts of the later period, the original ancient form of the word used in the Jaian Agama texts must have been 'khettanna' only. From this view-point, the reading kheyanna' adopted by Schübring proves to be not proper, nor does the reading 'kheyanna' adopted by other editors. It is a point worth a special attention that among the readings that occur in the Cūrni, the use of 'y' in the place of 'ti' is rather rare.
When the word 'khettanna' passed through the stages of 'khedanna' (i.e. 't' + 'd') or ‘khedanna' (i.e. 'n + n) due to the linguistic changes occurring in the Prakrit, the original component 'kşetra 'of the basic word 'ksetrajña'was forgotten due to the ignorance of the original tradition, and it was taken to be rather 'kheda' and began to be understood in the sense (i.e. , 'grief' or 'fatigue') of the latter. The way in which the word 'mātra' changed to 'matta'. 'māta', - 'māya'; 'pātra' to 'patta', 'pāta' and 'pāya', and ātma' to 'ätta', - 'äta' and 'aya', in the same way the word 'ksetra' changed to 'khetta' → kheta → kheya'. Hence, the tradition of deriving the word from 'khedajña' is a later one', and not at all proper. However, Pischel (276) has given only the word ‘kheyanna', and as its Sanskrit equivalent ‘khedajña', but in the same place he has given 'matrajña' as the Sanskrit equivalent of the Prakrit word 'māyanna', then why not kheyanna should stand for ksetrajña.
The gist of all this investigation and analysis is that the original word in the Ardhamăgadhi was 'khettanna' only, which was related to the Sanskrit word 'kşetrajña' meaning 'the knower of the Self,' and not at all to the word 'khedajña'; this new equivalence is the contribution of a later period. With the process of linguistic change in the developments in the Prakrit language, under the influence of different times and places, the word 'khettanna' underwent many metamorphoses and took many forms, and all these have survived to this day in the different editions of the Acārānga. It is
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