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

Page 99

THE TEXUAL READING OF THE OPENING SENTENCE : THE UPODGHATA OF THE ĀCĀRANGA.
Thus, several such usages, like suta, pavedita, sāhita, būita, as also like bhagavatā, matīmata, etc., are found to occur in the First Śruta-skandha of the Ācārānga itself. From this point of view, the introductory sentence in the context should have been : 'sutam me āusamteņa bhagavatā evam akkhātam'.
In this very context, let us notice the usages found in the Isibhàsiyāim, which has been edited by Schübring himself. In this work, the use of the phrase, “ ... arahată isinā būitam' occurs with the name of the concerned seer, in the beginning of each and every chapter. Thus, the usage'arahata' occurs 43 times, that of 'büita^'37 times, and that of būiyam 7 times.
Compare with this the readings, in the Ācārānga, viz., bhagavayā.. akkhayan in the light of the one, viz., "arahata... buitam in the Isibhāsiyāim.
Veteran scholars have accepted the Isibhāsiyāim to have been as old as the four senior Ardhamāgadhī Āgama works, viz., the Ācārānga, the Sūtrakrtānga, the Uttarādhyayana and the Daśavaikālika. Why then should there be such a difference in the languages of these two works? From this point of view, the correct and archaic reading in the Acãrānga would have been 'sutaṁ me āusasteņa bhagavatā evam akkhătam'. And, this very reading is supported by the following readings from the Sūtrakstānga : (i) suyaṁ me ausamteņa bhagavatā evam akkhāyam
(2.1.638); (ii) suyaṁ me ausamtenam bhagavatā evam akkhātam
(2.3.722); and (iii) sutam me ausartenam bhagavatā evam akkhātam
(2.2.694).
So far as the question of the change of the medial dental 'n' to the cerebral 'n' is concerned, it should have been the former only, originally. The process of the change of 'n' to 'n' belongs to the period subsequent to the Christian Era, particularly prevalent mostly in the South, West and North-West In
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