Indian Antiquary Vol 35

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 10

THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
(JANUARY, 1906.
flame : Koţigarbhaprabha ?) meou-ni (muni) ... ;in China (Tchen-t'an) Na-lo-ye-na-fo-lo-po80 (Nārāyana-prabhāsa ?) meou-ni (muni) .....; at Khotan (Yt-t'ien) on the steep banks of the river near mount Nicou-t'eou (cow's head : Goçirga) Kine-mo-po (var-so]-lo-hiang (Gomasālagandha)."
This list is evidently parallel to that of the Avatam saka ;s the only notable divergence bears on the very name we are studying. Where Çikşānanda writes Chou-le (Kashgar) or Buddhabhadra writes Pien-yi (the border-bar barians), the translator of the Suryagar bha writes Yu-t'ien (Khotan). The divergence is the more surprising as the details agree all round (548). Whether it be a question of Kashgar or the border-barbarians or Khotan, the consecrated locality is always the Cow's Head" (Gocirşa). The difference between the three interpreters can only be explained by admitting a common original capable of three interpretations.
The value of Houei.yaan's forinula is then most clearly evident. In the new translation of the Avatamsaka he meets with an expression which, compared with the ancient version, looks alarmingly like an arbitrary invention. Why Chou-le when Buddhabhadra said Pien-yi? The correct name is K'ia-lou-chou-tan-le, replies Hodei-yuan. Well and good, but why Chou-lé rather than Pien-yi? In reply to this question (549] Houei-yuan then gives the venturesome etymology that sends a shudder through such severe philologists as M. Pischel and M. Franke. Nothing is more simple, adds Houei-yuan, with the calm assurance of etymologists who have not studied Comparative Grammar ; Chou-le is derived directly from K'ia-lou-chou-tan-le (a derivation recalling cadaver from caro data vermibus). You can see quite well how Chou-le is a faithful translation of the word in the Sanskrit original.
We know now whence comes this mysterious Kia-lou-chou-tan-le, which could not have fallen from heaven. Houei-yuan had simply taken it from the Sanskrit text at his disposal, whether it were that he reproduced a note justificative of the translator Cikşānanda or himself invented the etymological explanation pat forward. At the same time, the name Kia-lou-chou-tan-le retreats into the past as far as the distant epoch to which the Avatamsaka-sutra belongs. We shall succeed in fixing the data, but before undertaking this new research I ought to submit anew to verification the transcription I have proposed for K'ia-lou-chou-tan-le: Kharoetra. M. Franke, who has discussed it, has not disputed its phonetic exactness, but, taking his stand on the etymology of Houeiyuan, who could hardly have expected the honour of being taken seriously so late in the day, he has proposed two other restorations of the Sanskrit form : Kaluşāntara, Kaloşadhara ; and M. Pischel has suggested yet another: Kaluşottara.
These restorations of M. Franke, supported by the authority of M. Pischel, mark & regrettable step backwards in science. It is forty-three years since Stanislas Julien founded the étude positive of transcriptions and published a Méthode pour déchiffrer et transcrire les noms sanscrits qui se rencontrent dans les livres chinois (Paris, 1861). The work is not perfect; the materials brought together demand, at the present day, more rigorous classification ; bat, such as it is, it would have rendered it annecessary for M. Franke to have recourse to fanciful combinations. The [650] character Kia occurs there [No. 570-No. 575], and in all the examples it represents the aspirated guttural of the Sanskrit. No sound is more sorely established, and it is easy to add to the examples given by Julien. I will refer the reader in a general way to the Index of Hiouen-tsang, and content myself with quoting transcriptions borrowed from works less widely known. The Japanese Dictionary of the Dhäranis (To-lo-ni treu-tien) gives, among others, the following: -k'ia, translated the void = kha; k'ia-ni-ye-to-kia, translated fire-fly = khadyotaka; k'ia-tch'a, translated bed = khata ; L'ia-ngo-tche-lo-na, translated flight = khagarana (corr, khacaro); li-k'ia, translated letter = lekhā, and t'ia-lo, translated ass=khars. The Fan-yu-tsien-tseu-wen or Thousand Sanskrit Words of I-tsing makes (p. 47) k'ia-lo represent the Sanskrit word which translates ass (=khara), whereas
• See the Special Note B on page 19 below.
• See the Special Note Con page 21 below.