Indian Antiquary Vol 43

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 22

18
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
(JANUARY, 1914.
I shall here try to put forth another interpretation of the word vigadabhi, which forms the main difficulty, but let me first say some few words concerning the name of the place of Buddha's birth, Lummini or Lumbini. That this name still survives in the present Rummindei, the place where Aboka's pillar was found, has been pointed out by Mr. Vincent A. Smith, and forms a strong proof for the correctness of the tradition. This word Rummin-déi means evidently the goddess (devi) of Rummin=Lummini', but it is by no means clear what Lummini is, and in what connection it stands to the Páli form Lumbini, etc. Speyer, V.0.J., XI, 22 ff., has suggested that Lumbini is a false form, and that Lummini is the right one, and represents Sanskrit Rukmini, name of the wife of Krsha. But I do not think this derivation very probable either in sense or from a linguistic point of view; for Rukmini is, as far as I know, never mentioned in any connection with Buddhist legends, and the instances of Krşhọa-worship in Eastern India at this time are rare and uncertain; moreover, Rukmini is represented in many passages of the Jaina canon, written in a dia. lect nearly akin to real Mâgadhi, by Ruppini. So all we could possibly expect from Aloka would be Luppiņi (or Ruppini), but not Lummini,* Rummini. The reference to Rummavati for rukmavati (Kuhn, Pâli-Gr. p. 46) does not help much, for the language of Asoka's inscription is undoubtedly old Magadhi, and not Páli. However, the various forms of the word in the Pâli-canon and other Buddhist writings do not encourage us to try a derivation from Rukmini.
The Nidanakatha (Ját. I. 52) has Lumbini; but the Sutta Nipata, III, 11, 5,-undoubtedly the oldest passage where the word occurs-gives Sakyana game janapade Lumbineyye.? This corresponds to what we find in Buddhist Sanskrit literature: Lumbini, Lal. V., ed. Lefmann, I, 78, 81, 91 ; Mahav. I. 99, 8; III, 112,9; and Lumbini Lal. V. I. 252, Lumbini-vana, Lal. V. I, 82, 96 ; Mahav. II, 18, 18; 145, 6; and Lumbini, Lal. V. I, 234, 411; Mahav, I. 149, 3; II, 18, 10, 12, 15; and Lumbiniya, Lal. V., ed. Calc., p. 92, 13. But besides we find a rather strange form in Mahâvastu, I, 99, 6, Lumbodyâna, which gives a word Lumba-, apparently connected, but not identical with Lumbină; and ibid. I. 99, 7 stands lumbini in a position which undoubtedly gives us the right to assume with Senart, ibid. I. 453, that it is not a nomen proprium but merely an adjective. So we must perhaps think that Lumbini should be derivated in some way from this lumba, which may be the simple word. Now we find in Hala, 322, a word lumbis, which means, no doubt, valli or lata 'a creeper'; and also a cluster, bunch of flowers, tuft,' for He-m. Desin, 7, 28, explains lumbi by stabako latâ cha and there is no reason not to presume that lumba-, may have the same meaning. If then lumba-, lumbi, means ' a creeper' or a cluster of flowers' lumbinî would stand beside it just as kumudini, 'a place where waterlilies grow,' puskarini, a lotus-pool,' etc., stand beside kumuda, puskara, etc., and it would mean'a place where creepers grow,' 'a wood, a thicket of creepers,' or perhaps, a place where are clusters of flowers'' a forest of flowery trees' and this would be the real sense of the name Lumbini, also called Lumbini vana. This means, of course, that Lumbini, and not Lummini is the real form ; but we must remember that the Sutta Nipata, a text certainly older than the inscription, has only Lumbineyya, and, moreover, it seems to me much more probable that Lummini may be a local dialect-form from Lumbini than that the latter word should be a false translation from the former one.
So far for Lummini; I now return to the much-discussed word vigadabhi. Pischel, supported by an overwhelming mass of philological evidence, has suggested that silavigadabhi
3 Ante., XXXIV, 1 f. • Windisch, Buddha's Geburt, p. 6 n., refers to Speyer's suggestion, without wholly approving it. * Plschel, Pkt. Gr. $ 277.
& Other instances are rumma visin, Ját. 497, 8.1, rumma-ripin ibid. g. 22 and rummin, Jde, 489, 8.18 : of. Morris, J.P.T. S. 1891-93, p. 12 f.; Charpentier, Z. D.M.G., 63, 173 n. 4.
1 Game and janapade must change place according to Oldenberg, Buddha; p. 423, n. 1.
The MSS. have also other readings which seem, however, to be merely attempts to explain the word lumbt which was not thoroughly understood.