Indian Antiquary Vol 59

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 116

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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[JUNI, 1930
the three gines the derivatives Intl. rii jast- and sittriku- are all found in vii, 12, and besides, rajas- occur in jii, 37, in its strictly philosophical sense ; but otherwise this use of the words tamas-, rajas-, and sattva- is limited to the cantos xii-xviii.69 On the other hand, prāna- occurs in xv, 14 and xviii, 33, while otherwise it is only found within the earlier part of the text. Likewise māyā, even in its later sense a word of Vedic origin, is met with in four verses in cantos iv and vii, while later on it occurs only in xviii, 61. Finally nirvanaoccurs only in vi, 15, and the compound brahmanirvīna- in ii, 72 and v, 24, 25—26 80; and swarga- occurs only in ii, 32, 37, 43 and ix, 21, together with the derivative asvargya- in ii, 2.61 It may be remarked that the word brahmaloka- does not occur within the Gītā, which seems to me strongly to confirm the suggestion of M. Przyluski concerning the original identity between this word and swarga.
Slight as are these discrepancies between the vocabularies of cantos ii-xi and xiixviii, they are not entirely without importance.
There seems to me to exiet another fact which has perhaps been slightly overlooked, but which also points to a certain discrepancy existing between what I venture to call the earlier and later parts of the present Bhagavadgitā. In i, 21 c-d, Arjuna speaks thus to Krsna :
senayor ubhayor madhye ratham sthapaya me'cyuta The reading me'cyuta, whatever be the text of manuscripts available at the present date, must be false ; for this verse belongs to the original epic text, and to its authors Krsna is not Acyuta, the Supreme God Vişnu.63 But the same word occurs also within the last lines of the Gitā, viz., in xviii, 73:
na to mohah smrtir labdha tvatprasiidan mayūcyula 1
sthito'smi galasamehaḥ korisye vacanam tava And it is easily understandable that from here the final redactor of the Cita transposed it to i, 21 63 ; for then Arjuna would be made to address the Supreme Being as Aciruta the first and the last time that he speaks to him within the Gitā.84
After these somewhat digressive remarks, let us follow, throughout the poem, the way in which Arjuna addresses his friend, in whom after some considerable time he is taught to behold the Supreme God. We shall then come upon the following list : i. 28: Krang ; 32: KRUG, Govinda ; 35: Madhusudana ; 36: Janārdana; 37 :
Madhava ; 39: Janārdana; 41: Krena, Vārmeya ; 44: Janīrdana. ii, 4: Madhusudana, Arisüdana ; 54: Kesava. iii, 1: Janārdana, Keśava ; 36: Vārmeya. iv, 4: bhavan, tvam.
V, 1: Kru. 59 Tumus. in viii, , simply darkness; nor is it in x, 11, used in its puroly philosophical sonce. In vi, 21, the epithet santa-rajas- means 'froe from passion' (rajas=räga.). Finally, sattua in ii, 45 and X, 36, is not used as a philosophical term, and in x, 41, it simply means 'being.
- 60 On brahma-nirvana and the ideas connected with it, cp. Senart, Album Kern, p. 104; Garbė, Bhagavadgitá, p. 65; Professor Steherbatsky, The Conception of Buddhist Nirvana, p. 4, n. 1 ; and M. Przyluski, Le Concile de Rājagtha, p. 367, n. 1. If svarga is long identical with brahmaloka, the world of Brahma' (cp. M. Przyluski. Le.. p. 368), then it seems clear that brahmanirvana, means simply the final calin in brahman': I venture to think that it is coined on Buddhist Nirvana and is meant to prove that that conception is nothing but a sectarian metamorphosis of brahman.
on Op. also the old-fashioned marjati- in ix, 20. Boehtlingk, Ber. d. sächs. Ges. d. Wiss., 1897, p. 11, coniectured svaryjo, instead of sargo, in v. 19; however, vii, 27, seems to me to prove that sargo should be retained. On the importance of svarga in the inscriptions of Asoka, cp. Senart, Inscriptions de Piyadasi, ii, 322 f.
62 Acyuta as a name of Vişnu-Krypa, of course, means the one who does not fall (cyre), i.e., who is not subject to the laws of metompsychosis.
63 Where the original text may have run somewhat like this: 8. U. m. ratha sthi paya kedavo (or madhava).
o cyuta also occurs in si, 42, which, however, is of 10 spocial importance in this connection.