Indian Antiquary Vol 62

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

Page 150

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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[JULY, 1933
Uttaratantra, the fifth of the five treatises ascribed ! Bengal who lived and wrote in the time of Lake. to tho Bodhisattva Maitreya, with commentary by manasena (twelfth century A.D.). The references are Aryasanga (fourth-fifth century A.D.).
interesting de indicating the spread of Buddhist In vol. XI, Pts. i and ii, M. Obermiller similarly culture at the period, and also because, as the writer' presents & translation of the fourth of those notes, quotations from Buddhist works are weldoni treatises, the Abhisamayalurkára.
to be found in the commentaries on the classical The first of these treatises ascribed to Arya poems, grammars and lexicons. Maitreya, the Sutra-lamkara, was edited and trans
The much-debated question of the origin of Zara. lated (1911) into French by M. Sylvain Lévi from @
thuštro is the subject of another paper by O. G. von manuscript brought by him from Nepal. The second Wesendonk, who, while drawing attention to avail. and third treatises, the Madhyanta-vibhanga and the ablo evidence and the more recent views expressed Dharma-dharmaid-vibhanga, remain to be translated.
by others, comes to no very definite conclusion. The Uttaratantra is perhaps the most interesting of
He thinks it may be regarded as not at all unlikely all five, as containing an exposition of the most
that Zarathuětra, though his field of work lay in doveloped monistic and pantheistic teachings of the
eastern and north-eastern Irån, was a Mede; and later Buddhists and of the special theory of the
that all that can be said with absolute certainty as Essence of Buddhahood, the fundamental element
to his epoch is that his activities long preceded the of the Absolute, as existing in all living beings.
establishment of the kingdoms of the Medes and M. Obermiller is to be warmly congratulated upon
Persians. the appearance of these two translations, which place students of Buddhism under a deep obligation
In another article on "The Morphology of Sansto him. The work has been adinirably performed. krit,' which will appeal chiefly to students of lin. and we only wish that it (and perhaps certain other guistics, Max Walleser concentrates attention on the volumes of the Bibliotheca Buddhica) could be made
CARO of the locative sing. mase. neutr., citing a large available to scholars at smaller cost.
number of suggested parallels or examples from Zeitechrift für Indologie und Iranistik, IX, Pt. 1,
Various Asiatic and eastern European languages. 1932.--Among the papers in this number is one in
The question raised as to the use of particles to which Th. Zachariao cites and comments upon a
specialise or individualise the purely verbal concep. number of quotations from Buddhist Sangkrittion merits research in other families of languages. texts in the works of certain commentators of
C. E. A. W.O.
BOOK-NOTICES.
JAINISM IN NORTH INDIA, 800 B.C.-526 A.D.,
by CHMANLAL J. SHAX, M.A. 11+71. xxiv+ 292 pp. 26 plates and two mape. Longmans, 1932.
In this work, a thesis submitted to the University of Bombay for the degree of Master of Arts and which appears as No. 6 in the series of "Studies in Indian History of the Indian Historical Research Institute " the author disclaims any pretensions to discoveries of his own or to having in any way ex. tended the limits of oriental scholarship or research. What, however, he has done with considerable success is to follow, in the form of a continuous history, the fortunes of Jainism for some thirteen hundred years. To this history he sets two limits, one geographical, the other chronological, dealing with north India only and not beyond 526 A.D. when the list of canonical works was finally drawn up by the Council of Vallabhi. In his introduction the author points out the neglect that Jainism, despite its antiquity, had suffered at the hands of orientalists, but acknowledges how interest in that religion has been stimulated by the works of Jacobi, Bühler, Hoernle, Charpentier and Thomas. He discusses the question of the founder of the religion
and accepts the view of Jacobi that Mahavira was not that founder. He considers that the historicity of Parsva is undoubted and that he lived, in all probability, about 800 B.C. He then sketches the historical background and political conditions in the time of Mah&vira, recounts the main incidents of his career, and details the basis of his teaching and the principal Jaina tenets. There is no minimizing of the schisms which rent the early church, and a brief account is given of the principal schismatics and of the epoch-making division into the Svetâm. bara and Digambara sects. To the vexed questions of the cause and date of this separation the author contributes nothing new, but points out that the idea that this occurred about the end of the first century A.D. is not entirely supported by the Mathura sculptures. In reviewing the relationship of the Jainas with the rulers of northern India from 800 B.c. to the end of the Mauryan period ho endeavours to prove that they were generally either Jainas themselves or entertained friendly feelings towards that faith. The tradition that Chandragupta (Maurya) became a Jaina towards the end of his life is accepted, and the plausible suggestion is offered that the silence of the