Jain Journal 1985 01

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 33

94
surprising that Dr. Jacobi also translates here vāsī as an adze. Explaining the word vāsimukha, he writes, "whose mouth is like a chisel or adze. There are many insects, e.g. the curculionedae which suit this description."28
JAIN JOURNAL
Here Dr. Jacobi clearly translates vāsī as a chisel or an adze. According to him, this translation is based on the explanations given by the Avacuri.29 Now a question may arise as to why Dr. Jacobi and the author of the Avacuri (to which he refers), despite their knowledge of the true meaning of the word vāsī, do not use it in explaining the phrase vāsī-candaṇa-kappo. The reason probably seems to be that because the word väsi used with candana, it might not have been possibly thought by them to comprehend the true meaning. Whatever the reason may be, it is certain that the word väsi denotes the tool of a carpenter, viz, an adze.
The word väsi has not only confused the commentators' mind but also seems to have puzzled the lexicographers.
(1) The eminent western lexicographer and a great Sanskrit scholar, Arthur Anthony Macdonell, in his Sanskrit-English Dictionary,30 gives the word vast without giving its meaning and keeping the space blank. This shows that either the author is totally unaware of the meaning of this word or he is not certain about its correct meaning.
(2) The Amarakoṣa,31 one of the most standard lexicon in Sanskrit, also does not give any information about vāsī. vāsī, f.v.
(3) In the Abhidhāna Cintamani,32 its author Hemacandracarya enumerates the synonyms of vāsī thus bṛkşavit takṣaṇī vāsī.
In his own commentary (Svopajña Tikā), Hemacandra gives the following etymology :33 vṛkṣān bhinatti vṛakṣabhit/1/ takşyate'nayā takṣaṇi/2/ vasati haste väsih, kṛsṛkuți (uṇā 619)/iti ṇidih dyām vāsī/3/
28 S.B.E., Vol. XLV, p.219, foot-note 4.
29 Ibid., p.219, note 1.
30 A Practical Sanskrit Dictionary with transliteration, accentiation and etymological analysis, throughout by Arthur Anthony Macdonell, pub by Oxford University Press, 1954, p.279.
31 Abhidhana Cintamani, Kanda III, v:581,
32 Ibid., with Svopajna Tika, ed by Hargovind Das and Bechardas, pub by Nathalal Laxmichand Vakil, Bhavanagar, 1914, p.367.
33 Ibid., p.83.