Jain Journal 1998 10

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

Page 48

BANERJEE : RESEARCH IN SANSKRIT AND JAINA LITERATURE
79 gives the Prakrit roots where he has consulted mainly the roots of Vararuci's Prākrta-Prakasa and Kramadiśvara's Prakrit Grammar. These two works are such that they are regarded as complement and supplement to each other.
Then followed the editions of Prakrit texts prepared by different scholars. Though there was no systematic plan as to which of the texts or what kind of texts is to be edited first, simultaneous effort was going on to publish several Prakrit texts as they came in the hands of scholars. J. Stevenson's translation of Kalpasūtra along with a short exposition of the nine principles of Jainism (-Navatattva) in appendix appeared in 1847. Though he has translated the book from a manuscript, the reading of the text does not really differ very much from the printed text of the present day. The most monumental work done for the first time is Albrecht Weber's edition of the Bhagavatisūtra (1866-67). This edition has shown the beacon light for the next generation and tells us how to edit a Prakrit text from a collation of several manuscripts. Then followed several other editions, of which Weber's Saptasati (1870), H. Jacobi's original work of the Kalpasūtra (1879) and Ācārāngasūtra (1889), Siegfried Goldschmidt's Setubandha (1880), Bühler's Paialacchināmamāla (1879), R. Pischel's Siddha Hemaśabdānusāsana (1877, 1880)) are noteworthy. So far scholars were engaged to some extent in editing Jaina canonical and some Prakrit texts.
In the meantime another branch of Prakrit literature drew the attention of scholars. This time it was grammar. The first complete Prakrit grammar that was edited by E.B. Cowell is Vararuci's PrākstaPrakasa published in 1854. This edition of Cowell was criticised by A. Weber, and the effect of that criticism was such that Cowell had to revise the edition in the light of the suggestion given by Weber, and the next issue was published in 1868. Since then Cowell's edition of Vararuci's Prakrta-Prakasa has been regarded as an authentic edition even till today. Though there are several other editions of Vararuci's Prāksta-Prakāśa with different commentaries, such as, Baladeva Upādyāya's edition with the commentaries of Vasantarāja and Sadananda (1927), Rāmapāni Vāda's commentary (1946), Raghunātha's commentary (1954), Vidya Vinodācārya's commentary (1975), the edition of Cowell with Bhāmaha's vrtti has still been popular and well-consulted. After Cowell comes Richard Pischel (1849-1908) whose contributions to the field of Prakrit grammar and language is a landmark of Prakrit studies. In 1874 his little book De Grammaticis Pracriticis (Vratislaviae) offered some aspects of Prakrit which were not only unique at that time, but also remarkable. His edition of