Ludwig Alsdorfs Studies In Arya

Author(s): Klaus Bruhn
Publisher: Klaus Bruhn

Page 19

K. Bruhn
caux (en dépit des contraintes que peut exercer un modèle reconnu, une langue de prestige)
C'est sur du concret, du tangible, qu'il parait avoir aimé s'appuyer, qu'il a raisonné, avec une rigueur qui ne laissait guère s'insinuer le doute, avec une célérité qui, pratiquement, excluait la mise en cause des méthodes qui avaient fait leurs preuves, et qui, avec lui, ont en effet continué à prouver leur excellence.
$ 4. Studies in the Pali Arya
ĀRYA STANZAS IN THERA-THERI-GÅTHA."Appendix II" to the PTS edition of Th/ Thi. - A. pp. 233-50. LAI no. 39 (1966). Refer for LAI no. 39 (and no. 14 infra) to
ALSDORF Ét: 58-72 A. describes the origin of the appendix in the following terms: "Practical require ments of work for the Critical Pali Dictionary have led the present writer to undertake a re-edition of all Aryas (about 450) occurring in the Pali canon. Coming to know of this project when the reprinting of the present volume was nearly finished, Miss Homer very kindly offered to include in it the new text of the Aryas (27 in Th, 130 in Thr); owing to the advanced state of the printing, this was only feasible in the form of an appendix. It will be seen that the metrical restitution involves numerous and considerable changes, some of which even affect Dictionary and Grammar..." (pp. 233-34).
In Pali literature, the relationship between arya and sloka is not the same as in the Jaina texts. The arya "which had fallen into disuse in Pali after the emigration of that language from India to Ceylon, has been quite unfamiliar or even unknown to countless generations of Pali scribes and editors, with the result that most stanzas in this metre have severely suffered in tradition" (p. 233). Moreover: "There is a distinct tendency, most noticeable in S (Bangkok), to transform the obsolete Aryk into the familiar Sloka" (p. 233 fn.). As in the case of the Jaina texts, A. demonstrates in Th and in Pa repeatedly the transition from sloka (and early metres generally speaking) to dry. This seems to imply that texts with äryä portions are invariably late. However, H. BECHERT states that, in principle, the arya occurs already in the earliest strata of Buddhist traditions so that the presence of the arya metre in a text would not automatically imply a late date (BECHERT Ve: 13).
A.'s edition of the arya.s in Th is restricted to the presentation of variants along with a number of very brief notes. The reader finds a correct or corrected arya text along with the necessary typographical adjustments (etc.).
Ludwig Alsdorf's Studies in the Arya
43 DIE ARYA-STROPHEN DES PALI-KANONS. A. pp. 1-89. LAI no. 14 (1968). This publication continues ALSDORF Th as well as ALSDORF Ét (ALSDORF Pa: 5-6). A. deals with new arya.s (pp. 23-89) and with old arya.s (pp. 15-22:43 Arya verses, analysis on pp. 20-22) as contained in various Tipitaka texts. A general discussion of arya problems appears at the beginning of the study (pp. 5-7 and 9-12) and can be read together with ALSDORF Et: 51-61. Learned as the study is, it has yet a certain didactic bias, supplying information on rules and licenses for the metres under discussion (e.g. compare pp. 7 and 10 on the license to replace odd arya pada.s by odd Sloka pida.s). The greater part of ALSDORF Pa was a critical edition and restoration of the relevant äryd verses, but there was also scope for the discussion of other philological problems. A. edited in Th and Pa all arya.s of the Tipitaka (about 450: supra), just as he edited all äryl.s of Uttaridhyayana. This may be considered a matter of course, but it is to some extent typical of A., who felt it always necessary to study texts or corpuses of texts in their entirety (e.g. in connection with comparisons: p. 77).
Pp. 23-50 are devoted to the eight Jataka.s which contain new aryl.s (Jatakas 301, 358, 479, 485, 525, 536, 542:p. 39 supra). A.'s commentary includes references to the literary sources: The Culladhammapalajätaka (358) is an imitation of the Ksåntivadijātaka (313), and the Cullasutasomajataka (525) is probably an imitation of the Mahajanakajätaka (539); the Khandāhālajātaka (542) borrowed verses 86-93 from the Cullasutasomajätaka and verses 105-12 from the Candakinnarajtaka (485). A.'s treatment of Jātaka.s 479 (Kalingabodhijataka) and 525 follows earlier studies by H. BECHERT (1966, 1954/61). As pointed out by Th. OBERLIES in his Jātaka studies, many of ALSDORF's emendations and his text in general can be accepted (JA IT;
further details ibid.). Refer to OBERLIES also for osaphi in Jāt. 485,2 (p. 29; OBERLIES Mi: 174-79).
On pp. 51-77, A. discusses the "beginning of Mahāvagga" (Vinaya I. pp. 1-44 [sic]), i.e. the account of the enlightenment of the Buddha and of eleven ordinations (p. 71). A's analysis makes ample use of Pali and Sanskrit parallels, the latter mainly taken from Catusparisatsūtra (CPS), Mahävastu, and Lalitavistara. J.W. DE JONG observes in this connection in Re 1971 (LAI: p. 67) that A. only considered the Mülasarvástivādin version (CPS), a late text, but not the Mahisasaka and Dharmaguptaka versions as known from Chinese sources (transl. A. BAREAU).
In his introductory section on p. 51, A. mentions inter alia that the Mahlvagga portion contains at least nineteen drya.s, besides twenty-eight verses in the current old metres.
(i) In the first of his five Mahlvagga sections, A. restores the two variants of the solicitation arya ("uthehi"; pratika.s of the second lines: "desassu" and "eittam hi").