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Beobachtungen über die Sprache des buddhistischen Urkanons Von
Heinrich LUEDERS. Aus dem Nachlass herausgegeben von Ernst WALDSCHMIDT. Abhandlungen der deutschen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin. Klasse für Sprachen, Literatur und Kunst, Jahrgang 1952, Nr. 10, Akademie-Verlag, Berlin, 1954, pp. 196, Price DM 19/
It is always a matter of great pleasure to get to read a book by LUEDERS. It is indeed to be regretted that a part of what LUEDERS wrote could not be published during his life time. The result is that some of his complete works like the edition of the Udānavarga have been altogether destroyed and even his other works which are now being published by his pupils were damaged in part. . The editor's work for the present volume must have been particularly difficult as the work was not finalised by LUEDERS himself. When the Nachlass came to the editor's hands, the pages were not numbered, the book not divided into chapters, and the beginning of the manuscript completely lost. In spite of these difficulties, the editor has done his work exceedingly well and he deserves congratulations and thanks of all lovers of Indological research. He has not simply put the material of the Nachlass into proper shape; he has also made the book more valuable by referring in footnotes to such paragraphs from GEIGER's Päli Litteratur und Sprache as give additional material which was not found in LUEDERS' manuscript. He also gives suitable references to EDGERTON's Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit, Grammar und Dictionary.
In his Zum Geleit the editor elucidates in short the view held by LUEDERS as regards the language of the supposed original canon of Budd'hism. On the basis of the comparison of the Udānavarga verses from the Turfan fragments with their parallels in the Pāli version LUEDERS, had come to the conclusion quite early (see references p. 7, footnote 4) that both the Sanskrit and the Pāli texts go back to an original which was composed in the eastern dialect. There has been some controversy regarding this view. Recently EDGERTON in his Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Grammar has expressed the opinion that we cannot at all speak of an 'original language of Buddhism. Though LUEDERS had made known his opinion early he had not then published the detailed investigation of the problem which we find in the present work. This collected evidence, well substantiated on facts, should go some way to persuade the opponents of LUEDERS' theory to reconsider their opinion,
The book has been divided into two major parts to which is added a small Anhang discussing some verses from the Udānavarga. The first
Madhu Vidyā/576
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