Mahanisiha Studies And Edition In Germany

Author(s): Chandrabhal Tripathi
Publisher: Chandrabhal Tripathi

Page 79

MAHĀNISĪHA STUDIES AND EDITION IN GERMANY
79
110. REVIEWS
110.0 With the kind persmission of the institutions concerned we reproduce four reviews of MNSt.B and C..
110.1 MNSt.C.1951 reviewed by Alfred Master in JRAS.1951,p.154.
The Mahānisīha is one of the six Jaina Chedasūtras or Rules of atonement for breaches of religious vows. They are expounded by question and answer and in exemplary legends. The meaning of the title is obscure, the root nisidh- "prohibit", being perhaps the best guess.
Professor Schubring wrote an account of this work in 1918 and three chapters are now published for the first time with introductions and variae lectiones. Dr. Hamm, who edits ch.VI, adds notes and a glossary; Professor Schubring gives only a list of the more important words with Sanskrit equivalents. The introductions also differ in scope. Dr. Hamm's describes the legends, language, and metres of the sixth chapter, while Professor Schubring deals with the doctrinal aspects and technical terms of his two chapters.
Dr. Hamm, who is a pupil of Professor Schubring, agrees with him that the language of the text is "Jaina Mahārāștri mit einem bald stärkeren, bald schwächeren Einschlag von Ardhamāgadhi", but it is doubtful if the description has real linguistic significance, as the difference between Jaina Mahārāstri on the one hand and Lyrical and Dramatic Mahārāstri on the other lies almost entirely in the degree of stylization. There is no Jaina Mahārāştri uninfluenced by Ardhamāgadhi, and even the other forms are not so consistently stylized as some Western editors would have us believe. Unfortunately in matters of this kind we are at the mercy of undated texts and the vagaries of copyists. For example, in ch.VI, verse 86*, occurs the form cche for (a)cchai. The spelling e for ai does not appear till after the fifteenth century, when Mahārāștri was no longer used.
The message of the text is, however, not affected by such verbal minutiae and the work is a valuable addition to the literature on Jainism.
One would have liked a somewhat fuller table of contents. The list of abbreviations is unexpectedly buried on p.41, between the variae lectiones and the notes.
ALFRED MASTER
110.2 MNSt.B.1963 reviewed by A.N.Upadhye in ZDMG.114.1964, pp.457-8.
The Mahānisīha is a remarkably exhaustive treatise; and by virtue of its contents and mixed metrical and prose styles, it is a significant work of the Cheyasutta group of the Jaina Canon. Like the Vinaya texts of the Buddhists, it covers elaborately the rules of conduct of Jaina monks and punishment of offences against them.
The work is divided into Eight Chapters. It begins with the recounting of confessions and elaborates the consequences of evil acts and the importance of