Morphological Evidence For Dialectal Variety In Jaina Maharastri

Author(s): Nalini Balbir
Publisher: Nalini Balbir

Page 18

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N. BALBIR
evidence, but that it had partly been obliterated by standardization : "Il semble certain qu'avant leur normalisation par les copistes, il y [en] ait eu bien davantage [scil. de "ces premiers témoignages directs de la véritable semi-magadhi jaina"], et il est possible qu'on en trouverait d'autres en examinant de plus près la grande masse de textes des commentaires " 101.
I think I can now draw attention to two more similar passages. Like the above mentioned stanzas discovered by Alsdorf, the first one is narrative. It is quoted in the Avasyaka tradition, first embodied by the Avaśyaka cūrņi and Haribhadra's tīka, later continued by parallel versions found in the Akhyanakamanikoša, the Kumarapalapratibodha and the Kathakośa 102. It is also found in Devendra's commentary on Uttarajjhāyā 1.3 103. It is in the form of an enigmatic prophecy announced by a heavenly voice:
samane jai Külavälae Magahiyam ganiyam lamehil laya ya Asogacandae Vesälim nagalim gahissal
a. s. jahā Dev.; b. lamehii AvC, lamissae Dev., lagehii AvH, lagissae Kumarap., labhissai Akhyānakam., gamissae Kathak.; infra about these readings; c. so all except AvC tada laya: better? raya A. Kathāk.; d. nagarim AvCH, Kathak.! Vesäli-nagalim Akhyānakam. "
"If the ascetic Külavälaka enjoys the courtezan Mägadhikä, the king Aśokacandraka will take the city of Vaiśālī".
We are faced with an historical fact clothed in legend and fantasy, namely the last phase of Kūnika Ajätasattu's imperialism. Asokacandra is a pet name invented by the Jainas for this Magadhian king, who is also well-known to Buddhist sources 104. The stanza alludes to the way in which Kūņika took the city of Vaiśālī from his enemy Cetaka by guile the courtezan seduced the monk who then became Kūņika's agent. This particular episode has no counterpart in Buddhist sources Ajātasattu managed to take Vaiśālī in a different, more orthodox way! There is however no doubt that this stanza is an old one: the contents, the metre (vaitālīya) and the language clearly prove
101. Ibidem, p. 25. 102. AvC II 174, 3*-4* AvH 685a, 5* [cf. A. METTE, IT 11 (1983), p. 139]; Acarya Nemicandra's Akhyānakamaņikośa with Acārya Amradeva's Commentary. Ed. by Muni Shri Punyavijayji. Varanasi, Ahmedabad, 1962 (Prakrit Text Series 6), vs. 13. p. 273; Somaprabha, Kumarapalapratibodha. Ed... Muniraja Jinavijaya. Baroda, 1920, p. 162; I. HOFFMANN, Der Kathakośa. Text und Uebersetzung... München, 1974, p. 439. 103. In H. JACOBI, Das Kalakācārya-kathānakam, ZDMG 34 (1880), p. 291, fn. I. 104. It refers to an event of his early childhood: AvC II 166-167; AvH 678b-679a; Prakrit Proper Names..., Ahmedabad, 1970, s.v. Kūņia.