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bhāşya have been occasionally consulted 5. Special emphasis has been laid upon the Avasyaka-niryukti and bhāşya (= AVN, Bh), which I have studied at leisure 7. Finally, the Mahānisīha-sutta has also been examined in this survey 8. 2. The second part of the corpus is represented by narrative works which are probably early, to wit : the Vasudevahindi, mainly written in prose, and the Tarangavas and the Paumacariya in verse'. The cūrņis explaining the niryuktis, as well as Prakrit portions of the tīkās, also belong to this layer : the Avaśyaka-cūrņi 10 and Haribhadra's tīkā (= ĀvC; AvH) 11 are here given the first place..
There is obviously a great difference between these two groups from the points of view of style and contents, but they show a linguistic unity, and, to some extent, they can all be viewed as "specimens of Archaic Jaina Māhārāștrī” 12.
The aim of the present investigation is to identify and analyse morphological traces of dialectal variety in the selected corpus. In other words, it focuses on forms which are ordinary features of
5. Ācārānga and Sūtrakrtängasūtram. With the niryukti of Acārya Bhadrabāhusvāmi and the commentary of Silānkācārya... reedited with appendices, etc., by Muni Jambūvijayajī. Delhi, Motilal Banarsidass, 1978; W. B. BOLLÉE, Studien zum Süyagada... (I) Textteile, Nijjutti, Uebersetzung und Anmerkungen. Wiesbaden, 1977 (Schriftenreihe des Südasien-Instituts der Univ. Heidelberg 24); E. LEUMANN, Daśavaikālika-sūtra und -niryukti, nach dem Erzählungsgehalt untersucht und herausgegeben..., ZDMG 46 (1892), p. 581-612; UttN: E. LEUMANN, Die Legende von Citta und Sambhūta, WZKM 6 (1892), p. 34-46; OhN: A. METTE, Pind'esaņā. Das Kapitel der Oha-nijjutti über den Bettelgang. Wiesbaden, 1974 (Abh. der Geistes- und Sozialwiss. Kl. 1973, Nr. 11); BK Bh: Brihat Kalpa Sutra and Original Niryukti... and a Bhashya.... Ed. by Guru Shri Chaturvijaya and his Shishya Punyavijaya. Bhavnagar, 1933, 1936, 1938, 1942, 6 vols. 6. For references see below n. 11.
7. Nalini BALBIR, Études d'exégèse jaina : les Āvasyaka. Paris, 1986. 3 vols. 976 + 111 p. (Unpublished DLitt. Dissertation, Université de Paris-III).
8. W. SCHUBRING, Das Mahānisiha-Sutta. Berlin, 1918; J. DELEU-W. SCHUBRING, Studien zum Mahānisiha. Kapitel 1-5. Hamburg, 1963 (Alt-und Neu-Indische Studien... Univ. Hamburg 10).
9. See L. ALSDORF, The Vasudevahindi, a Specimen of Archaic Jaina-Māhārāstri, BSOAS 8 (1935-1937) = Kleine Schriften, Wiesbaden, 1974, p. 56-70; SamkhittaTarangavaīkahā... edited and translated fin Gujarati] by H. C. BHAYANI, Ahmedabad, 1979 (L.D. Series 75); H. C. BHAYANI, Another rare specimen of Archaic JainMähärästri : Taramgavaīkahā of Padalipta, “Sambodhi" 7 (1978-79), p. 114-119; Acārya Vimalasūri's Paumacariyam... Second revised ed. by Muni Shri Punya vijayaji. Varanasi, 1963 (Prakrit Text Society Series 6).
10. Āvaśyakacūrni. 2 vols. Ratlam, 1928-29. References to page and line numbers.
11. Āvaśyakaniryukti with Haribhadra's commentary. Bombay. Agamodaya Samiti, 1916-1917 : references to page and line numbers. (Reprint Bombay, Vikrama samvat 2038).
12. See Paumacariya, intr. [by V. M. KULKARNI) p. 32. .
