Nirgrantha-3

Author(s): M A Dhaky, Jitendra B Shah
Publisher: Shardaben Chimanbhai Educational Research Centre

Page 22

THE WORD OE' IN SOME CANONICAL JAINA TEXTS
Herman Tieken
The word oe in the Āyāra 1.5.6/176, 1.6.5/196, 1.8.3/209-210, and 1.8.7/224, and in the Sūyagada 1.4.1.11/257, I. 4.2.1/278, and 1.14.21/600 is glossed with Skt ojas, which, as required by the respective contexts, would then function as an adjective describing a monk as "a strong person". For oe, śīlānka gives the following paraphrases : "ojah” eko’sesamalakalarkānkarahitaḥ', "ojah" eko rāgadvesarahitaḥ? (for śīlänka on oe in Ayāra 1.8.3/209, see below $6), and, again, rāgadvesarahitah3. With the gloss eka beside ojas, these paraphrases have retained somewhat of the embarrassment caused by the word oe, which suggests that we, on our part, accept the derivation from ojas only after our own independent and careful investigation. In this connection, Alsdorf, who follows the traditional interpretation, suggests that we infer an adjective ojas from the comparative ojiyas and the superlative ojistha. One of the problems with this interpretation is that, in the texts, beside the so-called adjective oe, also occurs a regular adjective oyaṁsī (ojasvin), namely in the Āyāra II.1.4.2/534 : se bhikkhu vā (...) jahā vegatiyaim rūvāim pasejja tahā vi taim evam vadejja, tam jahā - oyamsi oyamsi ti vā teyamsi teyamsi ti vā .., and in the Samavāya (p. 471, lines 5 ff.) : jambuddive nam dīve bhārahe vāse imise osappinie nava dasāramamdalā hotthā, tam jahā – uttamapurisā majjhimapurisā pahānapurisā oyamsi teyaṁsi vaccamsi jasaṁsi chāyamsi kamtās .... The lemma oly)a in the Agama Sabdakośa, which refers to the adjective olya, contains, beside, a number of references to a noun oly)a. One of these instances is the Sūyagada II.3/732, where oa denotes the nourishing substance with which the mother feeds the foetus while in her womb : te jīvā mātuoyam pitusukkam tam tadubhayam saṁsattham kalusam kibbisaṁ tappadhamayāe āhāram āhāresti? Probably, however, we have to do here with a contracted form of udaka "water". See in this connection the Viyāhapannatti I, p. 53, lines 2 ff. : jam se mātā nānāvihão rasavigatio ahāram āhāreti tadekkadesenaṁ oyam ahāreti. In the Nāyādhammakahā 1.10.2 we would indeed have to do with the substantive ojas, occurring in a description of the moon, which is dittie juttīe chāyāe pabhāe oye lesãe hine respectively ahiye. This situation suggests that we have a closer look again at the instances of the socalled adjective oe and investigate the possibilities of another meaning and derivation for the word. $2 The first instance to be considered is the Sūyagada 1.4.1.11/275 :
tamhā u vajjae itthi visalittam va kamtagań naccā oe kulāni vasavatti aghāti na se vi niggamthe.
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