Note on Hemchandras Abhidhanchintamani and Sanskrit Karmavati

Author(s): Nalini Balbir
Publisher: ZZ_Anusandhan

Page 11

फेब्रुआरी २०११
१७७
long life, being attested as late as the middle of the 19th century. The provenances of manuscript colophons or inscriptions where k. occurs point to a geographical area of expansion limited to Western India and the areas of North India where Śvetāmbara monastic orders were prevalent.
(3)16 Skt. karmavāti is thus an isolated and rather puzzling term, the actual meaning of which is obscure. Superficially, however, it has the structure of a compound word. Analyzing its two members in turn and the relation they have could be rewarding. (a) -vāți and time divisions
In Hemacandra's auto-commentary on the Abhidhānacintāmaņi, karmavāți is analysed very briefly: karmmaņām vāțiva karmmavāți, tat-pratibaddhatvāt teşām. 17 "k.v. like an enclosure of activities, because they are demar
ctivities, because they are demarcated by it”.
This explanation is the basis of the expanded definitions found in Böhtlingk-Roth and Monier-Williams Sanskrit dictionaries (see above 2). It is not especially illuminating. Nevertheless, it invites to understand Skt. vāți, which normally means "orchard" or "enclosure”, with a metaphorical connotation because it is here applied to an abstract notion. The Sāroddhāra commentary by Srivallabhagaņi (VS 1667 = 1610
16. Sections 3(b) and 4 have largely benefited from several observations and hints given by Prof. Sreeramula Rajeswara Sarma (Aligarh Düsseldorf), a renowned specialist of the history of Indian sciences, to whom part of the material was submitted. I am most grateful to him for his interest and generous help. Some of his suggestions or remarks are marked as such. I am only responsible for any mistake or shortcoming.
17. P. 33 in The Abhidhāna Chintāmani Nāmamālā ... ed. by ... Shree VijayNemi Surishwarji Mahārāj ... Jain Sahitya Vardhak Sabha. Ahmedabad. V.S. 2032. Vira Samvat 2502. Nemi Samvat 28 (Shree-Vruddhi- NumiAmrut-Granthamālā 72).