Note on Hemchandras Abhidhanchintamani and Sanskrit Karmavati

Author(s): Nalini Balbir
Publisher: ZZ_Anusandhan

Page 24

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अनुसन्धान-५४ श्रीहेमचन्द्राचार्यविशेषांक भाग-२
only to surge up again from the 15th century onwards in manuscript colophons (and inscriptions)? Nonetheless, it appears that karmavāți and tithi could have referred originally to two types of days reckoning. Tithi is a lunar day, and k. a civil day. Their juxtaposition in Hemacandra's lexicon does not automatically imply that they designate the same notion. All the verses do not follow the same pattern, and reading pakṣaḥ sa bahulo 'sitaḥ (II.6lab), nobody would fancy that bahula = asita! Or does k. refer to special or unusual astrological conditions, which could account for its rarity? All shades of differentiation between k. and tithi, however, seem to be blurred in the actual usage. How could it be explained otherwise that inscriptions on different images located in the same temple refer to exactly the same date, with tithau in some and karmavāțyām in others? (See below Appendix end). The fact that it is attested in Jaina manuscript colophons and inscriptions until rather recent times (19th century at least) would suggest that this technical term belonged to daily use and was part of the language of the scribes, although it does not seem to have any vernacular equivalent. In the two occurrences which could be traced in Old Gujarati poems, the word has its “Sanskrit” form (see below Appendix “VS 1757” and “VS 1760”). Karmavāți could have entered Hemacandra's Abhidhānacintāmaņi from the practice (of scribes? of astronomers?) and survived there as a unicum preserved by the lexicographer as a treasure.
(4) Appendix : occurrences of Skt. karmavāți
This list cannot pretend to be exhaustive. However, it is meant to be complete for the works listed below: Balbir Nalini, Sheth Kanhaiyalal, Sheth Kalpana K., Tripathi Candrabhāl,
Catalogue of the Jain manuscripts of the British Library, including the Victoria and Albert Museum and the British Museum,