Outline of Avasyaka Literature

Author(s): Ernst Leumann, George Baumann
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 13

Introductory essay and tools by Nalini Balbir
works were translated into Gujarati from the German by the same translator, a certain Narasimhabhāi Isvarabhāi Pātel, and published in Poona, namely Leumann's German translation of the Prakrit novel Tarangavas published under the attractive title Die Nonne (München, 1921) and his study on Buddha und Mahāvīra (München, 1922).' Last but not least, Leumann's work on the "Avaśyaka" was estimated very positively by Muni Jinavijaya (1888-1976), and the section of the Übersicht entitled “Die vedischen und philosophischen Citate in Text und Commentar von Vis. II” was translated into Gujarati with additional references. This paper, which is extremely useful and hardly accessible today, is reprinted as Appendix IX to the present introduction.
When it comes to the Übersicht (as it is known in the narrow circle of intimate readers), a translation alone is probably not sufficient. The present introduction intends to provide some elements which could be helpful to a benevolent reader who is discovering this work or who wishes to plunge into it seriously. But it cannot pretend to throw light on each and every statement of the Übersicht. Some - unavoidable - mystery will remain.
The Übersicht is a paradoxical work. On the one hand, it is the result of studies which matured over a long period: eleven years is the number given by W. Schubring in his foreword to the book (page C), but it should be increased. Leumann realized the value of the "Avaśyaka" when he was working with Jaina manuscripts at the Royal Library in Berlin in 1882. The publication of the incomplete critical edition of the Avasyaka-Erzählungen dates back to 1897 and his own preface to what became the published Übersicht is dated April 1900. This amounts to eighteen years. In between several of his published contributions dealt with various aspects of the topic. On the other hand, the Übersicht is an unfinished work. The manuscript on which it is based is only a specimen, and Leumann's own autograph terminates in the middle of a sentence! In brief, the theme of "Āvasyaka” remained as a kind of vital lead in Leumann's Jaina studies. Moreover, the published Übersicht is not the mere transcription of Leumann's original manuscript, but an edited version which passed through the scrutiny (and perhaps idiosyncrasies) of Walther Schubring, as is made clear by his own foreword (page C). Schubring is known for his concise, or even terse, style which makes reading his works rather difficult even for native speakers of German. Thus the Übersicht has a textual history, like the topic it addresses, although probably not so intricate. The visible consequence of this process and of Leumann's uncommon personality is that as an academic work the Übersicht belongs to various genres. It contains critical editions, translations, micro-studies, lexicographical notes, conspectuses, overviews, intellectual portraits (of Bhadrabāhu and Jinabhadra, for instance), notes on specific manuscripts and germs of social history from manuscript colophons. At a formal level, some of these genres imply a number of tables and concordances. Etymological discussions, albeit brief, were one of Leumann's passions (let us not forget that, with his brother Julius, he was the author of a Sanskrit
Schubring, Kleine Schriften, Franz Steiner Verlag, Wiesbaden, 1977, Glasenapp-Stiftung Band 13, p.
115).
See Appendices VIII and X for bibliographic details. * Unless otherwise specified references are to the pagination of Dr. Baumann's English translation of the Übersicht in this volume. For the latter aspect see especially p. 91.
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