Outline of Avasyaka Literature

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

Page 14

E. Leumann, An outline of the Avaśyaka literature
etymological dictionary, which, however, did not get very far, and that, for a time, he was one of the contributors to Monier-Williams's Sanskrit-English Dictionary, as he himself recalls at the beginning of the Übersicht, p. IX)." This passion crept in here too, albeit discreetly: the suggestion that niryukti comes from *nirvyukti (p. 42), and the discussion on the origin of the proper name vattakera designating the author of the Mülācāra (p. 43) are prominent examples. Whether these explanations are unanimously accepted is another question.
One of Leumann's outstanding contributions and insights was the coining of the expression "Āvaśyaka-Literatur". It succinctly expresses the fact that there is not just a single work on the six obligatory duties designated by the term āvasyaka in the Jaina context, but rather a plurality of texts which are interconnected in complex ways. The pioneering character of the Übersicht comes from the fact that it addresses the heart of this issue. It deals with the Avasyaka-niryukti and its commentaries: the Cūrņi, the tīkā by Haribhadra, and that by Malayagiri (p. 147), along with Jinabhadra's Višeşāvaśyaka-bhāsya and its commentaries. Their titles directly connect these two groups to the topic of āvasyaka and, in a way, they define the two main sections of the book, culminating in a third stage, the comparison of the two (p. 95ff.) and the "summary contents” (p. 124). But beyond this, the Übersicht also deals with works like the Byhatkalpabhāşya or the Anuyogadvārasūtra (p. 40 for the latter), which, viewed from outside, belong to other traditional categories: the former is a Chedasūtra, the latter is outside all categories. The reality, however, is otherwise: the former shares several groups of verses with the Āvasyaka-niryukti, and the cūrņis on the two works share a number of illustrative stories; the latter takes the concept of āvaśyaka as the model for a methodological discussion. In the Übersicht as well as in other investigations connected with the subject, Leumann's study shows both the centrality of whatever relates to "āvasyaka” as a concept and body of texts, and the necessity of an intertextual approach to understand its core and development.
This broad perspective requires an investigation into both the Svetāmbara and the Digambara traditions. Another of Leumann's important discoveries concerns the relationship between the Svetāmbara Āvasyaka-niryukti and the Digambara Mülācāra. Leumann's attention to the Digambara tradition at a time when not much was known of it in the West, is worthy of note. Leumann perceived clearly the importance and antiquity of this tradition. This led him to purchase manuscripts of Digambara works for the Bibliothèque Nationale et Universitaire de Strasbourg when he was Professor there. The result is that this library holds the richest and the most valuable collection of Digambara works outside India both from Western and from Southern India. In the Übersicht, the systematic comparison which Leumann undertakes between the Śvetambara Avasyaka-niryukti and the relevant portions of the Mülācāra shows that both texts are indeed related (p. 44f.) and that the latter represents an older stage,
10 Etymologisches Wörterbuch der Sanskrit Sprache. Lieferung I: Einleitung und a bis jū, von Ernst und Julius Leumann, Leipzig, 1907, 112 pages (Indica. Texte, Übersetzungen und Studien aus den Gebieten der indischen Religions-, Kultur- und Sprachgeschichte in zwanglosen Heften herausgegeben von Ernst Leumann, Heft 1). " See also the title page of the "Monier Williams": A Sanskrit-English Dictionary, etymologically and philologically arranged with special reference to Cognate Indo-European Languages by Sir Monier Monier-Williams. New Edition, greatly enlarged and improved by the collaboration of Professor E. Leumann, Prof. C. Cappeller and other scholars, Oxford, 1899. 12 See B. Geiger's review of the Übersicht (below Appendix VII) for some doubtful reactions to some of Leumann's etymological proposals.
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