Outline of Avasyaka Literature

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

Page 18

E. Leumann, An outline of the Āvaśyaka literature
one's own unpublished notes does not make things easier, for it is obviously not immediately understood by readers other than the author himself. This methodology which develops its own material and its own tools justifies Prof. K. Bruhn's statement that "(Leumann) built up his 'logistics' with amazing thoroughness" (in Plutat 1998: 125). The stages of this construction work and the step by step progress to which they led are recalled precisely and chronologically in the section "Early history and lacunae of the following outline” which is the ouverture to the Übersicht Opera (p. IV). A feeling of frustration is perceivable in this section as the scholar experiences delays or difficulties in getting the desired manuscripts.
Leumann's project as it appears in the Übersicht is oriented towards the determination of textual layers and the discovery of stratification in a complex network of texts. This methodological concern is in accordance with philological work as conceived in the late 19th and the early 20th centuries and the numerous attempts to search for the "Urtext”. It is undoubtedly there: see the recurring expression "original" Niryukti, "Niry" within inverted commas (p. 55) to denote an abstraction which only exists through indirect or expanded representatives, and the use of the verb "to reconstruct" (German “reconstruieren"). It is there with its formal correlate: the presence of genealogical trees showing the filiation of texts (see p. 41). In my opinion, Leumann's demonstration of the relationship between Mūlācāra VII and the Svetāmbara Āvasyaka-niryukti as we have it is quite convincing. It shows how some sets of verses can be considered as enlargements in the latter, which, indeed, has an extra large size totally unusual when compared to other available niryuktis. Within the Svetāmbara Āvaśyaka-niryukti too, Leumann recognizes successive stages of development, which are duly discussed in the Übersicht (p. 59ff.; p. 80ff.). They correspond to various levels of accretions in which the commentarial tradition plays a role and culminates in what Leumann calls "the Vulgate edition". In short, from the "original Niryukti" to the available Niryukti in its final form, a long editorial process has taken place in four stages (p: 80ff.). The identification of these stages is based both on internal data (such as the word anyakartyka or anyaksta clearly recognizing an alien source for the verses it precedes, p. 83) and on comparative analysis. For the "lay reader" who has no time to follow the apparently convoluted path of Leumann's thinking, the "tabular recapitulation" on p. 84 which shows these redactional stages or the clear statements which sum up the exposition about the Avaśyaka commentaries found on p. 40 are decidedly useful and memorable.
Leumann, well-informed as he was about theories, does not belong to the category of scholars who would let the system enter all the interstices of reality. Rather, his perspective is to take into account the complexity of the textual reality and to disentangle it as much as possible without forgetting its details and peculiarities. Nobody who has ever tried to read the Avasyaka-niryukti and related texts would contest this approach. A description of its structure is required. In this respect, one should distinguish between components and layers. The roman numbers, i.e., what Leumann calls Āv. I to VI refer to the six āvasyakas as "obligatory duties":
I) Sāmāyika II) Caturvimsati-stava III) Vandanaka IV) Pratikramana V) Kāyotsarga VI) Pratyākhyāna.
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