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Shri Mahavir Jain Aradhana Kendra
www.kobatirth.orgAcharya Shri Kailashsagarsuri Gyanmandir
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Bre naturally tempted to identify the same with the text portion of the original of the Chuh-yau-king, and we are confident that we shall not be found far too wrong in doing so.
Turning to the copy of the Dhammapada with 700 verses, known to Wai-chi-lan, we at once see that it was different from the Pali with 423 verses, the Fa-kheu-king original with 500 verses and the text portion of the Chub.yau-king just identified with the text with 900 verses. Thus only two texts are left to be examined, viz., the Prakrit and the Dhammapada in Mixed Sanskrit of which a complete chapter has been quoted in the Mahāvastu (p. xii ). As regards the Prakrit Dhammapada, it is impossible for us, in the absence of a complete manuscript thereof or of a tradition supplying a definite information about it, to say exactly bow many verses it altogether contained. But judging by the proportion of verses in the chapters common to the three recensions, viz., the Pali, the Fa-kheu-king original and the Prakrit, we feel inclined to think that the total of the Prakrit verses stood midway between 500 and 700. The follow. ing table will make our position clear:
Pali
Original of Fa-kheo-king
Prakrit
II 12
II 20
II 26
IV 16
...
...
VI 14 VIII 16
XI 11 XV 12 XX 17 XV 23 XVI 41
IV 17
vi 17 VIII 16
X[ 14 XV 14 XX 28 XV 32 XVI 40
... ... ... ...
... ... ...
... . ... ...
IV 15 VI 10
V 17 VIII 25 .. IX 20 ... 130 ... XI 40 ... XII 50
Total ... 182
Total
... 198
Tota?
... 232
Bearing in mind that the total number of verses in the Pali Dhammapada is 423 and that in the Fa-kheu-king original 500,
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