Recent Russian Publications On Indian Epic

Author(s): J W De Jong
Publisher: J W De Jong

Page 26

26
THE ADYAR LIBRARY BULLETIN
Lord. G. has selected for his purpose chapter 49 of book 6 which describes a duel between Drona and Dhṛṣṭadyumna. G. indicates by bold type fixed formulas, by spacing formulaic expressions and by italics words which on the basis of the materials, collected by him, cannot with certainty be said to be true formulas but of which the metrical position is sufficiently fixed. G. arrives at the conclusion that only 23 out of the 164 pada-s are entirely free from formulas and that 77 per cent of the entire passage consists of formulas and formulaic expressions. About the same percentage is found by him in other battle chapters (book 5 chapter 185: 84 per cent) whereas the percentage is slightly smaller in battle chapters of R (book 6, chapters 44 and 98: 80 per cent). According to G. the number of formulas is the greatest in battle scenes. In narrative chapters the percentages found by him are 40 per cent (M book 4, chapter 22; book 3, chapter 22) and 50 per cent (R 2.59 and 6.61). The didactic portions are poorer in formulas and formulaic expressions but they contain many maxims which occur in the same or in slightly different form in other texts such as Purāṇa-s, Sastra-s, frame-stories, etc. For instance, according to Bühler about one-tenth of the Manusmrti is found in the third, twelfth and thirteenth books of M.1 G. draws attention to the fact that Sen had arrived
1 The Laws of Manu (Oxford, 1886), p. lxxx. See also E. W. Hopkins, The Great Epic of India (New York, 1902), pp. 19-23; A. Holtzmann, Das Mahabharata im Osten und Westen (Kiel, 1895), pp. 114-50.