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Vol. XX, 1996
REVIEWS
209
40 titles like Argirasasmrti, Rgveda, Taittiriya Aranyaka, Dharmaśāstra, Bhagavata, Vivekavilāsa, and others. Some of these titles, e.g., Ayurveda or Dharmaśāstra, are quite unspecific; they are rather names of traditional branches of learning than of individual texts. Each and every quotation has to be traced back to its source, taking note of the context and possible variant readings, as a necessary critical examination. The second part of the Vedätkusa is not only clearly demarcated from the first by the latter's concluding statement, but also by its distinctly different character, since it is now the author himself who speaks on his own behalf, and what he wishes to express he states almost right at the beginning. He is not content simply to prove in this manner that none of the nine factors, viz., śarīra, jāti, jīva, kula, yoni, jñana, saucācāra, tapas and satiskāra, can be regarded as constituting brahmanhood, but continues his argument by expressing his own opinion. At the very end of the work it becomes entirely clear that the 'slap on the face' (vadana-capetā) is not, of course, to be taken literally, but also that the title Vedānkusa itself is not only metaphorical, but "a goad in the form of Vedic litterances". And to be sure, like the real goad, this special one (in the hands of a Jain or a Jain monk) is also considered as being used only to urge on the elephant-like Brāhmins so that they avoid the wrong path (kupatha, etc.), return to the right one sanmärga, etc.) and thus in their turn also reach the final goal (but, of course, alone, i.e. without their 'maliout'). Practically no work has been done so far on the special subject of the criticism directed by Jain authors against the Brahmins, or Vedicism in general. What we have, in contradistinction, is von Glasenap's short, though informtive article on 'Die Polemik der Buddhisten and Bralmanen gegen die Jainas". What is pointed out by this late German scholar is 110 doubt true: (that the Jains (as well as the Buddhists) opposed the bralımanical priests, did not accept their claim of superiority, or rather denied it strictly; (2) that they considered Hinduism to be a kind of degenerated Jainism and Hindus to have deserted from the true faith; (3) that they, although they themselves strictly adhered to the caste system (and the varna system), liad their own myth about the creation of the varņas' including that of the true) Brälimins; and (4) that they described in this connection what true Brahmins are to them. It is clear wliy it was first of all the Brālimins who became the target of Jain criticism and polemics. The antipathy which did not fall short of denouncing the other group as inorally wicked, etc., was of course a mutual one; but it would be stupid to even ask the question when it began and by which side it was started, for it was bound to arise as an inevitable confrontation. In any case, this continuous, and still continuing, process is a historical fact whiclı fully deserves the attention of scholars. This article will convince the reader that the Vedārkusa is not the least valuable and interesting work of the extraordinarily rich and vast Jain literature to the understanding and knowledge of which Professor Deleu has contributed so much. N.M.K. RESTORATION OF THE ORIGINAL LANGUAGE OF ARDHAMĀGADHĪ TEXTS BY K.R. CHANDRA. Prakrit Jain Vidya Vikasa Fund, Ahmedabad, 1994, pp. XXIV + 104. Rs. 80This work is a follow-up of the author's previous work, entitled 'In Search of the Original Arcliainagali', relating to some other aspects of this same subject. Here is attempted a study of variant readings of a few words from the Acäränga, Part I, which is regarded as the oldest
