Sambodhi 2000 Vol 23

Author(s): Jitendra B Shah, N M Kansara
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 46

IN SEARCH OF THE ORIGINAL FORM OF ARDHAMAGADHI
K. R. CHANDRA
[A] Comparison of The Textual Readings of Chapter IX of the Acaranga, Book 1, Edited By Professors Jacobi and Schubring.
A lot of research work has been done by this author in restoring the original form of the Ardhamagadhi which is regarded as the earliest Prakrit of the M.I.A. dialects (except Pāli, but the Ardhamāgadhī is assigned the status of being nearer to Pali and/or resembling Pali.)2. While going through various editions of Svetambara Jain Agamic (canonical) texts we find that there is no uniformity of usages in different editions and even in the same edition regarding the elision or retention (or sometimes voicing) of the medial non-aspirate consonants and the loss of the element of occlusion from aspirate consonants and the usages of dental and cerebral nasals.
All this diversity has been due to non-availability of the grammar of Ardhamāgadhi. Prakrit grammarians have given us grammars of other Prakrits but not of the Ardhamāgadhi; even Hemacandra being a Jain did not frame any systematic rules for this language. This defect became responsible for non-uniformity of Ardhamagadhi language in manuscripts and various editions of canonical works. The grammatical rules of Mahārāṣtri Prakrit became dominant over Ardhamāgadhi as if there was no phonological difference between the consonantal spellings of Ardhamāgadhi and Mahārāṣṭrī Prakrits. With the passing time and the change of places of centres of Jainism the prevailing local dialects immensely affected the original Ardhamagadhi and due to that even the Jain teachers (monks) and copyists went on replacing the archaic forms by prevalent new forms. This trend was so detrimental in preserving the originality of Ardhamagadhi that it was ultimately converted into Mahārāṣṭri by the editors though in the older manuscripts at several places there were archaic forms in this or that manuscript or at this or that place. Consequently it came to be believed that Ardhamagadhi did not have its own vocabulary just like Pāli.
In restoring the original vocabulary of the Ardhamāgadhi very much work of research has to be done in comparison to what has been done uptill now. And in the total absence of correct grammar of Ardhamāgadhi we find