Sambodhi 2000 Vol 23

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

Page 61

Sy
IN SEARCH OF THE ORIGINAL FORM...
SAMBODHI Grand Total of Non-Aspirates and Aspirates with Phonetic
Changes at a Glance
(A) Instances Jacobi Schubring
MJV. RV E Total RV E Total RV E Total Total 150 +45 + 142 337 63+40+234 | 337| 185+42+100 337
(B) Percentage Jacobi Schubring
MJV. RV E Total RV E Total RV E Total Total 44.5 13.5 42 100 18.5 12 69.5 100 55 12.5 32.5 100
The phonetical analysis presented above reveals that the retention of medial consonants is 55% in the MJV. edition of Muni Shri Jambuvijayaji, 44.5% in the edition of Prof. Jacobi and 18.5% in that of Prof. Schubring. The elision of occlusion of medial consonants in the MJV. edition is 32.5% while in the edition of Jacobi it is 42% whereas in that of Schubring it is 69.5% (i.e. the elision of medial consonants is highest in the edition of Schubring). It indicates that Prof. Schubring did not take, at all, into consideration the textual readings of his predecessor Prof. Jacobi who has been quite faithful to the readings available in the Mss. of the Acārānga'. Prof. Schubring did not follow the methodology adopted by Jacobi. He has applied in toto those rules of Prakrit grammarians which are specifically applicable to the Mahārāstri Prakrit. He did not adopt the readings retaining the original medial consonants as if to him they were unauthentic Sanskritised forms of the Amg. usages. He conjectured his own rules regarding the method of editing a very ancient Prakrit text like the Ācārānga when its Mss. preserve at various places the original medial consonants and they have been adopted in a number of later editions of the Acārānga.
The Ardhamāgadhi language is said to be nearer to Pali by Jacobito and further the linguistic researches establish that it has similarities mostly with the language of Ashokan inscriptions and it is altogether a language different from the Mahārāstri and Sauraseni Prakrits.