Shravakachar of Vasunandini

Author(s): Signe Kirde
Publisher: Signe Kirde

Page 38

4.1 Elements of Style
4 STYLE OF ŚR (57-205)
of a verbal participle in classical Skt.105 This is the case for instance with Pkt. chamdiūna106 in (116b) and āhāreuna in (136b).
In (136b) the gerund āhāreūņa107 occurs in the phrase Pkt. to tesu (niraesu samuppanno (jivaāhāreūna poggale asuhe. It serves as a verbal adjunct modifying the participle samuppanno and denoting here the prior of two actions. In some cases the gerund could signify a simultaneous or concurrent action. In this phrase the author refers to the act of "fetching" or "drawing near” karmic matter for oneself or to oneself. Thus, if we are to understand ahareuna as expressing the distant past, we might conclude that Vasunandin intended to express previous action, i.e. we find the idea that the sentient being had already "attracted" impure matter (asuha-poggala). In the commentary of Sr (M) the phrase is translated by Sunilasāgara into Hindi aśubha pudgalom kol grahana karake. There is another Hindi paraphrase of (136b) in the commentary of Sr (M): (2) janma grahaņa karake. The noun Pkt. poggale is rendered into Hindi aśubha padartha: "impure object" / "impure matter". The editor of the reprint of Śr equates two things: "impure matter" and "rebirth". The commentary of L substitutes the gerund āhāreūņa by the Skt. verbal noun ākarşanam: "drawing near; pulling up; attraction" (MW: p.127).108 Vasunandin suggests in (135ff.)
105 With Speijer 1886 (1993):296 the gerund "holds a place somewhat intermediate between the infinitive and the participle. As to their etymology, they are petrified nouncases, and for this reason they are not declinable”. For the formation in Dig. scriptures see Denecke 1922:44.
108 The origin of Pkt. chamdiuna remains obscure to me. The gerund occurs as verbal adjunct in the phrase Pkt. lajja-kula-kammam chamdiūna. A translation of the phrase (116b) is: "after having given up = having broken with the peculiar duties of one's family and modesty [...". In the commentary of Śr Jain translates the phrase into Hindi lajjā aur kula-maryādā ko chorkara. In the commentary on Sr (M) Sunilasāgara considers this gerund to be a substitute of the corresponding form of the defect stem of another verb (V MUC). Likewise, the participle Pkt. chamdia is explained as being substitute for the participle of MUC in Sheth 1923:333-334. There are different opinions with regard to the etymological roots of Pkt. chamdiūna. With following Monier-Williams (MW: pp. 406-407) one could suppose that it derives from ✓ CHO: "to cut off". According to Whitney 1885 (1988):50 one considers ✓ CHA "to cut up" and ✓ CHID "to cut off". Cf. also Turner 1966: Nos.4970; 5013. Neither the root, nor the present tense of the verb, are discussed in Ratnachandra 1923 (1988). The Hindi formations of this stem are: chamtanā/ chamtkānā "to sort out; to take out" (Gatzlaff-Hälsig 2002:462).
107 With discussing the gerund āhāreuna in Śr (136b) I follow a suggestion of Prof. Butzenberger (p.c.). The gerund āhāreūna derives from the prefix a + ✓ HR: 1. "to take, to accept, to bring, to collect"; 2. "to bring near; to fetch for oneself; to receive" (cf. the third person sg. of the present stem Pkt. āhārei). See MW: p. 162; Ratnachandra 1923 (1988], Vol. II, p. 116.
108 As Umāsvāmin explains in the Ts the "consciousness" or "sentience of the embodied beings in the conditions of aupaśamika and ksāyôpaśamika effects that it is subjected to several modifications. The "operating karmas" work, i.e. effect the spontaneous type of rebirth. In Ts II.25-26 Umāsvāmin states that if the sentient being makes "one or more turns" after death, the only activity is that of the karmic body (Tatia 1994:47).
20