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KAMMASACCĀ HU PĀŅINO1
NATHMAL TATIA
The caption of the article is the last foot of the twentieth verse of Adhyayana VII of the Uttaradhyayana Sutra, which runs as follows: vemāyāhim sikkhāhim, je nara gihisuvvaya / uvemti māņusarp jonim, kammasaccā hu pāņipo //
The Adhyayana under reference gives the five similes of the fattened ram, the forgotten farthing (kagini), the unwholesome mango fruit, the capital fund (mula) and the vast ocean in order to deprecate worldly pleasures and glorify heavenly life. Our verse occurs in connection with the simile of the capital fund, which is a parable of three merchants, reminding us of the Biblical parable of the telents. The human life is the capital fund. The dividend earned from it is the state of gods and the loss suffered is the fall from human life into the states of hell and animal life. The continuation of human life stands for mere safeguarding of the capital fund without any kind of gain or loss. In the verse under reference, it is said that the attainment of human birth is effected by the observance of the moral precepts and the vows of a pious householder. The word vemāya has been explained in the commentary of Śrī Śantyācārya as follows:
vividhā mātrā parimāpamāsām vimatrāḥ, vicitraparimaņāḥ, parimāņaviseṣamāśritya visadṛsibhiḥ sikṣābhiḥ
tābhiḥ
prakṛtibhadrakatvādyabhyasarūpābhiḥ.
The expression vemayahim sikkhahim accordingly means 'through moral precepts observed in various measures'.
But, to us, the word vemaya appears to stand for 'absence of maya (deceit)'. If this is so, the expression 'vemayahim sikkhahim' would mean 'by (the observance of) the moral precepts, accompanied by the absence of deceit'. This interpretation should appear plausible because deceit is a condition of the birth in animal life (cf. maya tairyagyonasya' TS, VI. 17), which is averted by the absence of deceit in the observance of the moral precepts.
The most difficult portion of the verse is however the last foot, namely, kammasacca hu panino. The commentator gives an alternative reading, viz., karmasaktaḥ (Pkt. kammasatta). His interpretation of the two words is as follows:
1.
Read on June, 23-27, 1969 at the Seminar on Prakrt Studies organised by the centre of Advanced Study in Sanskrit, University of Poona, Poona.
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