DD 209 : MF Die'Sprache der altesten buddhistischen Uberlieferung The Language of the Earliest Buddhist Tradition (Symposien zur Buddhismusforschung, II) Herausgegeben von Heinz Bechert GOTTINGEN . VANDENHOECK & RUPRECHT - 1980 Zk 0-47, AIS SraserVorgelegt von Herm H. Bechert in der Sitrung vom 9. Dezember 1977 CIP-Kuratitelaufnahme der Deutschen Bibliothek Die Sprache der diltesten buddhistischen Uberlieferung = The language of the earliest Buddhist tradition / hrag. von Heinz Bechert. - Géttingen : Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, 1980. (Symposien zur Buddhismusforschung ; 2) (Abhandlungen der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Gdttingen, Philologisch-Historische Klasse : Folge 5 ; Nr. 117) ISBN 5-525-82397-5 NE: Bechert, Heinz (Hrsg.]; PT © Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht in Gattingen 1980. — Printed in Germany. Ohne ausdrickliche Genehmigung des Veriages istes nicht gestattet, das Buch oder Teile daraus auf foto- oder akustomechanischem Wege mu vervielfiltigen. Gesamtherstellung: Hubert & Co., Gottingen AF SCParticular Features of the Language of the Arya-Mahasimghika- Lokottaravadins and their Importance for Early Buddhist Tradition By GUSTAV ROTH § 1. When Bhagavan Buddha moved preaching in Rajagrha and other places of Magadha he would have naturally addressed pooplo in Old Magadhi (Mg) or Old Ardhamagadhi (AMg) which itself is already a composite language as the name indicates. It is true thet Buddha’s iginal home in Kapilavastu, places of his later residence like Sravasti, asi, and Kuginagari, the place of his death, were all not situated in Magadha. Yet we may assume that Old Mg and Old AMg in particular, a language of literature and administration, extended beyond the region of Magadha on account of its growing and expanding power under mighty rulers and due to its importance as a center of religious reform movements during the sixth and third centuries B.C. I do not exclude the possibility that also other dialects existed in these regions, as for instance in Kapilavastu, which we do not know. They may have been spoken by fellow-monks of the Buddha, or by himself, when con- veying his message to the people in their respective mother-tongue!). ‘According to the early Jaina traditions laid down in the canonical Jaina text Samavae 111 (Suttdgame edition I, p. 346, 8-9), the Buddha’s great contemporary Mahavira declared that his Dhamma. is promulgated through the medium of the Addhamagahie bhasde. The earliest Buddhist tradition, however, did not favour any particular language. §2. According to the tradition, the first Buddhist Council was held in Rajagrha in order to establish @ Canon. About this council (sarigiti) we are well informed by J. Przyluski’s pioneer work*). We only read about announcements and recitations of texts, but nothing about written codifications. The language of the proceedings of the Council, the historicity of which I accept, might have been Old Mg or more likely Old AMg, or oven a more supra-regional type of Prakrit. § 3. Tho reports of the Council at Vaiééli*) (ca. 380 B.C.) which is the last one referred to in Vinayapitakas of different schools do not say 2) About the importance of autochton groups in the eastern Ganges region for the early history of Buddhism see A. Bareau, Les récits canoniques des funérailles du Buddha et leurs anomalies: Nouvel essai d’interpretation, Bulletin de 'Ecole Frangaise d’Extréme-Orient 62 (1975), pp. 151-189. 4) J. Przyluski, Le concile de Rajegrha, Paris 1926; E. Waldschmidt, Zum ersten buddhistischen Konzil in Rajagrha, Asiatica, Festschrift Friedrich Weller, Leipzig 1954, pp. 817-828. 3) M, Hofinger, Etude sur le concile de Vaisali, Louvain 1946.‘The Language of the Arya-MahAsimghika-Lokottaravadins 79 anything about the employment of writing in regard to records and decisions. They are, however, very important, as they inform us about the further spread of Buddhism during the 5th and 4th cent. B.C. along the Ganges basin up to Kauéambi and Mathura, and further in the south- west direction through Avanti up to the golf of Cambay. By touching these regions outside Magadha, far away from its influential sphere, speech usages other than Old Mg and Old AMg had to be adopted by Buddhist doctors at a rather early stage in order to make themselves understood in new environments. At the beginning they had to depend on oral traditions, not on written documents. We may, however, assume the farer the Buddhist communities had settled outside Magadha, the center of origin, the more the need was felt as to preserve the pure Dharma in a linguistically determined form of a canon and to write it down soon after the practice of writing had come into existence. It is soon after this Council at about 350 B.C. that the first schism of the Buddhist Samgha into two groups, the Sthaviras and the Maha- simghikas takes place‘), an event of highest consequences in the Buddhist Order which started in Pataliputra and spread all over the sub-continent. The Mahésimghika-Lokottaravadins, who acknowledged reality only with regard to the transcendental sphere, seceded from the Mahasimghi- kas proper in an internal split at about 300 B.C. From the time of emperor Aéoka onwards (ca. 274-234), who, accord- ing to his edicts at Kausimbi, Safichi and Sarnath‘), admonishes the Buddhist monks and nuns to stick to their rules, the employment of writing and through it a more definite fixation of the already existing different canons wins ground. $4. Soon after Agoka consequential changes take place in India which touch also the field of linguistics. Old Mg and Old AMg are on the decline. Buddhist Communities in the West and South of India come into prominence and with them a language usage which is more in line with the standards of the western than the eastern speech. The same developments bring about a change in the language conditions of the socalled AMg-canon of the Jainas by the entrance of the western Maha- Tastri speech usage into its sections*). This development seems to me clearly documented by the famous Hathigumpha Cave Inscription of Kharavela (ca. ist cent. B.C.) on the *) A. Baroau, Los sootes bouddhiques du Petit Véhicule, Saigon 1955, pp. 75-78 in particular; Der indische Buddhismus, in: Die Religionen Indiens, Stuttgart 1964 (Die Religionen der Menschheit 13) pp. 20-21, 92-108 in particular. 5) All these inscriptions bear the characteristics of Old AMg: nom. ag. of a-stems ending in -e, loc. sg. -asi, la for ra, and dental # written throughout. See H. Bechert, Aéoka’s “Schismenedikt” und der Begriff Sanghabheda, WZKSO 6 (1961), pp. 18-52 *) L. Alsdorf, Les études Jaina — état présent et taches futurs, Paris 1965, pp. 18-21 in particular.80 Gustav Roth Udeyagiri Hills, near Bhubanegvara in the Puri district of Orissa’). Of what we can read is enough to show that there are no traces of AMg at all, though this inscription belongs to the eastern region. It is pre- cisely written in the language usage of the western Prakrits, near the Pali type of language. There is, e. g. nom. sg. masc. ending -o, used for -as, instead of Mg/AMg -e throughout the readable portions of the in- scription. Twice the particle dani is used in ta dani (line 2), and ca dani (line 6), which is preferably used in Sauraseni and frequently occurs in the Vinaya-texts of the Mahisimghika-Lokottaravadins (see below, § 9). Verb forms like ramjayati, pathapayati (line 4), kidapayati (line 5), vam- dapayati (lines 6, 12), dadati (line 9) which is Sanskrit, kérayati®) (line 10) and others remind us of types of verbs which are frequently used in quasi-Sanskrit Buddhist literature. This and other inscriptions of this region give clear evidence of the fact that the western type of Prakrit has spread all over India replacing the eastern Mg/AMg variation. These changed conditions forced the Buddhist Communities at @ rather early stage to adopt themselves to the new standards avoiding the pronun- ciation of the uneducated mlecchas of the east), which they would not accept as the true spelling of the Lord. At the same time the Buddhists continued to see in Magadhi*) the sacred language of the Buddha’s doctrine, taking the Pali church language for its true representation. Besides, the growing influence of the Sanskrit renaissance, represented by Patafjali’s Mahabhasya (ca, 2nd cent. B.C.), becomes powerful. All this happened at a time when the canons of the already existing different, Buddhist schools and of the Jainas were more and more handed down in written documents, recorded under the impact of considerable changes which had taken place since the time of the Buddha in regard to historical and linguistic conditions. After the centers of Buddhism were shifted from the east to the west and to the south, a move also shared by the Jaina communities, due to the new environments outside the Magadha sphere there was no chance for Old Mg and Old AMg to survive in a type of literature which had to stand for competition with other religious move- ments of that period. This survey shows that we should expect the Buddhist scriptures written in any other language but Old Mg and Old ‘AMg since early times. 1) D.C. Sircar, Select Inscriptions—from the Sixth Century B. C. to the Sixth Century A.D., Coloutte 1942, pp. 206-214, ’) Fr. Edgerton, Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Grammar and Dictionary, Volume I: Grammar, New Haven 1953, § 38.9, 22, about kérayati 38.5. %) P. Thieme, Der Fremdling im Reveda, Leipzig 1938, p. 4 in particular. *) B. Sharma (editor), The Samanta-Pasidika, Vol. 3, Nalanda-Patna 1967, p. 1207.2-3: sakdya niruttiya ti ettha eaka nirutti ndma Sammésambuddhena vuttop- pakdro Magadhiko vohdro “By one’s own speech usage’, here one’s own speech usage means the Magadhi mode of apooch as pronounced by the Perfectly En- lightened One.””‘The Language of the Arya-Mahisémghika-Lokottaravadins 8t §5. The growing impact of Sanskrit during the 2nd cent. B.C.-2nd. cent. A.D., and further on, leads to the increasing influx of Sanskrit forms into the domain of Prakrit, producing a mixed type of language, where Prakrit and Sanskrit forms co-exist side by side. This more supra- regional type of language helped the Buddhist clergy from different regions as to communicate easier in matters of the doctrine. The scriptures of the Mahisimghika-Lokottaravadins and the inscrip- tions of Mathura give clear evidence of this development. Intentionally I refer to both of them together, because both, though different in con- tents, share common linguistic backgrounds (seo below, § 8). For the study of the language of the Ma-L literature, the following texts are available now: 1, Mahavastu-avadana. 2, A Vinaya fragment discovered in Bamiyan (Afghanistan), written in Gupta Brahmi of the 6th/7th cent. A.D.™), 3, A specimen of the Bhikgu-Prakirnaka Vinaya included in Santi- deva’s Sikgasamuccaya™), 4, Abhisamacarika Dharma, a supplement to the Bhikgu-Prakirnaka- Pratimokga-Siitra). 6. Bhiksuni-Vinaya: Bhiksuni-Pratimoksa-Vibhaiga, Bhiksuni-Pra- kirnaka, and a Summary of the Bhikgu-Prakirnaka in the form of key- words (uddana)"), All these titles belong to o particular group of Buddhist texts in which scattered Prakritic forms stand in a Sanskritic surrounding in both prose and metrical passages. The last three (4, 5,6) have been published by the K.P, Jayaswal Research Institute at Patna, and edited on the base of the Indian manu- scripts discovered and photographed by R.Saakrtydéyana 1938 in Tibet. He did not bring the original manuscripts with himself. The nega- 19) §, Lévi, Noto sur des manuscrites sansorites provenant de Bamiyan (Afgha- nistan) ot de Gilgit (Cachemire), Journal Asiatique 1932, pp. 1-45, pp. 4-12 in particular. 14) C, Bendall, editor, (ikshésamuccaya a Compendium of Buddhist Teaching, compiled by (antideva, St.-Poterburg (1897-1902), repr. S-Gravenhage (1957), . 154-157. PP.a) B.Jinenanda (editor), AbhisamBodriké (Bhikeupralirpaka), Patna 1968 (Tibetan Sanskrit Works Series 9). 38) N. Tatia (editor), Pratimokgasitram of the Lokottaravédimahésiaghike School, Patna 1976 (Tibetan Sanskrit Works Series 16). 4) G. Roth (editor), Bhikguni-Vinaya—Manual of Discipline for Buddhist nuns, including Bhiksuni-Prakirnaka and a Summary of the Bhikgu-Prakirnaka of the Arya-Mahisimghika-Lokottaravadin, Patna 1970 (Tibetan Sanskrit Works Series 12).82 Gustav Roth tives of their photocopies are kept at present in the archives of the Bihar Research Society at Patna. These manuscripts are not dated. However, for palaeographic reasons and on account of the dated Mahakala-Tantra manuscript (dated the fifth regnal year of Madanapala, i.e. 1149 A.D.) of the same collection, the script of which is identical with the one of Abhis.-Dh. (Mé-L) manuscript and Bhi-Vin (Mé-L) manuscript, their date can be assigned to the middle of the 12th cent. A.D. They were prob- ably written in Vikramagila and sont to Tibet at that time. In the above mentioned Vinays texts of the Ma-L, particularly in the Abhisamacariké, and the Bhiksu Pratimoksasiitra, verses of the Dharma- pada are included, which seem to belong to the Dhp version of the Ma-L. In MvuIII, pp. 434-436, the complete Sahasra-varga containing 24 stanzas is to be found, which has its parallels in the Pali Dhp 100-115, GDhp 305-321 (Brough edition), and in the Patna Dhp (verses 1-22) where it is varga 21, the last but one. PDhp is also written in Proto- Bengali characters like the other Patna scriptures of the S&akrtyayana collection to which it belongs. The text is not ascribed to particular school, but was certainly within the reach of the M&-L, as it comes from the same region, indicated by the type of its script. ‘Whereas some portions of the above mentioned Mé-L texts read like Sanskrit and others include more Prakrit forms together with Sanskrit, PDhp is more Prakritic and more homogeneous in the character of its language, which is closely related to Pali. Here we can study the first attempts to hang a Sanskrit mantle round a Prakrit text, through which the Middle-Indic character of the language is clearly shining. $6. Regarding details of tho features of the language of the M&-L, I may refer to the list of my articles’). Here, I limit myself to general observations in regard to some particular features of their language. In view of the huge text material of the Mi-L, listed above, we have to be aware of the fact that since the appearance of the Ma-L at about 300 B.C., ® millenium and more of ages have passed by up to the dates of their written documents which are available to us. Let us begin with their oldest document, the Bamiyin fragment, written in the Gupta Brahmi of the 6th/7th cent. A. D."*), only one leaf, written on both sides each containing 10 lines (Lévi, pp. 7-8, fragment 38) G. Roth, Bhikguni-Vinaya and Bhikgu-Prakirnaka and Notes on the Lan- guage, Journal of the Bihar Research Society 62 (1966), pp. 29-51; Terminologi- sches aus dem Vinaya der Mahdsimghika-Lokottaravadins, ZDMG 118 (1968), pp. 334-348; “‘A Saint like That” and “A Saviour” in Prakrit, Pali, Sanskrit and ‘Tibetan Literature, Shri Mahavir Jaina Vidyalaya Golden Jubiloo Volume, Part 1, Bombay (1968), pp. 46-62; Particle dani in the Vinaya Texts of the Mahasam- ghika-Lokottaravadins and the Inscriptions of Adoka, Studies in Indo-Asian Art and Culture (Acharya Raghu Vira Commemoration Volume) I, New Delhi (1972), . 211-218, PPig) L. Sander, Paléogrephisches zu den Sanskrithandschriften der Berliner ‘Turfansammlung, Wiesbaden 1968, pp. 123-130.‘The Language of the Arya-MahAsimghika-Lokottaravadins 83 no. 5). Next to this, I would place another one, written in the late Gupta Brahmi of the 8th cent. A.D., only one leaf, written on both sides each containing 8 lines (Lévi, pp. 11-12, fragment no. 7). Both fragments are pieces of Vinaya-prose. These little remnants contain, in # nutshell, the main features of the language of the Ma-L, which we also find in the complete texts of BhuPratim, Bhi-Vin, and Abhis.-Dh. (Ma-L). Em- bedded in Sanskrit, they are: 1, The ending -o instead of -as for nom. sg. of a-stems irrespective of its occurrence before a voiced or voiceless consonant with which the next word begins, as in MI languages, e.g. pravisto so dani 5b. 6; Sariputro ca sthaviro antardyate 7b. 5. (Cf. BHSG 8.18.) 2, The MI ending -ehi for instr. pl., e.g. grha-sthehi na pravrae jitehi 5a. 7. (Cf. BSG 8.108.) 3. The frequent use of the particle dani, e.g. a¢ dani 5a. 2,3; a0 dani Tb. 4; aham dani 5b. 9; which beside the reading dénim is characteristic of the language style of the Ma-L. This may prove helpful to determine dialect influences upon their scriptures. Lévi (p. 2) already recognised its particular importance. 4, Noteworthy is also the particular use of the verb dsddayati 7a. 4 (Lévi, p. 11). Lévi’s reading vinayati (kI)amam dsddayati can be restored with confidence vinaydtikramam dsddayati “he commits a transgression of the Vinaya”, which is a very common stock phrase in Bhi-Vin (M&-L). It seoms to be the sole property of the Vinaya language of the Ma-L, as it occurs neither in the Pali Vinaya nor in the Vinaya texts of the Sa/Ma. There can be no doubt that Ms leaf 7 contains a Vinaya text most likely of the Ma or Ma-L. §7. Santideva’s Siksisamuccaya (ca. 7th cent. A.D.) pp. 154-157 of ©. Bendall’s edition”) includes a specimen of the Bhiksu-Prakirnaka Vinaya, which belongs to the Prakirnaka section of the Ma/Ma-L Vina- yas**), Of it only its contents in the form of uddanas are available in its Indian version, which is included in the Bhi-Vin (Mé-L) edition’). Bendall’s edition is mainly based on a Nepalese manuscript of the 15th cent. A. D. The specimen consists of a short passage and 21 stanzas. They are fully dressed in Sanskrit and belong to the finest. pieces of Buddhist poetry proclaiming “the propitiation of all sentient beings with kindness”. Tho Vinaya prose supplies » form which is dominant in BhuPratim, Bhi-Vin and Abhis.-Dh. (Ma-L). This is to be noticed in the following sentence: atha khalv Syugman Anando(!) tasya glanasya bhikgusya 1) See note 11. 1#) See Introduction of Bhi-Vin (Ma-L), p. I, where the Sk. titles of the seven sections of the Ma-Vinaya according to the order of its Chinese translation are enumerated. 39) In it the key-word civara-pratisamyuktam [42], Bhi-Vin, p. 329, is included to which this specimen may belong.84 Gustav Roth civarani dhovati, Bhagavin udakam Asificati (Bendall, p. 155. 1-2). “Then reverend Ananda washed indeed the robes of the sick monk, and the Lord poured the water.” Gen. sg. bhiksusya = MI bhikkhussa instead of Sk. bhiksoh, or vastusya for Sk. vastunah are the regular forms in all the Ma-L Vinaya texts mentioned above including Mvu (for Mvu references see BHSG 12. 35). Contrasting with them, Mi Vinayavastu (Gilgit Mss)®°) and Sa MPS and CPS (Turfan Mss) read regularly bhikgoh*), in line with the Sanskrit character of these texts. Gen. sg. bhiksoh also occurs in Bhi-Vin (Ma-L), but only in few cases. The form bhikgusya also out-weighs the one of bhiksoh in the Mathura inscriptions as one can easily find out with the help of K. L. Janert’s complete Index). Very common is nom. pl. bhikgit for Sk. bhiksavah in BhuPratim, Bhi- Vin and Abhis.-Dh. (Ma-L), which remind us of bhikkhd in Pali and in the AMg passages of the Jaina Canon. §8. Bhi-Vin is the most voluminous one of the three Ma-L Vinaya- texts. Its manuscript, discovered and photographed by R. Saikrtys- yana in the year 1934 in Tibet, written in proto-Bengali characters of the 11th cent, A.D., is about 600 years younger than Fa-hsien’s Chinese translation of the complete M& Vinaya. It reads Sanskrit with inter- spersed Prakritic forms—in some text-portions more in some less—, like the other Ma-L Vinaya texts including Mvu. Here I limit myself to treat some peculiar features which may help us to determine the posi- tion of the language of the MA-L more precisely. There are nouns of r-stems ending in -are which are used for any oblique sg. case-ending. So we read Bhi-Vin §2, pp. 5-6: si, (Mahapra- japati) Bhagavato padau girasi vanditva sirddham Cchandaya Cchanda- kapalaye Dasacchandaye Cchandaka-matare ca yena tani pafica Saki- yani-gatani tendpasamkramitva Sakiyaniyo etad avocat. “After she had greeted with her head respectfully the two feet of the Lord, she (Maha- prajapati) went with Chanda, Chandakapala, Dasachanda and with the mother of Chandaka to the five hundred Sikya-women and said to the Sakya-women.” See text parallels §§ 3 and 17. As an example for dative ag. Bhi-Vin § 140 (p. 107) offers imdya itikitikdya dhitare “for this daughter of a witch”, and even for a dual-compound Bhi-Vin § 172 (beginning) has dve maté-dhitare “the two mother and daughter”. BHSG 13.34~37 quotes more examples of this type only from Mvu. Taking into consideration its occurrence in the above Ma-L scripture %) N. Dutt (editor), Gilgit Manuscripts, Vol. II, Pts. 1-3: Vinayavastu, Srinagar 1947, 1942, 1943. 2) E, Waldschmidt (editor), Das Mahaparinirvanasitra, Toile 1-3, Berlin 1951; Das Catugparigatsiitra, Teil 3, Berlin 1962. ¥) K.L, Janert (editor), Hoinrich Liders, Mathuré Inschriften, Gottingen 1961. Th. Damsteegt, Epigraphical Hybrid Sanskrit, Leiden 1978.‘The Language of the Arya-Mahasimghike-Lokottaravadins 85 we are permitted to see a particular feature of the language of the Ma-L in it. In BHSG 13.33 Edgerton observes: “Without precedent in any MI known to me are forms in -are, -ari (both used only in prose, the variation hence not due to meter) which seem to be used for any oblique singular case-form.” These forms, however, are also well attested in the Mathura inscrip- tions) in passages which actually read like parallel passages of our Bl Vin. So we find the ending -are for instr. sg. in § 1 of Janert’s edition Budharakhitasa matare Amohddsiye ... “by Amoghadisi, the mother of Buddharaksita”, for gen. sg. in §180 (Janert, p. 206): Samanika- matare Samanikdye .. . “of the mother of Sramanika, of Sramanika .. . This is a dated inscription which refers to mahdraja Haveska devaputra. The use of mdtare in this specific function shared by both the scrip- tures of the Ma-L and the Mathura inscriptions demonstrably shows that their language stand on common grounds. This is supported by so many other common features. Thus we find in Mathura nom. sg. -o in Bodhi- saco patithapito ete.; fem.sg. ending -dye in updsikaye, Samanikaye, bhadraye ete.; ending -iye in bhiksuniye, antevdsiniye ete.; ending -isya in svdmisya, Vrdhisya etc.; ending -ehi in putrehi, pramukhehi etc. (See Janert’s Index of the Mathuré Inscriptions, and mine of the Bhi-Vin). These striking correspondences lead me to conclude that the Prakrit underlying the scriptures of the Ma-L and the Mathura inscriptions is one and the same. It is apparently the standard Prakrit for official use which evolved in West- and Central-India and proved suitable for co- existence with Sanskrit. Besides, we may infer from this language situation that the formation of the type of language common to both the Ma-L and the Mathura in- scriptions would have taken place in an area round the Mathura region at about @ time when inscriptions were engraved there, i.e. in the first and second centuries A.D. This is supported by the fact that Mathura, was a center of the Mahasémghikes, of whom the inscriptions give evi- dence, at that time. So we read (Janert, § 157) in an inscription con- taining a reference to Kaniska that a Bodhisattva image was sot up as a gift “for the acceptance of Mahasimghika teachers” (acariyana Maha- saghiyand pratigrahe). There are altogether five records which refer to the Mahasimghikas in the Mathura inscriptions, while other groups like the Sarvistivadins, the Dharmaguptakas, the Vatsiputriyas, and the Samgha of the Sthaviras, are mentioned only once (see Janert, Index). Though the Lokottaravadins are not expressly mentioned there, we may assume that they are included by the title of Mahdsanghiyénam, as they are written in one inscription. *) H. Liiders, Bruchstiicke buddhistischer Dramen, Berlin 1911 (Kleinere Sanekrit-Texte 1), p. 11.86 Gustav Roth §9. Provided that the localisation of the final redaction of the Ma-L Canon in the area of Mathura proves to be correct, we may assume that it took place in a region where the Sauraseni was at home. Are there any indications of this language contained in our Ma-L Vinaya-texts? The frequent occurrence of the particle dani, a specific feature of its language, e.g.: atha dani, so dani, tahim dani ote. frequently met with passages of Bhi-Vin, Abhis.Dh., Mvu (Ma-L) and the Bamiyan fragment, make Sauraseni influence likely. Though we find te déni in the Minor Rock Edicts of Asoka (Hultzsch, p. 166, E) in a context of Old AMg, and though it occurs only occasionally in the Mg of the ancient Indian drama, yet it is used preferably in its cea passages, and this at a rather early period. According to Liiders the fragments of the Buddhist dramas discovered in Turfan (Central Asia) were written in India at the beginning of the Christian era during the Kuéana period. Thus, they represent the oldest manuscript material of India, And here it is in the “Old Sauraseni” passages where we meet with the particle dani: kin khu dani (p. 43); kin dani (p. 52). This is in line with the table drawn by L. A. Schwarzschild™), who notes dénim for the Sauraseni dialect (cf. Pischel, § 144). ‘Towards Sauraseni also point the frequent absolutive forms ending in -ya, made on the non-Paninian pattern of simple verb + ya, and found in compound verbs, From Bhi-Vin let me quote anihsariya (§ 174, p.169, line 2); the following order of succession: grhniya dhoviya siviya phosiya (§ 177, p. 174). There are many more such forma in the Abhis.-Dh. with whom one could fill a whole notebook: kdryam kariya (p. 136, line 9), dhoviya ... nirmadiya (p. 143, lines 16-17), padyiya®) (p. 155, line 4), choriya (ib., line 1), piviya dabdapiya (p. 157, lines 17-18), dgacchiya (p. 132, line 14, p. 133, line 3), khaniya bandhiya (p. 92, line 8) etc., all quoted from Jinananda’s edition, and the readings verified in the manu- script. Moreover, we find this absolutive suffix also in Old Sauraseni passages of the Buddhist drama fragments edited by Litders as mentioned above: Kariya (p. 44, line 6); euniya (pp. 52, 53); lagiya (p. 53, line 4); nivasia (p. 53, line 13); yojiya (p. 55); nirovarnniya (p. 55). These forms spread all over India, and can te traced also in Digam- bara Jaina Prakrit texts of South India, in which Sauraseni and Maha- dgtri forms stand side by side. So we have in Kaséyapahuda III*): kariya pp. 319.2, 429. 1, 441.13; ib. bandhiya line 4; acchiya line 6; vaddha- *) L.A. Schwarzachild, Quelques adverbes pronominaux du moyen indien Tl: Les adverbes de temps, JAs 1957, pp. 239-252, and p. 242 in particular. %8) Cf. pasiya (Ayar.), and pasiya (Utt.) attributed to AMg and JM by Pischol § 590 (p. 399. 23-24), %) Pt. Phulchandra Siddhantashastri and Pt. Kailashachandra Siddhan- tashastri (editors), Jayadhavala-sahitam Kasdyapihudam II: Thidi-vihatti, Chaurdsi-Mathuré 1965. The work ia published up to Vol. 13 (1972).‘The Language of the Arya-Mahdsimghika-Lokottaravadins 87 viya lines 7, 13; but Mahérigtri k@na p. 445.6, 8; jdnidiina (d hore hiatus bridge, not Sauraseni d) p. 441.8. There are many more examples. § 10. In Abhis.-Dh.*”) we frequently meet, besides -ya and -tvd, with the absolutive suffix -yénam, which draws our attention to such « form occurring in AMg passages of the Jaina Canon. So we read in Abhis.-Dh. IIL.1: kathinam astariyanam pidim dhoviyénam kathinasmim pallam- kenopavisiyanam tam civaram sivitavyam (fol. 20b. 2 = Jin., pp. 91- 92) “Having spread the rough cloth, having washed the feet, and seated crosslegged on the rough cloth, that cloth should be sewn.” Other examples: samghérémam pravisiyanam (fol. 31b. 4 = Jdin., p. 144.3); vihéram pravigiyinam dranyakim bhikeim pratisammodiyénam |... stapam vandiyanam bhumjiyanam gantavyam (fol. 32, 6 = Jin., p.148, 14. 15). ‘This form also ocours in the following Arya-verses: ghatya**) bhavanty aghdtydcaram siksiyanam vinayam ca sthdnegu ca aiévaryam labhanti acdra-guna-yuktah. vadhya bhavanty avadhya acdram éiksiyanam vinayam ca tasman™) narena satatam acdra-gunena bhavitavyam. (fol. 35a. 3-4 = Jin., p. 158). “They, who are going to be slain, are not going to be slain, when they have learned right conduct and discipline. Endowed with the qualities of right conduct, they gain supremacy over (dangerous) situations.” “They, who are going to be murdered, are not going to be murdered, when they have learned right conduct and discipline. Therefore, man should always be endowed with the quality of right conduct.” ‘These verses are contained in the story of the leader of a gang of thieves (cora-senépati) who raids the house of a merchant, but desists moved by the attitude of the merchant’s son, who serves him as if nothing had happened. In this passage the son is twice addressed by the captain of the thieves hamgho daraka. Hitherto this particular particle of address hamgho, instead of usual hamho and hambho, had been nowhere traced but in an Old Magadhi passage of the Buddhist drama fragments nos. 4,71) Liders, Bruchstiicke, pp. 34, 35). Significantly it occurs also in another Abhis.-Dh. passage marked by Magadhi features as in the se- quence of words addressing a senior monk like dlaye [= aliye = dryah (nom. sg. as voe.)] ti v@ bhante ti va dyusmante ti vd*), *) See note 12. This text is written on 50 palm-leaves by the same unknown scribe who wrote the manuscript of Bhi-Vin (MA-L), precisely in the characters of the Pala inscriptions of 11th/12th cent. It is photographed on plates 104/10B- 16A-16B in continuation of the photo-plates of Bhi-Vin (M&-L). 8) Jinananda, p. 158, reads wrongly dhatyd. %) Jinananda ib. wrongly vaemdn, Seo plate 14A. 7.3 = fol. 35a. 3-4. ™) G. Roth, Von Magadhi hamgho zu Bengali ham go, Beitrige zur Indien- forschung, Ernst Waldschmidt zum 80. Geburtetag gewidmet, Berlin 1977, pp. 424- 430, and p. 426, line 1.88 Gustav Roth. Thus, it does not seem to be merely per chance that this particle of address occurs in a context where absolutiva of the AMg type are in- cluded, So, besides those quoted from the above cited verses, we find here the absolutiva thapiyanam, ghattiyanam, okkhandiydnam™), and prajedliydnam (fol. 34b. 3 = Jin., p. 156.7, 10, 11). Many more cases can be quoted from Abhis.-Dh. In this connection we observe that the absolutive suffix -ydnam is pre- ferrably used in the older layers of AMg passages of the Jaina Canon. Pischel (§ 592) notes a number of instances from Ayaramgasutta, e.g. palichindiyanam = Sk. parichidya in Ayar.1.3.2 = Suttagame Ed. I, p. 12.8), which occurs in a verse of 11 syllables, in one of the oldest layers of this text, representing the earliest evidence of this absolutive form"). So we may state with confidence that these absolutiva quoted above from Abhis.-Dh. (Ma-L) belong to the AMg category of absolu- tive forms. Attention is to be paid to the fact that we find these forms only in Abhis.-Dh. (M&-L), and not in Bhi-Vin (Ma-L). § 11. In § 10 the verses 3 and 4, out of altogether 6 verses, were quoted and translated which conclude the story of the merchant’s son and the leader of the gang of thieves. The last verse (éloka) is expressly designated as belonging to the Dharmapada: Bhagavan etasmin vastuni Dharme- padam bhagate™): na brahmanasya prahareya nasya mumceya brahmano dhig brahmanasya hantéram tam pi dhik yo ’sya mumcati (fol. 35a. 4 = Jin., p. 159, 1-3), “He should not assail a Brahman, a Brahman should not deprive him of his life. Shame on the slayer of a Brahman, but also shame on him (the Brahman), who deprives him (the other one, the non-Brahman) of his life.” A parallel stanza in the Patna Dharmapada**) led me to translate in the above manner. PDhp 46 = III.13 reads: *1) Jinananda, p. 156. 10 wrongly okyandiyanam. See correct okkhandiyanam in Abhis.-Dh. Ms fol. 39b. 3, and fol. 25a. 7, fol. 25b. 1-2, of. Jinananda, p. 115. See Pkt. okkhamd = Sk. ava-khanday — torn PSM “break up”. %) Suttagame prints palicchindiyd nam, like Jacobi in his edition, but palis chindiyanam is correctly read by W. Schubring, Acdranga-siitra. Erster Sruta- skandha. Text, Analyse und Glossar, Leipzig 1910, p. 14.18-21. 4) K. R. Normann, Some Absolutive Forms in Ardha-Magadhi, IIJ II (1958), pp. 311-315, p. 314 in particular. %) Not dhasate, Jinananda, p. 159. 1. Otherwise the verse is correctly edited, and reference is made to the corresponding Pali Dhp verse. %) N.S. Shukla submitted a thesis under the title of “The Sanskrit Dharma- pada” for the degree of Master of Literature in Buddhist Studies in the University of Delhi in the year 1964. Not yet published.‘The Language of the Arya-Mahasimghika-Lokottaravadins 89 m& brihmanassa prahare nssa mu[mlJeceya brahmano dhi bramanassa hantéram y’ essa cisuna mu[m|ecati (fol. 3b. 6-4, 1). I am not sure if vdsuna or céisuna is to be read, as va and ca look some- times similar in the small type of script on the photostat copy. It is this reading, which we do not find in all the other known versions of Pali Dhp 389, GDhp 11 (Brough, p. 120), Uv 33.63 (Bernhard, p. 495), including the Ma-L verse quoted above, but which helps us to under- stand the meaning and grammatical function of muc that stands in all the versions. Let us operate with césuna = ca + asuna, where asuna {asuno) is a Pkt. acc. pl. = Sk. asin from asu “life”. Regarding Pali, CPD also notes asu (= pand) s.v. *asu. Now, we have in Sanskrit prandn with muc in the meaning of “to deprive of life, kill”, where pW notes: “prénan (Jmds (Gen.) Lebensgeister lésen, so v.a. Jmd. das Leben neh- men”, 8.v. 1. muc, of which asuna (asuno) muc is only a synonym. Hence I would translate this verse as follows: “He should not assail a Brahman, a Brahman should not deprive him of his life. Shame on the slayer of a Brahman, and (on the Brahman) who deprives him (he who is admonished not to kill a Brahman) of his life.” ‘There is no point of a Brahmana striking another one as suggested by J. Brough*) GDhp, n. 11, p. 179, who translates Pali Dhp 389a, b: “A (true) Brahman should not strike 2 Brahman not revile him.” The question arises why this verse is included in the Ma-L version referred to above. The answer is given by the text itself following the Ma-L Dhp verse. It serves the purpose of identification and shall have an edifying effect. The merchant's son is identified with Sariputra, the chief of the gang of thieves with a Brahman. A Brahman is not to be touched under any circumstances whatsoever, in order to avoid the evil consequences of communal disturbances. The Prakritic wording of PDhp stands from the language point of view just between the M&-L and the Pali version, nearer to Pali. § 12. Are there any traces of Mg/AMg preserved in Bhi-Vin (Ma-L)? I know only a few instances. There is one example for the ending -e in nom. ag. of a-stems: akhallamahalle ti vd, followed by akusalo ti vd apra- jfto ti vd kytud in Guru-Dharma 1 of Bhi-Vin § 22. Here, the scribe seems to have forgotten to draw the vertical lino after -ll- which makes -llo. Akhalla-mahalla means “‘a big wretch”. Perhaps more credit may be given to a case whero J is written in- stead of r: bhagandald, instead of bhagandara, “fistula in the anus” which is preceded by vicarcika aréo in a list of diseases about which a nun has to be questioned in Guru-Dharma 2 of Bhi-Vin §§ 36, 46, and 62. %) J. Brough (editor), The Gandhari Dharmapada, London 1962.90 Gustav Roth This reading is confirmed by bhagamdalam, preceded by gamdam, araim, pulaiyam in the Jaina Acérangasutta II.13 = Suttagame Ed., p. 87.4, 5, 8. From the Bhiksuni Pratimoksa-Vibhanga which is the biggest portion of Bhi-Vin (Ma-L) I can not give evidence of Mg/AMg remains neither from the disciplinary rules nor from their introductory and commentary portions. The designations for the different disciplinary groups like parajika-dharma, samghatisesa-dharma, pacattika-dharma, nihsargika-pa- cattika-dharma used throughout the Bhi-Vin and BhuPratim (Ma-L) are nearer the Pali terminology of pdrdjika-dhamma, samghddisesa-dhamma, pacittiya-dhamma, nissaggiya-pacittiya-dhamma than the one found in the Pratimoksa-texts of the Sa and Mi which read pardjika-dharma, samghavasesa-dharma, patayantika-dharma, naihsargika-patayantika-dhare ma. Regarding the éaiksa-dharma Bhi-Vin (Ma-L) has both the readings Saiksa and sekhiya dharma, the last one near Pali sekhiya dhamma, The above survey shows that the terminology of the Ma-L and the Theravadins are close to each other, though both are true secessionists, while the Sa/Ma who were in a stem line with the Sthavira-group after the split into the two groups of Mahasimghika and Sthaviras, developed a terminology of their own with regard to the designations of the dis- ciplinary groups 2-4 which cover more than two third of the whole Pratimokga text. From this I conclude that both the Mahasamghikas, represented by the Lokottaravadins, and the Sthaviras through the Theravadins, though in different camps, maintained a terminology, which they had in common before they seceded as Mahasamghikas and Sthaviras at about 350 B.C. In this way the Mahisimghika-Lokottaravadins and the Theravadins have preserved ® terminology which belongs to the early period of Buddhist tradition. ‘The language of the Pratimoksa éiksipadas, composed in the lapidary style of law-edicts, does not contain any linguistic material which could be attributed to @ particular local dialect. A comparision of the different versions of them shows that the Pali and the Ma-L versions are nearer to each other, while Sa and Mi are closer, standing on the common ground of Sanskrit. Particular language features of the Ma-L can be observed in verb forms. In Parajika-Dharma 2 of BhuPratim (Ma-L) we have the subsequent series of verbs: hanyemsu*”), bandhemsu, pravra- jemsu (fol. 6b. 5 = Tatia p. 6, quoted in Bhi-Vin, p. 80) which in the same sequence read in the corresponding Pali version: haneyyum, ban- dheyyum, pabbajeyyum. Verb forms in -ensu, opt. pl. 3, used as past-tense, as in the frequent verb form drocayemsu(h), are the common property of Abhis.-Dh., Bhi-Vin, BhuPratim, and Mvu (Mé-L). In the first three quoted Ma-L texts, I did not find any verb forms in etsu(h), which Edger- *) Tatia, o.c. (se0 n. 13), p. 6, reads hanemeu.‘The Language of the Arya-Mahasimghika-Lokottaravadins 1 ton BHSG 29. 18, 32.95-103 accepts. We see that Senart who preferred the ending -ensw in his Mvu edition, is fully supported by the evidence of Abhis.-Dh., Bhi-Vin, and BhuPratim (Ma-L). In Parajika-Dharma 2 and 3 of BhuPratim (Ma-L), the particle of address hambho in hambho puruga is used. It is noteworthy that here the more supra-regional hambho instead of Mg hamgho is given preference, though it was well known to the Ma-L (see § 10). We also find hambho purusa in Parajika 3 of Sa (Rosen, p. 54, n. 2), and Ma (Banerjee*), p. 8). The Facsimile Edition®) Vol. 10(1), Serial No. 3, p. 17: 24.2 reads vaded-dham-bhoh-puruga, observing Sk. Sandhi. In Pali Parajika 3 (o.c., p. 73) we have ambho purisa. The choice of hambho instead of the “vulgar” hamgho clearly indicates the tendency to use an elevated, supra-regional type of speech in the disciplinary law-edicts. In regard to the language of the disciplinary rules of the Pratimoksa we should be aware of the fact that in it the professional language of the Sramana-lawgivers, who were continuously on the move through the sub- continent, and who tried to establish a supra-regional language of their own, is recorded. These efforts finally led to the employment of the supra- regional Sanskrit which facilitated supra-regional communications, and helped to stand competition with other groups of the non-Buddhist reli- gious world in India. This supra-regional°) tendency is already to be observed in the earliest speech of the Buddha in his promulgation of the Four Noble Truths (cattéri ariya-saccdni) recorded in Pali Mahivagga 1.6. 19-22 = Vin I, pp. 10-11 (PTS edition), Mvu II.138.4-5, Mvu®) III.331.17— 332. 1ff. (Senart edition), and LV 407.12-409.20 (Lefmann edition). In @ specific study) Weller has shown that the Prakrit underlying these versions was Magadhi. § 13. Conclusion: The Ma-L Vinaya texts in their present form of Prakrit-cum-Sanskrit seem to have settled during the era of Kanigka %) A.C. Banorjee (editor), Pratimokga-Siitram (Milasarvastivada), Caloutte 1954, 4) Raghu Vira and Lokesh Chandra, Gilgit Buddhist Manuscripts (Facsi- mile edition) Vol. 10 (1), New Delhi 1959. “) Prof. John Brough very kindly corrected my misleading “over-regional”” in the first draft of this paper suggesting “supra-regional”. “) See the specimen of this Mvu version in Edgerton’s Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Reader, nos. 5, 6, and of LV, no. 7. In e 5 (Part 1) wrong verbforms have been printed like utpateteub (corr. pratyudgameteuls (corr.: pratyud- ), prddurbhavetouls (corr. erbhavensihy Not a single verb form of this type is to be found in no. 6 (Part 2) of the First Sermon! Besides we find i fa the two parts of the Mvu version of tho First Sermon the use of aénam, gon. pl of the pron. stem ta- (ea-), which frequently occurs in Mvu (s. BHSG 21, 44, 5 and seems to be the sole property of Mvu. It is to be connected with Pali eednam (Geiger 105. 1; 113. 1). 4) Fr, Weller, Uber die Formel der vier edlen Wahrheiten, OLZ 43 (1940) col. 73-79.92 Gustav Roth and Huviska in about the ist and 2nd cent. A.D. Both the Ma-L texts and the Mathura inscriptions share specific features which indicate the common background of a kind of standard Prakrit in coexistence with Sanskrit (§ 8)**). This process began even earlier, as the Hathigumpha, Cave inscription of Kharavela shows (§ 4). Certain features like the fre- quent use of the particle déni — also in the Hathigumpha inscription —, and certain types of absolutiva may be due to the influence of Sauraseni, the Prakrit dialect of the Mathura region which reached supra-regional standards (§§ 8, 9). Besides, traces of Mg/AMg have been found in pas- sages of Abhis.-Dh. (Mé-L) which is a Vinaya section of the Ma-L outside their Pratimoksa, running under the general designation of Prakirnaka- Vinaya, similar in its character to Pali Mahavagga and Cullavagga. Here we have noted the sequence dlaye (= dliye) bhante dyugmante, the Mg particle of address hamgho, and the frequent use of the AMg absolutive suffix -ydram (§ 10). These cases need not necessarily account for trans- lations from a Mg original, they seem to be merely representations for the influx of Mg forms from the floating mass of language materials, which found easier entrance into sections like Abhis.Dh. than into the Prati- mokga sections. The Prakrit of the Pratimokga, as we find it in the Pali and the Ma-L documents, was based on a more supra-regional type of standard Prakrit which developed established conventions for the professional language of the disciplinary law at a rather early stage. There are hardly any traces of Mg or AMg to be noted. Thus, it does not seem to be a mere chance that Liiders’ “Beobachtungen” give evidence of Magadhisms not from the Pali Patimokkha and its Vibhanga, but from Mahavagga and Culla- vagga, which belong to the so-called Khandaka-section of the Pali Vinaya (§ 12). In regard to the terminology of the titles of the different disciplinary groups of the Pratimokga like pardjika, samghdtisega ote. and the diction of their rules we have noticed a closer affinity between M&-L and Pali on one side and between Sa and Mi on the other side. Though this terminology, common to both the Ma-L and the Theravadins since ancient times, perhaps belongs to the earliest period of Buddhist tradi- tion, yet no traces of Mg or AMg can be noticed in it. This kind of language is the property of the super-regional Sramana-terminology of pre-Bud- dhist ages. #) B. Lamotte, Histoire du bouddhisme indien, Louvain 1958, pp. 617-657, and pp. 634-643 (Le sanskrit mixte) in particular; E. Waldschmidt, review of: Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Grammar and Dictionary. Vol. 1: Grammar. Vol. II: Dictionary. New Haven 1953 and Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Reader, Now Haven 1953 in: Gottingische Gelohrte Anzeigen, 208. Jg., Nr. 1/2 (1954), pp. 92-100, pp. 93, 98, 99 in particular. “) H, Ladera, Boobachtungen tiber die Sprache des buddhistischen Urkanons, Aus dem NachlaS herausgegeben von E. Waldschmidt, Berlin 1954.‘The Language of the Arya-Mahasamghike-Lokottaravadins 93 The supra-regional tendencies which included mixture of dialects were favoured by the early spread of Buddhism outside the Magadha region and through the cosmopolitan character of the Maurya capital Patali- putra, Aéoke had already to comply with such tendencies by employing ‘Half-Magadhi’ and a western type of Prakrit including other local varieties in his inscriptions of about 270-250 B.C. In the supplementary section of this paper a few notes on the language of the Patna Dharmapada are followed by an edition of this text. Supplement: 1. Notes on the Patna Dharmapada § 14, In § 11 of this articlo, a Sloka of the Patna Dharmapada (PDhp 46 = IIL. 13) is quoted. By comparing this verse with all the other available parallels scil. Pali Dhp 389, GDhp 11, Uv. 33.63, and the verse in Abhis.-Dh. (Ma-L) quoted in § 11 by me, it is clear that the version of PDhp is nearest to the Pali one. R. Sankrtyayana, the discoverer of this manuscript in Tibet, refers to it in the Journal of the Bihar and Orissa Research Society 21 (1935) p.41, XXXIV. 1.159, and notes: “Pali Dhammapada, translated into Sanskrit by tho Indian pandita Vanaratna (1384-1468 A.D.) who was ordained in Ceylon.” Then he quotes mano piirvamgama . . . which is the beginning of PDhp and also of Pali Dhp 1 (see PDhp 1). I do not know from where R. SéukrtySyana has this information. There is neither any reference about it in the Tibetan note on the first leaf of PDhp, which C. Th. Zongtse kindly deciphered, nor in the text itself. The Blue Annals‘*) which give detailed account (pp. 797-804) of Sri Vanaratna (aPal nags kyi rin chen) do not mention anything about a translation of the Dharmapada from a Pali version into Sanskrit done by Vanaratna. It seems that Sankrtyayana was misled by the following leaf which he photographed containing the text of the Vanaratna-stotra*). It has no connection with the PDhp and is also written by a different hand. Regarding the question whether our PDhp is a translatiom from a Pali version into Sanskrit, we may only say that here a weak attempt has been made to render a Prakritic text into Sanskrit. This is evident by the nature of its Prakritic language in which PDhp is composed, of which a complete edition is added at the ond of this paper. See also § 5. “) GN. Roerich, The Blue Annals, Parts 1,2, Delhi-Patna-Varanasi 11976. “) Vanaratna-stotram, odited by Jagadiévara Pandeya, in: Patalasrih, Samskrta-ndtya-parisadah sa-citram traimésikam mukha-patram, saptama-varge Prathamo “akah, Patna 1973.