2023-03-13 15:41:51 by ambuda-bot
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LEXICOGRAPHICAL STUDIES IN JAINA SANSKRIT'
I. Prabandhacintamani of Merutungasūri (1305 A.D.)
(
by
B. J. SANDESARA, Baroda
and
J. P. THAKER, Baroda
Just like the Gäthä-Sanskrit of the Buddhist texts, termed by Dr. Edger-
ton as Buddhist Hybrid Skt.', another peculiar type of mixed Skt. had been
cultivated by medieval Jaina writers mostly in Western India-especially in the
regions where Gujarati and Rajasthānī are being spoken. This literary medium
has been termed as Jaina Skt.' by scholars like Prof. M. Bloomfield, Dr. A. N.
Upadhye, Sri M. D. Desai and others, and the same has been called ' Vernacular
Skt.' by that indefatigable scholar of Jaina literature, Dr. Hertel.
(
The voluminous texts on Jaina mythology like Hemacandra's Trișașți-
śalākāpuruṣacarita, the Caritras or narratives of the lives of individual Tirthan-
karas composed by numerous Jaina poets, the Skt. commentaries on Jaina
Canonical texts in Pkt. composed between the 8th cent. and the 18th cent. A.D.
as also the commentaries of Jaina authors on Classical Skt. works-Kavyas and
Naṭakas-which were zealously studied and taught by them, the vast Katha-
literature in prose and verse, the widely cultivated form of literature of historical
anecdotes known as Prabandha' and a number of works on Jaina Theology,
Cosmology and allied subjects have been composed in this Jaina Skt.', which
can be described as the simple, popular, colloquial, regional Skt. as contrasted to
the Classical Skt.
"
²
The Jaina writers of medieval Gujarāta adopted this colloquial Skt. with
the intention of appealing to the masses at large. Consequently it is vernacular-
ised, so to say, to a considerable extent. It is replete with rare and obsolete
words as well as back-formations. Cases of even hyper-Sanskritism are not
scarce. Not only a number of words and expressions from the regional spoken
dialects but also their peculiarities of syntax etc. have crept in in a very natural
way.
One would find it very difficult, if not impossible, to grasp the proper
sense, without some knowledge of the old or modern regional language and
also of the Pkts.
Preparing vocabularies of such peculiar words from the Skt. writers of
different regions of India would serve a double purpose: It would be useful
for the reconstruction of spoken Skt. of different regions as well as for the
proper understanding of the development of modern regional languages. Prof.
I. Prabandhacintamani of Merutungasūri (1305 A.D.)
(
by
B. J. SANDESARA, Baroda
and
J. P. THAKER, Baroda
Just like the Gäthä-Sanskrit of the Buddhist texts, termed by Dr. Edger-
ton as Buddhist Hybrid Skt.', another peculiar type of mixed Skt. had been
cultivated by medieval Jaina writers mostly in Western India-especially in the
regions where Gujarati and Rajasthānī are being spoken. This literary medium
has been termed as Jaina Skt.' by scholars like Prof. M. Bloomfield, Dr. A. N.
Upadhye, Sri M. D. Desai and others, and the same has been called ' Vernacular
Skt.' by that indefatigable scholar of Jaina literature, Dr. Hertel.
(
The voluminous texts on Jaina mythology like Hemacandra's Trișașți-
śalākāpuruṣacarita, the Caritras or narratives of the lives of individual Tirthan-
karas composed by numerous Jaina poets, the Skt. commentaries on Jaina
Canonical texts in Pkt. composed between the 8th cent. and the 18th cent. A.D.
as also the commentaries of Jaina authors on Classical Skt. works-Kavyas and
Naṭakas-which were zealously studied and taught by them, the vast Katha-
literature in prose and verse, the widely cultivated form of literature of historical
anecdotes known as Prabandha' and a number of works on Jaina Theology,
Cosmology and allied subjects have been composed in this Jaina Skt.', which
can be described as the simple, popular, colloquial, regional Skt. as contrasted to
the Classical Skt.
"
²
The Jaina writers of medieval Gujarāta adopted this colloquial Skt. with
the intention of appealing to the masses at large. Consequently it is vernacular-
ised, so to say, to a considerable extent. It is replete with rare and obsolete
words as well as back-formations. Cases of even hyper-Sanskritism are not
scarce. Not only a number of words and expressions from the regional spoken
dialects but also their peculiarities of syntax etc. have crept in in a very natural
way.
One would find it very difficult, if not impossible, to grasp the proper
sense, without some knowledge of the old or modern regional language and
also of the Pkts.
Preparing vocabularies of such peculiar words from the Skt. writers of
different regions of India would serve a double purpose: It would be useful
for the reconstruction of spoken Skt. of different regions as well as for the
proper understanding of the development of modern regional languages. Prof.