Jaina Concordance And Bhasya Concordance

Here's a comprehensive summary of the provided Jain text, "Jaina Concordance and Bhasya Concordance" by K. Bruhn and C. B. Tripathi, drawing from the given pages:

Project Overview and Scope:

The article details the ongoing project of creating a "Jaina Concordance" and a subsequent "Bhasya Concordance," aiming to systematically organize and analyze the metrical material found in early Jain literature. This project focuses specifically on the "Niryuktis" and "Bhāṣyas," which are complex metrical commentaries (and pseudo-commentaries) on the Svetāmbara canon. These literary forms have long posed challenges to scholars due to their intricate nature and layered transmission.

Distinction between Niryukti and Bhasya:

The authors clarify that in this context, "Niryukti" and "Bhāṣya" are often used collectively to refer to the corpus of metrical commentaries, distinguishing them from prose commentaries like "Cūrṇis" and "Tikās." While they can refer to distinct literary types, their work treats them as a broader category of metrical explanatory texts.

Contents and Classification of Material:

The metrical commentaries (Niryuktis and Bhāṣyas) contain various types of material, including:

• Nikṣepas: Dogmatic and non-dogmatic discussions often structured dialectically.
• Monastic Discipline: Material related to the rules and practices of monastic life.
• Narrative Matter: Summaries and references to stories.
• Various Dogmatical Topics: Discussions on diverse philosophical and religious concepts.

The article provides a quantitative breakdown of the verses covered by the concordance project, categorized into:

• Svetāmbara Agama Works: Canonical texts like Angas, Upāngas, and other Sutras.
• Niryuktis and Bhāṣyas: The core focus of the project, listing numerous specific works with verse counts.
• Other Svetāmbara Works: Miscellaneous later Svetāmbara texts.
• Digambara Works: Primarily "Para-Canon" texts from the Digambara tradition.

The grand total of verses cataloged at that stage was 49,805.

Methodology and Challenges:

The concordance is being built using a punch-card system housed at the Freie Universität Berlin, supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. Each verse is cut out, pasted on a card, and then punched to indicate its work and position within the work (using blocks of 25 verses). The cards are then arranged alphabetically to create distinct sections for easier retrieval.

Several significant challenges are highlighted:

• Defining Verse Totals: Different editions and recensions can lead to variations in verse counts, requiring careful attention to accurate counting and internal numbering systems.
• Layered Transmission: Niryuktis and Bhāṣyas often have interlaced layers of transmission with separate numbering, complicating accurate verse identification.
• Textual Variants: While the metrical structure (primarily Āryā meter) helps stabilize verses, orthographical variants and real textual variations exist, often revealed through parallels.
• Unpublished/Undescribed Works: The incompleteness of scholarly editions and manuscript cataloging limits the inclusion of all relevant works.
• Verse-Prose Relationship: The close connection between metrical commentaries and prose commentaries (Cūrṇis, Tikās) means prose passages can also serve as parallels, and prose commentaries themselves contain unrecorded "new verses."
• "Chains of Terms" (Begriffsreihen): The pervasive presence of these enumerations, often with variations in number, members, order, and vocabulary, is a significant feature impacting interpretation and requires careful cross-referencing.
• Language and Composition: The language of Niryuktis and Bhāṣyas is often described as ungrammatical, employing "catchwords," mnemonic devices, and simplified grammatical structures, favoring mechanical composition and repetition.
• Vocabulary Development: Authors of these commentaries tended to coin new words or use far-fetched substitutes, creating a specialized vocabulary often not found in standard dictionaries.
• Dispositional Schemes: Authors often announced topics in advance using devices like chains or "dvāra-gāthās," but there can be discrepancies between these announcements and the actual content.
• Degrees of Relationship: Quantifying the extent of agreement between verses (total, partial, etc.) across different works and within the same work is complex.
• Standardization: Achieving a consistent alphabetical arrangement requires standardization of variations (orthographical, and potentially stylistic), which is a time-consuming process.

The "Bhasya Concordance" Project:

Building upon the Jaina Concordance, a separate "Bhasya Concordance" project is planned, focusing specifically on five major Bhāṣya works: Brihatkalpa-Bhāṣya, Jitakalpa-Bhāṣya, Niśitha-Bhāṣya, Pañcakalpa-Bhāṣya, and Vyavahāra-Bhāṣya, totaling over 23,000 verses. This project aims to provide a more focused and accessible publication of this important subset of the material, facilitating deeper study of the overlapping content and comparative analysis.

Purpose and Significance:

The Jaina Concordance and its planned Bhasya Concordance are crucial tools for:

• Tracing Parallels: Identifying similar verses across various Jain texts.
• Understanding Literary Stratification: Analyzing the development and relationships between different layers of Jain literature.
• Studying Jain Dogmatics: Providing a comprehensive resource for understanding the philosophical and disciplinary content of Niryuktis and Bhāṣyas.
• Facilitating New Editions and Interpretations: Enabling scholars to prepare more accurate editions and to interpret the complex language and structures of these texts.
• Promoting Scholarly Interest: Encouraging a deeper understanding and research into the "largely unexplored material" of early Jain metrical commentaries.

The project is considered an essential step in making the rich and complex early Jaina literature more accessible and comprehensible to scholars.