-vada / -vadin

[L.S.Cousins]

Richard Salomon <rsalomon at U.WASHINGTON.EDU> writes:

>In inscriptions, we find both sarvaasti-vaada- and -vaadin- to refer to
>adherents (usually "aacaarya-s") of the school.  The former occurs, for
>example, in the Mathura lion capital (Konow CII II.2, line A-15 and J-3)
>and the Kurram casket ins. (ibid. p.11, line 1C).  I haven't checked this
>point extensively, but I would expect that inscriptions would be useful in
>clearing up (or perhaps rather in further confusing) this issue.

I wish someone would make a handlist of the names of Buddhist sects
occurring in inscriptions to update Lamotte's avowedly incomplete list. It
would be extremely useful. Actually, it's the sort of thing that would be
well-done on the Net,  perhaps as a collective effort.

You sometimes find Theravaada used in this way in verse. Plainly it _can_
be a bahu-vriihi compound used as a noun.

>On Sun, 1 Feb 1998, jonathan silk wrote:
>
>> I recently "corrected" the draft of a friend's paper, and suggested that
>> the usage Sarvastivada was correct for the sect, and Sarvastivadin for a
>> follower of said sect. The same for Vibhajyavadin. However, in looking
>> through some sources my friend tells me that the actual usage in texts
>> seems to be inconsistent. Is this possible, grammatically speaking?  In
>> other words, can we take 'Sarvastivadin' as the name of the sect and
>> 'Sarvastivada' is an adjective form (as the 'Mulasarvastivada-vinaya')?
>> Apparently both Frauwallner and Bareau use Sarvastivadin as the name of the
>> sect.
>>
>> Any comments welcome!
>>
>> Jonathan Silk
>> SILK at wmich.edu

Well, I think you are right. Yes, Sarvaastivaada and Theravaada can
probably be used as adjectives in Sanskrit. But you wouldn't often find
that in well-written prose. I would certainly say to students that they
should use Sarvaastivaadin and Theravaadin as the adjectival forms in
English. I would also simply say that the alternative is wrong to avoid
unnecessary complication.

MANCHESTER, UK

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Email: L.S.Cousins at nessie.mcc.ac.uk