Re: [INDOLOGY] Paṭhanārtha and vācanārtha

Sun Sep 16 10:12:10 UTC 2018

Here is an example of a colophon from a 19th-century Jaina gyān bāzī 
from western India:

लिषंतां॥ पं लक्ष्मिना जेठ॥ श्रावक केसो रांमજી वाचनार्थ॥

[written for the purpose of "vācana/vācanā" by lay follower Keso Rāṁmjī 
(under the instruction of?) Paṇḍit Lakṣminā Jeṭh]

The whole thing is written in Devanāgarī except for the "jī" which is 
written in Gujarati script. Following Sweta Prajapati's suggestion, I 
checked the meaning of "vācana" (neuter substantive) and "vāṁcavuṁ" 
(verb) in Mehta & Mehta's "Modern Gujarati-English Dictionary" from 1925 
(the only one currently available to me). Both indicate "reading, 
perusal, study" as the main meanings.

However, based on the examples provided by Rolf Heinrich Koch, I wonder 
whether vācanārtha could also be understood in the sense that the 
drawing of the gyān bāzī was assigned as a lesson.

Many thanks for your continued help in this matter.

Kind regards,
Jacob

Rolf Heinrich Koch via INDOLOGY skrev den 2018-09-15 18:54:
> If we speak of vācanā PWB has s.v. vācana 2) f. ā: "Lektion,
> Kapitel" =Hemacandra's Pariśiṣṭaparvan 9.67sq:
> 
> One part of the Jaina canon (the Dṛṣṭivāda) was lost. The
> sangha came together in Pataliputra and sent monks to Bhadrabāhu in
> Nepal asking him to come to Pataliputra and teach the
> Dṛṣṭivāda. Bhadrabāhu was engaged in a religious vow and
> refused to join the meeting of monks. He offered to teach daily seven
> lessons to monks there in Nepal:  ... _sapta dāsyāmi vācanāḥ_
> (9.67d).
> One lesson after returning from th begging tour (_tatraika vācanāṃ
> dāsye bhikṣācaryāta āgataḥ_ (9.68ab).
> etc
> 
> In the Buddhist Cullavagga  (GRETIL text) we read the colophon to a
> certain chapter of the Cullavagga:
> ..._mahāvihāravāsīnaṃ vācanā_  "[this is] the chapter
> (_vācanā_) from the residents of the Mahavihara...".
> 
> Best
> Heiner
> 
> Am 15.09.2018 um 17:41 schrieb Jacob Schmidt-Madsen via INDOLOGY:
> 
>> Dear Sweta,
>> 
>> Thank you for clarifying this. Your comments fit the context of my
>> material nicely, and would indeed make very good sense.
>> 
>> Best,
>> Jacob
>> 
>> Dr. Sweta Prajapati skrev den 2018-09-15 14:22:
>> Dear Jacob
>> 
>> I think that Vacanartha and Pathanartha, both have same meaning. In
>> some cases Vacanartha means for group reading, to make it read,
>> among
>> students or scholars. Vacanartha though it is derived from the root
>> vad, but the meaning that is accepted from Gujarati vacana means to
>> read and therefore such usage is found in Jain Gujarati manuscripts
>> colophon particularly when copied by Gujarati scribe in later
>> period.
>> 
>> While Pathanartha or Svapathanartha more specifically means for
>> reading by self and others or self reading. This is purely Sanskrit
>> usage.
>> 
>> Sweta Prajapati
>> 
>> Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android [2]
>> 
>> On Sat, 15 Sep 2018 at 4:50 pm, Jacob Schmidt-Madsen via INDOLOGY
>> <indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
>> Dear Dominik,
>> 
>> I agree with your translations, of course, but wonder how
>> "vācanārtha"
>> might be understood in the context of a gyān bāzī game chart
>> which can
>> hardly be read out meaningfully. Perhaps the implied meaning is that
>> 
>> it
>> was to be used for playing/instruction.
>> 
>> Best,
>> Jacob
>> 
>> Dominik Wujastyk skrev den 2018-09-15 06:41:
>> vācanārtha just means "for the purpose of reading out loud".  In
>> contrast to paṭhanārtha "for the purpose of reading to one's
>> self".
>> 
>> --
>> 
>> Professor Dominik Wujastyk [1]
>> ,
>> Singhmar Chair in Classical Indian Society and Polity
>> ,
>> Department of History and Classics [2]
>> ,University of Alberta, Canada
>> .
>> 
>> South Asia at the U of A:
>> sas.ualberta.ca [3]
>> 
>> On Thu, 13 Sep 2018 at 06:37, Jacob Schmidt-Madsen via INDOLOGY
>> <indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
>> 
>> Thanks to everybody who responded to my query on and off list. It
>> has
>> been most helpful and much appreciated.
>> 
>> For those of you who might be interested, Rolf Heinrich Koch
>  pointed
> 
>> me
>> to a footnote by Phyllis Granoff wherein she translates
>> paṭhanārtha as
>> "private study" and vācanārtha as "public preaching" in the
>> context of a
>> colophon to a Jaina manuscript.
>> 
>> Best,
>> Jacob
>> 
>> Madhav Deshpande skrev den 2018-09-11 19:42:
>> I have seen these terms in the colophons of Atharvaveda
>> manuscripts
>> from the region of Gujarat.
>> 
>> Madhav M. Deshpande
>> Professor Emeritus
>> Sanskrit and Linguistics
>> University of Michigan
>> [Residence: Campbell, California]
>> 
>> On Tue, Sep 11, 2018 at 9:32 AM Tyler Williams via INDOLOGY
>> <indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
>> 
>> Dear Jacob,
>> 
>> This is a common feature in colophons and is often found with
>> genitives to indicate for whom the manuscript was copied.
>  Scholars
> 
>>> of Jainism would know better than I any particular connoted
>>> performance contexts, but in general this can mean for both
>  study
> 
>> and recitation (at least in the case of non-Jain manuscripts).
>> 
>> Best,
>> TWW
>> 
>> Sent from my iPhone
>> 
>> On 11-Sep-2018, at 4:51 PM, Jacob Schmidt-Madsen via INDOLOGY
>> <indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
>> 
>> Dear colleagues,
>> 
>> I have recently come across the expressions "paṭhanārtha"
>  and
> 
>> "vācanārtha" at the end of a few colophons in Jaina
>  manuscripts
> 
>> and drawings/diagrams. I assume that the expressions indicate
>  that
> 
>>> the text/drawing in question was copied for purposes of study,
>  and
> 
>> would be interested to know if they are conventionally used in
>> colophons to indicate as much.
>> 
>> Kind regards,
>> Jacob
>> 
>> Jacob Schmidt-Madsen
>> PhD Fellow (Indology)
>> University of Copenhagen
>> Denmark
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> INDOLOGY mailing list
>> INDOLOGY at list.indology.info
>> indology-owner at list.indology.info (messages to the list's
>  managing
> 
>> committee)
>> http://listinfo.indology.info [1](where you can change your
>  list
> 
>> options or unsubscribe)
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> INDOLOGY mailing list
>> INDOLOGY at list.indology.info
>> indology-owner at list.indology.info (messages to the list's
>  managing
> 
>>> committee)
>>> http://listinfo.indology.info [1](where you can change your
>  list
> 
>> options or unsubscribe)
> 
> _______________________________________________
> INDOLOGY mailing list
> INDOLOGY at list.indology.info
> indology-owner at list.indology.info (messages to the list's
>  managing
> 
>>> committee)
>>> http://listinfo.indology.info [1](where you can change your list
>>> options or unsubscribe)
>> 
>> Links:
>> ------
>> [1] http://ualberta.academia.edu/DominikWujastyk
>> [2] http://historyandclassics.ualberta.ca/
>> [3] http://sas.ualberta.ca/
> 
> _______________________________________________
> INDOLOGY mailing list
> INDOLOGY at list.indology.info
> indology-owner at list.indology.info (messages to the list's managing
> committee)
> http://listinfo.indology.info [1](where you can change your list
> options or unsubscribe)
> 
> Links:
> ------
> [1] http://listinfo.indology.info
> [2]
> https://go.onelink.me/107872968?pid=InProduct&c=Global_Internal_YGrowth_AndroidEmailSig__AndroidUsers&af_wl=ym&af_sub1=Internal&af_sub2=Global_YGrowth&af_sub3=EmailSignature
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> INDOLOGY mailing list
> INDOLOGY at list.indology.info
> indology-owner at list.indology.info (messages to the list's managing
> committee)
> http://listinfo.indology.info (where you can change your list options
> or unsubscribe)
> 
> --
> www.rolfheinrichkoch.wordpress.com [1]
> 
> 
> Links:
> ------
> [1] http://www.rolfheinrichkoch.wordpress.com
> _______________________________________________
> INDOLOGY mailing list
> INDOLOGY at list.indology.info
> indology-owner at list.indology.info (messages to the list's managing 
> committee)
> http://listinfo.indology.info (where you can change your list options
> or unsubscribe)