Re: [INDOLOGY] Fwd: Udānavarga verses from the Tibetan

[Stefan Baums]

Dear Valerie and Christophe,

there is also (as noted by Bernhard) a Pali parallel for the first
verse only at Ja vi 26:

   yathā pi tante vitate
   yaṃ yad evūpavīyati
   appakaṃ hoti vetabbaṃ
   evaṃ maccāna jīvitaṃ

and, more interestingly, a Gāndhārī parallel in the Khotan
Dharmapada

   https://gandhari.org/a_manuscript.php?catid=CKM0077

where verses 149–150 in contrast to the other versions form one
single sentence:

   yadha vi tadri vikadi
   ya yed eva odu opadi
   apaka bhodi votavi
   oharaṇaseva sadii

   emam eva maṇuśaṇa
   (*ye) y[añe] sadi praṇayo
   ya ya i vivasadi radi
   maraṇaseva sadii

Brough (p. 222) translates this as follows:

   As on the stretched out warp, the more that the weft is woven,
   the less there remains to weave, as the end of the weaving
   comes nearer,—so also for men, and all other living creatures,
   each night that passes brings them nearer to death.

and further notes:

   Rockhill’s translation of thags as ‘spider’ instead of ‘warp’
   led to a misunderstanding of the verse as a whole, and a wrong
   comparison with Dhp. 347.

All best,
Stefan

-- 
Stefan Baums, Ph.D.
Institut für Indologie und Tibetologie
Ludwig‐Maximilians‐Universität München