[INDOLOGY] a question about the āśīrliṅ

[Matthew Kapstein]

Dear friends,

In the opening verses (given below) of the Abhisamayālamkāra-śāstra (ASA), an important Mahāyāna Buddhist treatise (said to have been revealed to Asaṅga by the bodhisattva Maitreya), we find two instances of verbs that I take to be examples of “precatives” or “benedictives” (āśīrliṅ) in the middle voice (ātmanepāda) third person plural. Whitney (925) and Macdonell (150) both flatly state that the precative middle, though current in Vedic, does not occur in Classical Sanskrit. Renou (330-331) does not affirm this categorically, but suggests that the āśīrliṅ (without specifying voice) is commonly met with in kāvya and epigraphy, though unknown to Buddhist usage. Edgerton, BHS Grammar, has nothing at all to say about the āśīrliṅ, probably due to its absence in the corpus that he consulted, though the ASA is not in any case written in “hybrid” Sanskrit; its terminology is distinctly Buddhist, of course, but without peculiarly BHS grammatical forms.

Conze, in the vocabulary accompanying his summary translation of the ASA (SOR VI) offers no grammatical analysis, but treats vīkṣiṣīran as an aorist optative, “have been able to behold,” and pratipatsīran as a future optative, “will be able to make progress.” (It seems simpler to me to adopt a mildly benedictive reading of both, “that the wise may behold… and that they may easily master…”)

What I wish to ask the vyākaraṇa specialists, however, is whether I am correct to take these verbs as middle voice āśīrliṅ third person plural? And, if so, are there other instances, whether in Buddhist or non-Buddhist works, that similarly call into question Whitney and Macdonell’s assertions? I would welcome any other observations about this apparently unusual form that you may be able to share. In particular, I am wondering if it is plausible to take its use here as a deliberately archaizing gesture.

sarvākārajñatāmārgaḥ śāsitrā yo'tra deśitaḥ|

dhīmanto vīkṣiṣīraṃs tam anālīḍhaṃ parair iti ||1||

smṛtau cādhāya sūtrārthaṃ dharmacaryāṃ daśātmikām |

sukhena pratipatsīrann ity ārambhaprayojanam ||2||

with thanks in advance for your observations and insights,
Matthew

Matthew T. Kapstein
Professor emeritus
Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, PSL Research University, Paris

Associate
The University of Chicago Divinity School

Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences

https://ephe.academia.edu/MatthewKapstein

https://vajrabookshop.com/product/the-life-and-work-of-auleshi/

https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501716218/tibetan-manuscripts-and-early-printed-books-volume-i/#bookTabs=1

https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501771255/tibetan-manuscripts-and-early-printed-books-volume-ii/#bookTabs=1

https://brill.com/edcollbook/title/60949

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