[INDOLOGY] a question about the āśīrliṅ

Thu Mar 19 23:51:06 UTC 2026

Dear list members,

Matthew Kapstein and ( David Reigle using edition 1929 by Stcherbatsky and
Obermiller) spell the word as *vīkṣiṣīraṃs* . Same text in GRETIL
(different editions) spell it *vīkṣīṣīraṃ*s and *vīkṣiṣiraṃs*

Are these misprints or alternate spellings in GRETIL? *pratipatsīrann* is
spelled the same in these etexts

*Matthew Kapstein and ( David Reigle)*

sarvākārajñatāmārgaḥ śāsitrā yo'tra deśitaḥ|
dhīmanto vīkṣiṣīraṃs tam anālīḍhaṃ parair iti ||1||

smṛtau cādhāya sūtrārthaṃ dharmacaryāṃ daśātmikām |
sukhena pratipatsīrann ity ārambhaprayojanam ||2||

--------------------------

*GRETIL abhisamayālaṃkaranāmaprajñāpāramitopadeśaśāstram *

https://gretil.sub.uni-goettingen.de/gretil/corpustei/transformations/html/sa_maitreyanAtha-abhisamayAlaMkaranAmaprajJApAramitopadezazAstra.htm
input by Christian Coseru (no source book given) has;

sarvākārajñatāmārgaḥ śāsitrā yo 'tra deśita /

dhīmantī vīkṣīṣīraṃstamanālīḍhaṃ parairiti // Abhs_1.1 //

smṛtau cādhāya sūtrārthaṃ dharmacaryā daśātmikā /

sūkhena pratipatsīrannityārambhaprayojanam // Abhs_1.2 //

--------------------------------------

GRETIL Abhisamayālaṃkāra
https://gretil.sub.uni-goettingen.de/gretil/corpustei/transformations/html/sa_abhisamayAlaMkAra.htmData
entry: members of the Digital Sanskrit Buddhist Canon Input Project
Based on the ed. by Ramsankar Tripathi: Abhisamayalankaravrttih Sphutartha.
Sarnath : Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies (CIHTS), 1977.
grānthārambhaprayojanam sarvākārajñatāmārgaḥ śāsitrā yo 'tra deśitaḥ /
dhīmanto vīkṣiṣiraṃstamanālīḍhaṃ parairiti // asa_1.2 //smṛtau cādhāya
sūtrārthaṃ dharmacaryāṃ daśātmikām /
sukhena pratipatsīrannityārambhaprayojanam // asa_1.3 //

Harry Spier

On Thu, Mar 19, 2026 at 5:30 PM Matthew Kapstein via INDOLOGY <
indology at list.indology.info> wrote:

> Many thanks to all who replied on- and off-list. I am sorry that I was not
> aware of David Reigle's paper, addressing my query so precisely,
> beforehand, and I am grateful to him and to Asko Parpola for sharing it.
> Walter Slaje's helpful remarks lend some support to my thought that the
> benedictive form may have had an intentionally archaic nuance.
>
> 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
>
> Sent with Proton Mail <https://proton.me/mail/home> secure email.
>
> On Thursday, March 19th, 2026 at 3:39 PM, Asko Parpola <aparpola at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> Dear Matthew, David Reigle ha written a paper (attached) on these very two
> occurrences of the benedictive.
> With best wishes, Asko
>
> On Thu, Mar 19, 2026 at 11:39 AM Matthew Kapstein via INDOLOGY <
> indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
>
>> 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
>>
>> Sent with Proton Mail <https://proton.me/mail/home> secure email.
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> INDOLOGY mailing list
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>>
>
>
> --
> Asko Parpola, aparpola at gmail.com
> http://www.helsinki.academia.edu/AskoParpola
>
>
>
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