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A Critical Review of the Old Āryā Metre Restored in the Text of Itthiparinnā re-edited by Dr. L. Alsdorf
Dr. K. R. Chandra Prof. L. Alsdorf an eminent scholar of MIA and worthy pupil of Dr. Schubring has done great service to Jaina studies by re-editing the text of Itthiparinna, the fourth chapter of Sūtrakrtānga. He has tried to set right the metre of the text. In his opinion the metre of this text is old Arya which is as rare as it is important for the history of Indian prosody, viz., the older form of the Arya. Later Arya or common Arya is characteristic of the latest stratum of the Jaina canon but completely absent from (the genuine parts of the older layers.
In his opinion the metre in the texts available is spoiled and sometimes it is unrecognisable. There are various corruptions and omissions also. He remarks that no critical text was prepared and his aim is to supply a better text.
For this purpose he made use of the material accessible to him at that time. No manuscript was directly consulted by him. He took help of the following editions :
T: Pu Candrasāgara with Silānka Tika. Sā: First edition of Sāgarānandasūri. ^ } varient readings given in the edition - T. IS C: Cūrni, Ratlam, 1950. V:P. L. Vaidya's edition. H: Hyderabad edition.
The aim of this study is to examine the readings offered by Dr. Alsdorf and to find out how far the metre has been restored. I have been so far able to examine the first section only. I consulted his text from Kleine Schriften, Wiesbaden, 1974, Glasenap Stiftung, Band-10, pp. 193-214. Along with the text there are variant readings, translation and critical notes in it.
In the introduction he admits that the manuscript A and I as well as Cūrni offer better readings partly confirming to his emendations.
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