Book Review: Pracīn Ardha‑Magadhī ki Khoj‑me
Summary
In this issue's book review, Satya Ranjan Banerjee discusses K. R. Chandra’s treatise *Pracīn Ardha‑Magadhī ki Khoj‑me* ('In Search of the Original Ardha‑Magadhī'), which appeared in Hindi in 1991. Chandra’s book is described as one of the finest specimens of research on Ardha‑Magadhī, the language of the Śvetāmbara canon. The reviewer notes that Chandra’s aim is to discover the original linguistic features of *Āṃg* (Ardha‑Magadhī) by comparing the canonical language with the forms preserved in Aśokan inscriptions and Pali scriptures. The book consists of eight chapters, each dealing with a specific aspect of the language; it provides a detailed contents section and a short bibliography, though it lacks a word index. Chandra first surveys previous scholarship on the Prakrit languages and describes the extant evidence for Ardha‑Magadhī, then examines phonology and morphology. He analyses noun classes, pronouns and verbal conjugations, tracing their evolution from Old Indo‑Aryan and comparing them with contemporary Magadhī and other Prakrits. Another chapter studies compounds and sandhi rules, while later sections explore numerals, particles and syntactic structures. Throughout, Chandra argues that many anomalous forms in the Śvetāmbara canon are the result of scribal errors, later copyists and redactors, or influence from other Prakrits. Banerjee praises Chandra’s methodical identification of divergent readings and his insistence that the editorial discipline and grammatical insight are needed to distinguish original forms from later accretions. The reviewer notes that Chandra does not discard any particular reading; instead he presents all variants so that scholars can apply their judgement and select the one that best represents the original language. Banerjee appreciates the book’s thoroughness but regrets the absence of an index. He concludes that Chandra has put forth a strong argument and a convincing plea for tracing the original readings of the Śvetāmbara canon; by inviting philologists to examine primary sources and by comparing Prakrit with inscriptional and Pali evidence, Chandra’s work promises to stimulate renewed interest in the textual criticism of Jain scriptures.
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Conclusion
Banerjee concludes that *Pracīn Ardha‑Magadhī ki Khoj‑me* is a pioneering attempt to reconstruct the language of the Ardha‑Magadhī canon. By comparing canonical forms with inscriptions and Buddhist sources, Chandra shows that many apparent anomalies in the Śvetāmbara texts may stem from scribal corruption or later editorial interventions. The reviewer encourages scholars to use Chandra’s data as a starting point for further textual criticism. Although the absence of an index makes the book less user‑friendly, it remains an invaluable reference for students of Prakrit philology and for those interested in the linguistic history of Jain scriptures.