The Antiquities of Orissa v2.c16.116

Language: English

v2.c16.116.1

This line comprises two sentences: the first, a salutation and the next the main object of the record. The former comprises four words, all in excellent preservation and of unmistakable import; the words are: *namo arihantānam namo sava sidhānam.* The only doubtful letter is the *ri* of the second word. In Prinsep's facsimile it appears like *rā*, but he takes it in his transcript to be *ra* with a short vowel, but in the plaster cast the mark on the top of the *r*, though very faint, is like an *i*. In the former case, the word should be accepted as the dative plural, which in Pali is the same as the genitive plural of the Sanskrit *arhat*. The meaning of the first two words would be ‘salutation’ (*namo*) ‘to the *arhats*,’ or sages who have attained the rank of *arhats*; or taking the plural to be simply honorific, “salutation to *the arhat*,” or Buddha. If we accept the vowel-mark to be an *i*, the salutation may be directed to those who have destroyed or overcome (*hanti*) their enemies or carnal passions (*ari*), or the enemy of mankind,;which, is typified by Māra or lust.

v2.c16.116.2

The last reading corresponds with the opening words of thè Jain Gāyatri or mystical *mantra*, which runs thus: *namo arihantānam, namo siddhānam, namo āyariyānam, namo uvahyānam, namo loe savva sāhunam.* This reading occurs in most of the Āgamas of the Jains, as also at the beginning of the *Kalpa Sūtra*, where Stevenson renders the word in question by the phrase “to the sages who have risen to be worthy of divine honours”, meaning the *arhats*, and Prinsep accepts the same meaning. In Prākṛt the verb *arha*, ‘to be worthy’, becomes *ariha* (*arihadi* &c., being frequently met with in the Sanskrit-Prākṛt dramas), and by analogy the noun *arhat* may also become *arha*, and commentators on the Jain Māgadhi works always interpret it in that sense. But in Childer’s *Pali Dictionary* the Sanskrit *arhat*, both by itself and in combination, invariably becomes *araha*, changing in the different cases to *arahā*, *araham*, *arahantam*, *arahata*, &c., in all which the compound consonant *rh* is disintegrated by the insertion of a shost *a* between its two phonetic elements. In the case of the Sanskrit *ārya* ‘honourable’, the compound *ry* is, however, disintegrated by the insertion of a short *i* between its two components, and the question therefore arises whether we should accept the word to be an irregular form of the Pali formed on the model of the Prākṛt, or a distinct word formed of *ari*, enemy, and *hantṛ*, destroyer?

v2.c16.116.3

The Pali being anterior to the Prākṛt, cannot accept the first branch of the alternative, except on the supposition that *ariha* is an irregular archaic form [18] which has survived in the Indian Prākṛts, though replaced by a regular derivative in Cingalese Pali. The second may be objected to on the ground of its not being a received interpretation, and opposed to the opinion of the commentators on the Jain Gāyatrī, which evidently is an elaboration of the salutation under notice. In Buddhist works, the carnal passions typified by Māra are the great enemies of mankind; they are ever in the way to salvation, and frequently denounced as “the enemy”, (*ari*) and those who have by the practic of self-control, penance, and devotion, overcome (*hāntā*) them are the noblest among men, and salutation to them, along with "spiritual instructors", *uvahyānam*, Sanskrit *upādhyāyebhyaḥ*, "those who regulate our religious service", *āyariyānam*, Sanskrit *āchāryebhyāḥ*, and "those who have become perfect", *sidhānaṁ*, Sanskrit *siddhebhyaḥ*, would by no means be inappropriate. The greatest feat achieved by Śākya was his success over the allurements of Māra, whence his name Mārajit and none can be an *arhat* who has not completely overcome his passions, and the epithet, whether derived from *arha*, to be worthy, or *ariha* the destroyer of the enemy, would imply the *arhats*, and the result, therefore, in either case would be the same. The sense of the second clause is obvious enough.

v2.c16.116.4

The words are *namo*, 'salutation', 'to all', *sava*, Sanskrit *sarva*, *sidhānaṁ*, Sanskrit *siddhebhyaḥ*, 'perfected beings'. The whole sentence may accordingly be rendered thus : "salutation to those who have overcome all human passions, i. e., *arhats*; salutation to all who have attained perfection."