History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c17.s2.31

c17.s2.31

Before leaving this crucial passage of Utpala’s commentary we must consider the interpretation of Professor D. R. Bhandarkar,³ which is supported by Barua.⁴ According to Bhandarkar the phrases: *Atra vṛddhaśrāvaka-grahaṇam Mahéśvar’-āśritānām pravrajyānām upalakṣaṇam, Ājīvika-grahaṇam ca Nārāyaṇ’-āśritānām*, have been completely misunderstood by Kern and Bühler, because they concentrated their attention upon the second phrase without giving due consideration to the first. The true rendering of the second phase should not be; “And the use of (the term) Ājīvika refers to those who have taken refuge in Nārāyaṇa,” but “. . . used as a mark to denote the monastic orders seeking refuge with Nārāyaṇa”. “The point which Kern lost sight of,” continues Bhandarkar, “was the word upalakṣaṇa, ‘a mark indicative of something that the word itself does not actually express.’ Sanskrit commentators often employ the word upalakṣaṇa when they want a certain word or expression in the original to denote things, not, truly speaking, signified by that word or expression. . . . Thus according to Utpala, Ājīvika does not signify Nārāyaṇ-āśrita . . . but simply indicates it. . . . The theory propounded by Professor Kern . . . has, therefore, no grounds to stand on.”