History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c23.s1.109

c23.s1.109

P a ṭ u v ā. Of these, according to the Sutta, there are seven and seven hundred. The word is not translated by Rhys Davids, who admits that he does not know its meaning. While it is given in this form in the Dīgha, Buddhaghosa reads pacuṭā,³ and there are several variants, such as pamuṭā, pamucā, and papuṭā.⁴ Buddhaghosa equates the word with gaṇṭhika, a knot or block, a very improbable meaning. The text of the Sutta gives the total of the paṭuvās, like those of the two following categories, as seven and seven hundred. In the case of the two latter, Buddhaghosa interpreted the seven as being of major and the seven hundred of minor rank, but his commentary makes no reference to seven hundred pacuṭā. We therefore conclude that the text on which he worked gave the total of these as seven only, on the analogy of the previous categories. We believe that the paṭuvā actually represent the seven paüṭṭa-parihāra of the Bhagavatī.⁵ Succeeding generations of scribes, ignorant of the true meaning of the term, might easily corrupt the first element of the Prākrit term into the forms given above.