The Bodhisattva Doctrine in Buddhist Sanskrit Literature c5.s2.26

c5.s2.26

(6) *Sattva* may be a wrongly Sanskritized form of the Pāli word *satta*, which may correspond to Skt. *sakta*. Thus Pāli *bodhisatta*, from which the Sanskrit word is derived, would mean *bodhi-sakta*, “ one who is devoted or attached to *bodhi* ”¹⁷. *Sakta* (from the root *sañj*) means “ clung, stuck or attached to, joined or connected with, addicted or devoted to, fond of, intent on ” (Skt. Dicy. M.W.). According to the Pāli Dictionary, the Pāli word *satta* may correspond to several Sanskrit words : *sattva*, *sapta*, *sakta*, and *çapta*. It has been suggested that the Pāli word *sutta* is also related to Skt. *sūkta*, and not to Skt. *sūtra*, as the latter word is a very inappropriate designation for the lengthy and prolix Buddhist discourses. The Buddhists attached great importance to *subhāṣita* (good sayings), and the Pāli word *sutti* does correspond to Skt. *sūkti* (Pāli Dicy. s.v.). However that may be, it may be plausibly argued that Skt. *bodhi-sakta* is a possible equivalent of Pāli *bodhisatta*. The opinion of the Buddhist writers, who adopted the rendering *sattva*, need not be considered absolutely decisive in this question, as they have certainly given us other wrongly Sanskritized forms, e.g. *smṛty-upasthāna* (for Pāli *sati-paṭṭhāna*), *samyak-prahāna* (for Pāli *sammappadhāna*), etc. *Bodhisattva* may also belong to this class of wrongly Sanskritized terms. P. Oltramare rejects this interpretation, as the verb *sañj* is not used to denote attachment to moral and spiritual ideals, and the later writers could not make such “ a strange mistake ” in translating Pāli into Sanskrit¹⁸.