hello & thanks for the quick and informative reply.
I am generally aware of the info on SA you mentioned. I've been in frequent contact with Rod Bucknell, the teacher of Choong Mun-Keat, whose bokk on SA/SN you were evidently referring to. I've been trying to push these studies even further, specifying exact correlations of sequences of suttas in SA & SN, and trying to ascertain the structural principles used by the redactors. Early days yet, but still some interesting findings...
On the identity of Asanga's SA. I hadn't heard about the inclusion of MA and EA sutras, hmm, interesting. I don't know if it's relevant, but the Samdhinirmocana Sutra frequently mentions a list of dhamma topics that it usually associates with the academics who spend all day quibbling about details, full of pride - obviously the abhidhammikas. The list of topics is reasonably consistent, and seems to be derived from one single list, with some corruption, This list is a version of the samyutta-matika, and in particular is virtually identical to the list of topics in SA as commented on by Asanga. This suggests to me that Asanga was following a Yogacara tradition in regarding SA as THE fundamental collection.
A couple of questions re your message:
1. A new manuscript of DA? I didn't know there was one. Any details? The MSS is absent from not only the existing DA in Chinese, but also from the list of contents of the Sarv and Mula Sarv DA as mentioned in later texts. These have only 16 texts (=silakkhandhavagga, M Pari, M Apadana, Sangiti, Dasottara, Catusparisat (=first chapter of Vinaya Mahavagga), and Arthavistara (?proto-abhidhamma?)) So i'd be pretty surprised if we found a MSS in DA, but then, life's always interesting...
2. Is the published Sravakabhumi in Devanagiri or Roman? Alas i don't know devanagiri. Maybe i'll get around to it. I just have to learn Chinese first!