< I got another question about sanskrit. I think I'd
better to ask you in this fourm. It's about the
approaching formula.

In Vajracchedikaa (Max Muller ed.), it reads

sa.mbahulaa bhiks.avo yena bhagava.ms tenoupsa.mkraman
upasa.mkramya...

How to understand 'upasa.mkraman'? >

I suppose that upasa.mkraman is a typo for upasa.mkraaman which is the
reading of my edition. Unfortunately the beginning of this suutra is missing
in the Gilgit manus, so we don't know about the apparently earlier and more
original reading of this passage. Anyway in cases like this we would always
like to find parallels in the Pali suttantas. It is clearly a past form. Now
in canonical Pali in similar cases the usual past form used is the aorists
upapasa.mkami 3 sg. or upasa.mkamu.m/i.msu 3 pl. However, the reading
upasa.mkraaman is rather strange. On the other hand, upasa.mkraman as you
have it is linguistically understandable as an aorist 3 pl. without the
augment like in Pali. In Sanskrit you would like to refer to a second aorist
akramat 3. sg., and akraman! (NB) 3 pl. In short we are dealing with an
aorist - possibly upasa.mkraaman - without the expected augment. It is an
instance of so-called Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit, which imitates Middle Indic
and Pali usage while at the same time attempts to accomodate Sanskrit
grammar. In any case, it is irregular!

Best Regards,

Ole Pind





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