Sandhabhasa
By Vidhushekhara Bhattacharya
The Indian Historical Quarterly
Vol.IV, No.1, 1928.06 pp. 287-296
p. 287
It is not less than ten years that some writers
in Bengal have begun to use quite a new word,
sandhya-bhasa, or 'twilight language, ' as it is
translated by them into English. It was, however,
first introduced by Mahamahopadhyaya Haraprasad
Shastri (-HPS) in the introduction to his Bauddha
Gana O Doha.(1) This volume contains four Buddhist
works, viz. (1) Caryacaryaviniscaya (an anthology in
the oldest Bengali), (2) Dohakosa of Sarojavajra, (3)
Dohakosa of Krsnacarya or Kanhapada, and(4)
Dakarnave, each of the first three being accompanied
with a commentary in Sanskrit. They are all edited by
him.
In the commentaries on the Caryacaryaviniscaya,
and Sarojavajra's Dohakosa we come across the
following words:
(1) sandhya, pp.6, 11, 29, 32 ;
(2) sandhya-bhasa, pp. 5, 13, 16,18, 19, 23, 24,
26, 30, 51, 83, 93 ;(2)
(3) sandhya-vacana, p. 37 ; and
(4) sandhya-sariketa, p. 9.
These are used as synonymous and with reference
to them HPS writes in Bengali in the introduction
(p.8) referred to above: "All the works of the
Sahajayana are written in the Sandhya-bhasa.
Sandhyabhasa is a bhasa (language) of light and
darkness ("alo-a dhar1"), partly light, partly
darkness; some parts can be understood while others
cannot. In other words, in these discourses on dharma
which are of a high order there are references also
to different things. This is not to be openly
explained." Let us see how far this view can be
accepted.
Mr. Panchkawri Banerjee does not subscribe to it
and offers his new interpretation saying that
Sandhya-bhasa is the bhasa or language of the
country known by the name of Sandhya, i.e., the
border land between the old Aryavarta and Bengal
proper.(3) This is, in my
----------------------
1. Vangiya Sahitya-Parisat, series No.55, Calcutta,
1323 B.S. - 1916 A.D.
2. Once the reading is bhasa.
3. "Pandit Haraprasad Shastri came to the conclusion
that the language used by the Siddhacaryas was
called Sandhya because it
p. 288
opinion, mere imagination, there being absolutely
nothing to support it.
The following words which occur in the
Saddharmapundarika (Bib. Budh., 1912) deserve to be
noted in order to find out if there is any connection
between these two sets of expressions:
(1) sandha-bhasita, pp. 125, 199, 233 ;
(2) sandha-bhasya, pp. 29, 34, 60, 70, 273 ; and
(3) sandha-vacana, p. 59.
In fact, these are synonyms. But what is the sense
in which they are used ?
Burnouf in his French translation of the work, Le
Lotus de la Bonne Loi(Paris, 1852, p. 342) has,
perhaps for the first time, discussed the word used
there (p.29) in the following sentence: " durvijneyam
sariputra sandha-bhasyam tathagatanam."--'O Sariputra,
the sandhabhasya of the Tathagatas is very
difficult.' His conclusion is that the word means
'enigmatical talk' (''le language enigmatique"), as
supported by the Tibetan version reading ldem por
dgons te bsad pa ni which, according to him, means
'explanation of the thought expressed enigmatically'
("le'xplication de la pensee exprimee enigmatiquement
").
Kern in his English translation of the work (SBE,
vol. XXI) has translated the term throughout by
'mystery' (see p.59, note3). Max Muller takes the
term to mean 'hidden saying' on Chinese authority
(SBE, vol. XLIX, p. 118; Vajracchedika, p.23, note
5). Let us, however, discuss the point once again.
______________________
was a kind of twilight language which sought to give
a mere glimpse of the high truths of Buddhism, not in
their pure original form, but in such modified shape
as could be understood by the common people leaving
deliberately vague what was not deemed safe or useful
for them to worry about. With this conclusion 1
cannot agree.
The tract to the S.E. of Bhagalpur comprising the
western portion of Birbhum and Santhal Perganas is
the borderland between the old Aryavarta (the Indian
domicile of the Aryans) and Bengal proper, and was
called Sandhya country. Any one, who is familiar with
the several dialects all closely resembling one
another spoken in that region, cannot have any doubt
as to their near relationship to the language used by
the Siddhacaryas." Visvabharati Quarterly, 1924, p.
265.
p. 289
That sandha of sandha-bhasya, sandha-bhasita,
etc. is in reality a shortened form of sandhaya, a
gerund from sam+ dha is beyond doubt. This is
suggested even from the simple fact that on p.70 of
the printed text of the Saddharmapundarika two of the
MSS. used by Kern, K and W, actually read sandhaya
for sandha in the word sandha-bhasya.(1) Though the
former cannot claim to be the actual reading on the
metrical ground, we cannot discard it altogether, for
it clearly indicates the sense of the word in which
it was taken by the scribes of the two MSS. referred
to above. That the original form of sandha cannot be
other than sandhaya is shown below. But in that case
the only question that presents itself is with regard
to the dropping of ya of sandhaya. This is, however,
easily solved. See the following Pali forms:
anna < annaya (Skt. ajnaya), Dhammapada, 56;abhinna <
abhinnaya (Skt. abhijnaya), Sumangalavilasini, pp.173
313; upada < upadaya, Dhammasamgani, 877, 960. See
Geiger: Pali Literature und Sprache, 1916, 27'2 (aya
= a).
The import of sandhaya may be expressed in
Sanskrit by the words such as abhisandhaya,
abhipretya, uddisya, etc. which can be translated
into English by 'meaning,' 'aiming at,' 'having in
view,' 'intending,' 'with regard to,' etc. In support
of this the following passages, both Sanskrit and
Pali, may be quoted here:
(1) punar api mahamatir aha / yad idam uktam
bhagavata yam ca ratrim tathagato' bhisambuddho yam
ca ratrim parinirvasyati atrantara ekam apy aksaram
tathagatena nodahrtam na pratyaharisyti/ avacanam
buddhavacanam iti/ tat kim idam(2) sandhayoktam
tathagatenarhata samyaksambuddhenavacanam
buddhavacanam iti/ bhagavan aha/ dharmadvayam
mahamate sandhaya mayedam uktam/ katamad dharmadvayam
yad uta pratyatmadharmatam ca sandhaya
pauranasthitidharmatam ca/ idam mahamate dharmadvayam
sandhaya mayedam uktam.-Lankavatara, ed. B. Nanjio,
Kyoto, 1923, p. 143.
'Mahamati asked again: "It is said by the Blessed
One that between two nights, one on which the
Tathagata attained to perfect enlightenment and the
other on which he would attain complete nirvana, he
did not utter even a single syllable; nor would he
utter it. The utterance of the Buddha is
non-utternance. Meaning what has the perfectly
enlightened, venerable, Tathagata sdid that
----------------------
1. Sandha-bhasyena bhasanto buddhabodhimm anuttamam.
2. In the Vajracchedika, p.23, note 5, read idam with
the Ms J, and not iyam as suggested by Max Muller.
p. 290
the utterance of the Buddha is non-utterance? "
Replied the Blessed One: "Meaning two dharmas, O
Mahamati, I said it. And what are these two dharmas?
They are pratyatmadharmata and pauranasthitidharmata.
These are two dharmas, O Mahamati, meaning which I
have said it.'
(2) caturvidham samatam sandhaya mahamate
tathagata vacam niscarayanti / katamam caturvidham
samatam sandhaya / imam mahamate caturvidham samatam
sandhaya tathagata vacam niscarayanti/ Op. cit., p.
141.
'Meaning four-fold equality, O Mahamati, the
Tathagatas utter their words. Meaning what four-fold
equality? Meaning this four-fold equality, O
Mahamati, the Tathagatas utter their words.'
(3) anutpattim sandhaya mahamate sarvadharma
nihsvabhavah / 'It is meaning their non-origination,
O Mahamati, that all the things are (said) to be
without their nature.'
(4) Yah sandhayaham evam vadami. --
Dasabhumakasastra, ed. T. Radher, p.5.
'Intending these (Bodhisattvabhumis) I say so.'
(5) Idam nu te etam magandiya sandhaya bhasitam
bhunahu samano gotamo. -- Majjhima Nikaya, I, p.503.
'Intending this, O Magandiya, it is said to you
that the recluse Gotama is destroyer of beings.'
(6) yam sandhaya vuttam.--Jataka, 1, 203.
'Meaning which (the following) is said.'
(7) Idam kira bodhisatto attano abbhantare
nanavudham sandhaya kathesi.--Op. cit., p. 274.
'This was said by the Bodhisattva meaning the
weapon of knowledge which was within him.'(1)
----------------------
1. The following may also be referred to : Sumangala-
vilasini, pp. 163:
(i) r a j o d h a t u o' ti rajaokkinntthanani
hatthapithapadapithadini sandhaya vadati.
(ii) s a t t a s a n n i g a b b h a' ti otthago-
nagadrabhaajapasumigamahise Sandhaya vadati.
(iii) a s a n n i g a b b h a' ti saliyavagodhu-
mamuggakanguvarakakudrusake sandhaya vadati.
(iv) n i g g a n t h i g a b b h a' ti velunala-
dayo sandhaya vadati.
(See also pp. 161, 165. Kathavatthupakarana-Atthaka-
tha, JPTS, 1889), p.3: annam sandhaya bhanitam.
p. 291
From the above uses it is perfectly clear that so
far as the sense is concerned, the word sandhaya of
the Buddhists is nothing but abhisandhaya found in
Brahmanic and Buddhist works as the following
passages will bear out:
(1) abhisandhaya tu phalam. Bhagavadgita, XVII, 12.
'Having in view(1) the consequence'.
(2) abhisandhaya yo himsam. Bhagavata Purana, III,
29, 8(2).
'Who having in view injury.'
(3) visayan abhisandhaya. Op. cit., III, 29. 9.
'Having in view the object of senses.'
(4) labham abhisandhaya. Bodhicaryavatarapanjika,
p.214.
'Having in view gain.'
(5) isvaram eva abhisandhaya. Op. cit., p.554.
'Just with reference to God.'
With regard to this significance of sandhaya we
have support also from the Tibetan sources. The
following line is quoted from the Lankavatara in the
Madhyamakavrtti (p. 555) by Candrakirtti:
svabhavanutpattim sandhaya mahamate sarvadharmah
sunya iti desitah.
'Intending the natural non-origination, O
Mahamati, it is taught by me that all things are
void.'
Here sandhaya is translated into Tibetan by dgons
nas which simply means 'having in view' (abhipretya,
abhisandhaya, uddisya).
We have already seen, as Burnouf has quoted, that
the Tibetan expression for sandha-bhasya in the
Saddharmapundarika (p.29) is ldem por dgons te bsad
pa ni. Here ldem por dgons means nothing but
abhisandhi (or abhipraya) though each of these two
expressions, ldem po and dgons or dgons pa has the
same sense. For example, gzug pa la ldem por dgons pa
= avataranabhisandhi; mtshan nid la ldem por dgons
pa=laksanabhisandhi; and so on. With te added to it
ldem por dgons means here only sandhaya
=abhisandhaya. And bsad pa means bhasita, bhasana,
etc. 'speech,' 'talk,' 'explanation,' etc.
The same (ldem por dgons tebsad or gsuns
sometimes omitting te)
----------------------
1. The commentators, Sankara, Nilakantha, Dhanapati,
Sridhara, Abhinavagupta and Madhusudana explain the
word abhisandhaya by uddisya.
See also Gopicandana Upanisad, 5:vedartham abhisan-
dhaya.
2. Sridhara here says that abhisandhaya means sanka-
lpya.
p. 292
or similar (ldem por nag) Tibetan expression in the
sense of sandha is found in other cases in the
Sadharmapundarika (see pp. 60, 199, 233, 59).
Now, the Sanskrit and Pali passages quoted above
will show us that sandhaya is used with a verb,
express or understood, meaning 'to say'(û vad, û kath,
û dis etc.). We further see that in some of these
passages sandhaya is employed with past
participles, e.g., sandhaya desitam, sandhaya
bhasitam, sandhaya vuttam. In such cases these pairs
of words are not compounded, but gradually with the
change of the meaning of the second member they began
to be compounded; in other words, the past
participles lost their own sense, and assumed that of
a verbal noun. Thus bhasita did not then mean 'said,'
but 'saying,' 'utterance,' bhasa, bhasya, bhasana;
similarly ukta, Pali vutta, began to be used in the
sense of vacana 'speaking,' 'speech,' 'utterance'.
Thus the word sandha-bhasita with its other synonyms
already alluded to came into being.
We have also the use of abhiprayika vaccana (or
vacas) in that very sense. For example, we read in
Vasubandhu's Vimsatika (Vijnaptimatratasiddhi), ed.
Levi, Paris, 1925, p.5, Karika 8:
rupadyayatanastitvam tad vineyajanam prati /
abhiprayavasad uktam upapadukasattvavat// (1)
Here runs the commentary on the word
abhiprayavasad (Tib. dgons pahi dban gis):
cittasantatyanucchedam ayatyam abhipretya (Tib. dgons
nas) abhiprayikam tad vacanam (Tib. bkah de ni dgons
pa can no). 'Having in view the non-annihilation of
the continuity of citta in the future, the speech is
intentional.
The following line from the Tattvasamgraha (GOS,
1926, p. 868, sl. 3, 331) may also be cited here:
abhiprayikam etesam syadva dadi vaco yadi.(2)
----------------------
1. Poussin translates it (Museon, vol. VIII, 1912,
p.74) : C'est intentionnellement (abhisandhi,
abhiprayavasat) que Bhagavat a enseigne l'exis-
tence des ayatanas aux hommes que cet [enseigne-
ment] doit convertir; -- comme [il a enseigne
l'existence] des "etres de naissance surna-
turelle" (aupapaduka sattva).
2. Here is the Tib. version (Tanjur, Narthang,
ed., Mdo He, fol. 133a of the Visvabharati
Library):
gal te de dag hgyur smra sogs/
tshig ni dgos pahi don yin na/
Literally it reads prayojanarthaka for
abhiprayika. We should,
p. 293
'If their utterance such as s y a d v a d a, etc.
is intentional.'
It is thus perfectly clear that sandha-bhasita or
bhasya is nothing but abhiprayika vacana which can be
translated by 'intentional speech.'
We can gather also from the Chinese sources(1)
that in reality sandha-bhasya is abhiprayika vacana
('intentional speech'). In Chinese there are three
translations of the Saddharmapundarika, first by Fahu
or Dharmaraksa (286 A.C.), second by Kumarajiva (406
A.C.), and the third by Jnanagupta and Dharmagupta
(601 A.C.); besides other two translations which do
not contain the passage bearing on sandhabhasya. It
is found in these translations that only on two
occasions (Saddharma-pundarika, p. 34=Kumarajiva's
tr., Tokio ed. xi. 1. 11a. 15-16; and
Sadharmapundarika, p. 233=Kumarajiva's tr., xi. 30b.
2-3) the word (sandha-bhasya or bhasita) is
translated, in the first case by wei and in the
second by yu. In other passages it has either been
omitted or translated by an expression, sui i. Now,
both wei and yu mean 'subtle,' 'obscure,' 'secret,'
'hidden'; and this is, I think, just the opposite of
nitartha which is explained in the Abhidharma-
kosavyakhya, as we shall presently see, by
vibhaktartha 'of clear sense'. In other words, these
two Chinese words may be explained in such cases by
avibhaktartha 'that of which the sense is not clear,'
'subtle,' 'obscure' =vibhajyartha, 'that of which the
sense is to be made clear'=neyartha (see below).
With regard to the second exppression sui i, as
explained by Couvreur, it means 'suitable' ("d'apres
ce qui convient). If we, however,consider how the
Sanskirt term under discussion (sandhabhasya) is
explained in Tibetan, as has already been shown, it
seems to me, we may take the Chinese expression as
equivalent of abhiprayika, 'intentional.' Chinese sui
means 'to follow' (anu+ ûgam) and is frequently used
for the Sanskrit prefix anu (for instance, sui tso,
anuvidhana; sui sheng, anujata). And i means (i)
'suitable,''proper'; (ii) 'should,' 'ought.' Thus sui
i may mean
______________________
however, like to read dgons for tgos in
the second line, and in that case dgons pahi don
would mean abhiprayarthaka which is in fact the same
as abhiprayika.
1. I am grateful to Dr. Prabodh Chandra Bagchi for
the help I have derived from him on this point.
p. 294
'anusaraniya 'that which is to be followed,' and this
is, in fact, abhipreya (=gamya =abhiprayika, from ûi
'to go'), figuratively 'that which is to be intended.'
Now, the beauty of the instruction (desanavilasa)
of the Buddhas, or their skill in showing the means
for realization of truth (upayakausalya) is that
their instructions (desana) differ according to the
degrees of fitness of their disciples.(l) Those
instructions are mainly of two kinds, (i) one, the
object of which is to show the real state of things
directly (tattvartha), and (ii) the other,
'intentional' (abhiprayiki) meaning thereby that it
is intended to imply or suggest something different
from what is expressed by the words (yatharuta).(2)
The object of the former is to lead one to the path
of nirvana (margavatara), while that of the latter is
to lead one to the fruit (or final result) of nirvana
(phalavatara). These two kinds of instruction or
discourse or sutra as often styled are also called
nitartha and neyartha respectively. By the former is
meant the kind of instruction which is clearly
expressed, and by the latter the kind which is
implied. In other words, the first gives us the
literal sense while the second the implied sense.(3)
----------------------
1. desana lokanathanam sattvasayavasanugah/
bhidyante bahudha loka upayair bahubhih kila//
Bodhicittavivarana quoted in the Sarvadar
sanasamgraha,
Anandasrama ed., 1906, p.11
durbodhyam capi taj jnanam sahasa srutva balisah/
kamksam kuryuh sudurmedhas tato bhrasta bhrameyu
te//
yatha visayu bhasami yasya yadrsakam balam/
anyamanyehi arthehi drstim kurvami ujjukam//
Saddharmapundarika, p. 125.
2. See Madhyamakavrtti, pp. 42-43.
3. See the commentary of the Nettipakarana, PTS,
p.218:
N i t a t t h a n t i yatharutavasena
natabbattham, N e y y a t t h a n t i niddharetva
gahetabbattham. The Manorathapurani (Siamese ed.)
on the Anguttara Nikaya, I.10, says: Yassa attho
netabho tam neyyattham suttantam, Nitattho......
khathitattho. Abhidharmakosavyakhya quoted by
Poussin in the Madhyamakavrtti p. 597: nitartha =
vibhaktartha (Abhid. K V. 230b)...de sense clair;
tandis que "neyarthasya sutrasya nanamukhapra-
krtarthavibhago'niscitah sandehakaro bhavati."
p. 295
It follows then from what is said above that the
term sandha-bhasya with all its variants such as
sandha-bhasita, etc., is synonymous with abhiprayika
vacana and neyartha vacana or sutra.
Let us now take up the question as to the origin
of the words such as sandhya-bhasa, sandhya-vacana,
etc. reading sandhya for sandha in HPS's Bauddha Gana
O Doha already referred to. Burnouf says (Lotus, p.
343) in discussing the meaning of sandha-bhasya that
he too found in his MSS. of the Saddharmapundarika
the reading sandhya for sandha. It is, however, to be
noted that in the edition of the Sanskrit text of the
work by Kern and Nanjio not less than eight MSS. are
used but in none of them is the word sandhya found
even in a single instance. There is, in my opinion,
sufficient ground for saying that though the
materials collected by the editor were not
sufficient, the present edition of the Baudha Gana O
Doha is not as critical as it could have been if the
materials that were at the disposal of the editor had
fully been made use of. I do not, therefore, accept
his readings. He says(1) that in the Asiatic Society
of Bengal there is a copy (No. 8063) of the palmleaf
manuscript on which he based his edition. In that
copy there are a number of variant readings. Without
comparing that copy with the original palmleaf MS.
it cannot be ascertained whether the variants were in
the original or made by the scribe of the copy.
However, as regards the reading sandhya in the
printed text, there is at least one case (p. 29, 1,
13) where the copy of the Asiatic Society of
Bengal(p. 38) does not read sandhyaya as edited, but
sandhaya.(2)
With regard to the second work in which
sandhya-bhasa occurs, viz. Advayavajra's commentary
on the Dohakosa of Sarojavajra, the scribe himself
tells us that the original from which he made his
copy was a very corrupt one, yet with a view to
collecting the work he copied it.(3) As there is no
other MS of the work at our disposal we can only
verify its readings by comparing it with its Tibetan
translation. The following is found in the commentary
of Sarojavajra's
----------------------
1. A Descriptive Catalogue of Sanskrit Manuscripts in
the Government collection under the care of the
Asiatic Society of Bengal, vol.I, Buddhist Manus-
cripts, 1917, P. 144.
2. The actual writing looks just like. That it is
not sandhyaya is quite clear.
3. astavyastapado bhati grantho'yam lekhadosatah/
tathapi likyate'smhabhir. granthasamgrahakamksaya//
p. 296
Dohakosa edited by HPS, p.83: Sandhyabhasam
ajananatva [t] ca. And here runs its Tibetan version
(Tanjur, Rgyud hgrel, Mi, Narthang edition,(1) fol
194a:(2)
'dgons pas gsuns pahi no bo mi ses pahi phyir/
It may be translated into Sanskrit: sandhabha-
sabhavajnanat, 'on account of not knowing the nature
of the intentional speech.'
Again, we read in the same work (p.93):
sandhyabhasam ajanadbhih. And here is the Tibetan
version (fol, 194a): dgons te bstan pahi skad ma ses
pas. We may literally translate it thus into
Sanskrit: sandhaya upadistam bhasam ajanadbhih
(=sandhabhasam ).
Thus there is nothing of sandhya 'twilight' in
these cases. And it is now not difficult to say how
sandhya has crept into the MSS. in place of sandha
(=sandhaya). It is quite possible that scribes not
knowing the true significance of sandhaya or its
shortened form sandha changed it into sandhya with
which they were very fmiliar.
----------------------
1. Visvabharati Library.
2. Cordier, II, p, 214 (42), 199a-231a, 5.