THE BUDDHIST MONASTIC TERMS SAMATITTIKA, SAPADANA, AND UTTARI-BHANGA.

Hoernle, Rudolf.
The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland.
1912.07
pp.736--742


p.736 These are terms which have been much discussed without, as yet, reaching any satisfactory conclusion. In my collection of Central Asian manuscripts there is a fragment which settles, at least, the problem of samatittika. It shows that that word represents the Sanskrit samatiktika (sama-tiktaka). The fragment in question, on the whole exceedingly well preserved, is a leaf of the Vinaya. It was found in 1907, with many other frag- ments, near a place called Jigdaliq, about a day's march from Bai, in the Kuchar district. It is written in the Indian " upright " Gupta characters of the fourth to fifth centuries A.D. Its contents coincide substantially with those of Cullavagga, viii, 4, clauses 3-5; and the passage which concerns us particularly runs as follows:-- Pindapata-vrttam kattaram. Satkrtya bhiksuna pindapatah pratigrhitavyah savadanam sama-tiktikam sama-supikam samprajanena (read samprajnanena) ------------------------- 1 Pandit Durgaprasad's edition inserts Somanatha, Bhavabuti, and Kridananda after Subandhu, and Bilhana after Kalidasa. Of these Bilhana belongs to the eleventh century and thus lived a few generations after Vallabhadeva. p.737 upasthita-smrtina aviksipta-cittena avikirata tavatkahan=ca pratigrhitavyam yavattake .amya[g-bhakti]r= bhavati. Idam=ucyate pindapata-vrttam. 10 2 (i.e. 12)¢x¢x That is: " (Clause) 12. What is the regulation concerning alms-food placed in a (monk's) bowl? With due care the monk should receive alms-food into his bowl, inclusive of (every) individual (i.e. without any being passed over), with the proper amount of condiments, with the proper amount of cooked split peas, with circumspection, with ready recollection (of his duties as to food), with unbewildered mind, not scattering (any particles of the food). Just so much should he receive as will make a perfect distribution (among the whole of the assembled monks)." With this extract the directions in Cullavagga, clauses 4 and 5, in the Sacred Books of the East, vol. xx, pp. 287-8, may be compared. They refer to the conduct of the monks when assembled in the Arama (monastery) at the appointed time of receiving their meal. The portion of the word samya[g-bhakti]r enclosed in square brackets is illegible; but that, or samyak-purtir, or some similar word is required by the context. The true spelling of the Pali word, whether samatittika or samatitthika, has been discussed by Professor Rhys Davids in his translation of the Tevijja Sutta, i, 24, in SBE. xi, 178, footnote 1. He decides for samatittika as the true spelling, on the ground that, while in the Burmese script the two conjuncts tt and tth are so much alike that they may be, and often are, confounded, they are thoroughly distinct in the Singhalese seript; and in Singhalese manuseripts the word is invariably spelt with tt. He proposes, hesitatingly, the Sanskrit equivalent samatrptika, "equally full," apparently suggested by the explanation sama-bharita of the Samanta Pasadika (see SBE. xiii, p. 62, footnote 5). But, as our fragment now p.738 shows, the true Sanskrit equivalent is samatiktika, "containing a right proportion of pungent things," i.e. of condiments. The real fact, however, is that there exist in Pali two entirely different words, one spelt samatittika, the other samatitthika. The former occurs only as a term of food (alms-food) , and represents the Sanskrit sama-tiktika (samatiktaka),"containing a right amount of condiments "; the other represents the Sanskrit sama- tirthika (sama-tirthaka) , " level with the bathing-place," properly used of a flooded rivel · or pond (as in Mahavagga, vi, 28, 11, ed. p. 230, Tevijja Sutta, i, 24, transl. p. 178; Smaller Sukhavati Vyuha, clause 4, in Anec. Oxon., p. 93; Lalita Vistara, ch. 26, ed. Lefmann, p. 407, 1.2), but also, in a looser way, of brimful vessels or bowls (as in Lalita Vistara, ch. 24, p. 387, 1.3; Jataka, vol. i, p. 393, II. 17, 25; p. 400, 1. 1). It was the existence of these two words in Pali, nearly identically spelt, which appears to have caused all the confusion in the manuscripts and the uncertainty in their interpretation. The true Sanskrit equivalent, sama-tiktika, of the Pali sama-tittika, as applied to alms-food, and as found in our fragment, is readily intelligible from the passages in the Pali Vinaya, which describe the ordinary constituents of that food. The ordinary food of a Buddhist monk consisted of three ingredients: (1) boiled rice (odana, or bhakta),(2) cooked split peas (sapa), (3) condiments bhakta), (2) (vyanjana, or uttari-bhanga). Thus in Cullavagga, ch. viii, sect. 4, clause 4, 5 (ed., vol. ii, pp. 214-15), we have the following passage:-- (4) Odane diyyamane ubhohi hatthehi pattam pa riggahetva odanopatiggahrtabbo; sapassa okaso katabbo; sacce hoti sappi va telam va uttari-bhangam va, therena vattabbo 'sabbesam samakam sampadehi ' iti; samasu pako pindapato patiggahetabbo. samatittiko pindapato patiggahetabbo; (5) sakkaccam pindapato bhunjitabbo, na supamvavyanjanamvaodanena prticchadetabbam p.739 That is, "When the boiled rice (odana) is given out, the monk should hold his bowl with both hands, and receive the rice (odana) into it, room should be left for the cooked split peas (supa); if there is ghee, or oil, or condiments (uttari-bhanga), the senior monk should say, 'give out a proper quantity (samaka) to all.' The alms-food is to be taken with the proper quantity of cooked split peas (sama-supika) , and with the proper quantity of condiments (sama-tittika); and it should be eaten in the proper way; neither the cooked split peas (supa), nor the condiments (vyanjana), may be covered up (i.e. mixed together) with the boiled rice (odana)." Compare the translation in SBE., vol. xx, pp. 287-8. Notice also the synonyms uttaribhanga = tiktika vyanjana. Another, similar passage occurs in the Patimokhs, Sekhiya Dhamma, No. 36, in SBE., vol. xiii, p. 53. Compare also the passage in Milinda-panha, pp. 213-14. In the SBE. translation the word supa is always rendered by " curry ", but it really means "dal". Both terms are well known in Northern India as the names of indigenous Indian dishes. "Curry" is the name of a strongly spiced flesh or vegetable dish, while "dal" signifies simply split pulse of various kinds (see Rajanighantu, in salyadivarga, xvi). " Dal," however, is also the name of a dish, as used in the term "dal-bhat", i.e. dal and rice, and in that case "dal" means cooked split pulse, i.e. dal boiled in water with the addition of a little ghee (or oil) and ginger, asafoetida (hingu), etc. (see Bhava Prakasa, i, 2, ed. Jivananda, p. 15). The commentary in the Sutta Vibhanga (Vin. Pit., vol. iv, pt. ii, p. 190) explains supa to be either mugga-supa or masa-supa, that is, split peas, either Phaseolus Mungo (Skt. mudga, Hindi mumg) or Phaseolus Roxburghii (Skt. masa, Hindi urid). p.740 The words vyanjana and upari-bhanga, above trans lated by condiment, refer to what is known in India as " chutnee " (cat'ni), a spicy, hot, pungent seasoning (made of mango, raisins, tamarind juice, red pepper, etc.). The relative quantities of the three constituents of the food (rice, dal, chutnee), of course, vary according to individual taste; but, as a rule, of dal a much smaller quantity, and of chutnee only a pinch is taken. At cook-shops in the Indian bazars, where the poorer class of people buy ready cooked food, the serving-man supplies their receptacle with rice and a smaller quantity of dal ( or curry), and finally places a pinch of chutnee on the top of the whole supply. Hence that pinch of condiment (chutnee) is called upari-bhanga, or top-morsel, a term which has hitherto failed to be fully explained (see SBE. xx, p. 159, n. 1, and Childers' Dictionary, s.v.). The proportion of rice to dal is said by the commentator (SBE. xiii, p. 62, n. 4) to be as 4: 1. From the foregoing it is clear that the Sanskrit equivalent of the Pali tittika, in sama-tittika, standing in juxtaposition to supa in sama-supika, must be a word synonymous with vyanjana and upari-bhanga, and be expressive of condiment; and that word can be only tiktika, pungent, savoury, which is found in our fragment. As to the element sama in the compound, the meaning intended by it does not seem to be that of equality, but rather that of right measure. Sama-tiktaka and sama supika mean "having a right measure of condiment (chutnee) " and "having a right measure of cooked split peas (dal) ". And samaka, in the distribution order (above quoted) has the same meaning: " Let the proper quantity (samaka, of dal and chutnee) be given to everyone." With the alternative meaning of queality, which is adopted in the SBE. translation, the rendering would be: " Let an equal quantity be given to everyone, an equal quantity of dal as well as an equal quantity of chutnee," p.741 so that no one receives more or less than any other. But the meaning of right measure seems to be more appropriate to the regulation, for the point is not so much that every individual monk should have given to him exactly the same quantity of the three constituents of the food (for individual requirements might not have been the same, thus causing waste), but that the two lesser constituents of dal and chutnee should be given in the right proportion to the third constituent of rice (whtatever the quantity of the latter, to suit individual requirements, might be). More important than the equality of the share of each individual monk was that no individual monk should he passed over (accidentally or intentionally) in the distribution of the food. This point is provided for in the regulation by the term savadanam. The identity of this word is discussed by M. Senart in his edition of the Mahavstu, vol. i, p. 595 (see ibid., p. 301, 1.9; p. 327, 1.8). He is probably right in taking, not the Pali sapadanam, but the Sanskrit savadanam to be the original word. The latter is to be resolved into sa-avadanam, "with divisious" (from root ava-do, to cut), that is, taking one division after the other, in regular order. At first sight it might seem as if that meaning were better expressed by such a word as anavadanam, "without division." But we must remember the connexion in which the word originally occurs. That connexion is the going about of the monk for the purpose of collecting alms-food. Sapadanam caranto bhikkhu is the monk who goes about begging from division to division (or house to house) in regular order, and sapadana-carik-angam is the regulation that ordains going about begging from house to house. The side of an Indian bazar street is a continuous structure containing a number of contiguous rooms or tenements, and the monk is directed to beg, not merely in the bazar street, but in it "with its divisions", or inclusive of its individual tenements; that is, he is to beg p.742 in the street from tenment to tenement, in regular order, not omitting any. From this start the word savadanaim came to acquire generally the meaning of "in regular order, not omitting any". And thus it came to be applied also to the distribution of food among the assembled monks, meaning that the food should be given them in regular order, from individual to individual, not omitting any. A very similar widening of meaning (from rivers to vessels) took place, as above noted. in the case of the word sama-tirthika. As to the Pali form sapadanam, it may be a corruption of sapadanam, from sa-apadanam, for apadana (from an "unbelegt" root apa-do) is the regular Pali equivalent of the Sanskrit avadana. But Childers' Dictionary (s.v. sapadana) notes the word padana-cari, one who begs from house to house, which (if correct) points to the existence of a bye-form padana, short for apadana. Analogous shortened forms are not unknown in Pali literature, e.g. parajjhati and ralanjeti for aparajjhati and avalanjeti, etc.(see Muller, Pali Grammar, P.24). With padana, of course, the form sa-padanam would be quite correct.