Cleaving the Darkness of Faults and Splitting the Blackness of Night (doṣāndhakārabhiduraḥ in Cāndravr̥tti 1.2.108)
Cleaving the Darkness of Faults and Splitting the Blackness of Night (doṣāndhakārabhiduraḥ in Cāndravr̥tti 1.2.108)

Author(s): Dragomir Dimitrov
Subject(s): Theology and Religion
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: Sanskrit and Pali grammar; Cāndravyākaraṇa; Cāndravr̥tti; Cāndrapañjikā; Candragomin; Ratnamati; Moggallāna
Summary/Abstract: In this article a simple rule from Candragominʼs Cāndrasūtra, namely Cān 1.2.108, identical with rule 3.2.162 in Pāṇiniʼs Aṣṭādhyāyī, and the comments on it presented in the Cāndravr̥tti are discussed in some detail. The main commentary on this sūtra turns out to be quite important and particularly revealing, since it contains an interesting literary example, namely doṣāndhakārabhidura- “cleaving the darkness of faults / splitting the blackness of night”, which is attested in Candragomin’s own Śiṣyalekha, or “Letter to a Disciple”. While this passage from the Cāndravyākaraṇa has already attracted the attention of earlier scholars, it is discussed here for the first time in the light of the later Cāndra tradition, in particular taking into consideration the lucid scholarly explanation found in Ratna’s Cāndrapañjikā and the treatment of the same grammatical issue in Pali dealt with in Moggallāna’s grammar and Saṃgharakkhita’s commentary on it. It is shown, among other things, that the passage in the main Sanskrit commentary on Cān 1.2.108 certainly does not contradict the old idea, first introduced by Bruno Liebich, about a common authorship of the Cāndrasūtra and the Cāndravr̥tti, and in fact rather supports this proposition, which – apparently in vain – a few later scholars were tempted to put in doubt.

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