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.