महावीरचरितम् (महाकवि भवभूति - वीररस-प्रधान रामकथा नाटक सम्पूर्ण ७ अङ्क सटीक)

xxvii] Proposed by the General Editor of this Series
the beginning of the act.—Now observe the result. A prose-passage may
be cited, if in Sanskrit, by page and by line (the line you must count for
yourself), or by act and marginal line-number; if in Prākrit, by either of
these methods or else by act and Prākrit speech-number. For metrical
passages take the words kukkehiṁ kukkīhiṁ a bukkaante as an example.
These may be cited as Mṛichchhakaṭika, ed. Goḍabole, Bombay, 1896,
p. 62, l. 3; or as ditto, act i, line 556; or as ditto, act i, stanza 52ᶜ. But
this stanza is actually numbered as ‘(46) || 52 ||’, because, being a Prākrit
speech, the number 46 is given for reference to the explanation. And even
the number 46 is an abbreviation (the common one) for 146, so that
stanza 41 on page 48 (an earlier page!) is numbered as ‘(91) || 41 ||’. The
general appearance of the text is further marred by excessively frequent
Nāgarī numbers referring to the variants.
No one can comprehend all these complexities at a glance. They require
careful study. But needless complexities are not worth careful study.
Moreover, one writer will cite a line in one way and another writer in
another. The upshot of it all is—baffling confusion! In closing, I beg the
reader to remember that these inconveniences are mentioned, not in order
to discredit the past work of honoured scholars, but rather in order to
persuade scholars to avoid them in their future work.
C. R. LANMAN.
HARVARD UNIVERSITY,
June 18, 1914.