sparśa-vihāra-tā (17458)

sparśa-vihāra-tā
Entry 17458, Page 612, Col. 1

(sparSavihAratA, sparSa-vihAra-tA)
sparśa-vihāra-tā¦ (once by error °vihāri-tā; etym., see below), state of comfort, agreeable condition: SP 248.6; Bhīk 26a.3; in comp. with preceding sukha-, Kv 18.8 (here text erroneously °vihāri-tā); 89.13; oftener with sukhaṃ as separate and parallel near-synonym, Mv i.256.10; 323.20 (here sukha-tā); 324.5; Divy 156.14; Av i.326.1; ii.93.16. See asparśavihāra; and phāsu, phāsa, (a)phāṣa(ka). The Pali equivalent is (a)phāsu(ka), often with vihāra; and AMg. has phāsuya (-vihāra). Pischel 208 derives from *sparśuka; Skt. sparśavant, BHS sparśana- vant, pleasant to touch, suggest how the development of mg. might conceivably have taken place, but Pischel's form is unrecorded. In BHS sparśa- is the regular form in this cpd., but others occur, see above. It may be only a hyper-Sktism. The -u of the stem seems to be universally found in Pali and Pkt., and occurs in BHS, but never followed by -ka, a fact which is not helpful to Pischel's etymology. The Jain Skt. form is prāsuka, interpreted as free from living creatures (pra-asu; of a dwelling, vihāra, suitable for Jain monks); this looks like a fanciful hyper- Sktism. Various other etymologies have been suggested, see the Pali Dictt.; none are convincing. Note the use of phāsuṃ, phāṣaṃ as adverbs with viharati.The forms phāsa, phāṣa are recorded only in BHS. [Page612-b+ 71]