Pali 'maraji': Sanskrit 'smarajic'

Summary

This short note compares the Pali word ‘maraji’ with the Sanskrit adjective ‘smarajic’, both derived from the root ‘smṛ’ meaning ‘to remember’. The author analyses how phonological and morphological changes produced different forms in the two languages. In Pali, the initial ‘s’ of Sanskrit often disappears or assimilates, and the prefix ‘sma-’ in ‘smarajic’ yields ‘ma-’ in ‘maraji’. The note discusses cognate forms in other Prakrits and considers whether the terms share semantic ranges in literary contexts. It explains that while ‘smarajic’ in Sanskrit has been translated as ‘mindful’ or ‘recollective’, Pali ‘maraji’ occurs chiefly in commentarial literature and may carry a more specific connotation of ‘habitual recollection’. The author suggests that tracking such lexical correspondences helps philologists reconstruct the transmission of concepts between early Buddhist schools.