Kuvalayamala Part 2

SR No.: 002778
Original Sutra Author: Udyotansuri
Author: A N Upadhye
Publisher: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan
Publication Year: 1970
Total Pages: 368
Language: Sanskrit, English
Classification: Book_Devnagari & Literature
File Size: 12 MB

Page 47

KUVALAYAMĀLĀ
two available Mss., P. and J, on the basis of which the critical text of the Kuvalayamālā is presented in this edition, constitute an interesting study by themselves.
J is written on palm-leaves and is dated samvat 1139, i.e., A.D. 1083, while P is written on paper and may be assigned to the 15th century A.D. Some of the readings of P confusing v and dh, n and I, c and v etc. clearly indicate that it is a descendant of a palm-leaf Ms. of sufficient antiquity. J is preserved in Jaisalmer (Rajasthan); and P, though now in Poona, also hails from Gujarat. The text of P gives 13,000 granthas as the extent of the work, but the copyist puts it at 10,000 only. On the whole the copyist of J is more efficient, apart from his calligraphic superiority; while that of P has committed many a lapse in copying from his exemplar; often he has wrongly read some of the syllables from his adarsa, and some of his haplographical omissions are quite obvious. These copyists wrote in terms of words with which alone, more than the sense of a sentence in a particular context, they were conversant; naturally they preferred mamgala to mamdala, punna to panna etc. Both the Mss. show this tendency.
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The text of the Kuvalayamālā found in the two available Mss. is not exactly identical, and there are differences of various types between them: they are all recorded in the first forme (pp. 1-8) as exhaustively as possible. There is a large number of variations in syllables in these Mss. Some of them belong to the category of orthographical conventions. For instance, J presents a larger number of cases of inorganic t (or what has come to be called ta-sruti); and it is more partial for n initial, medial and conjunct. It also retains Sanskrit t in some words. It has plenty of instances of ya-sruti, but its general tendency is to leave the udvṛtta vowel as it is. There are in it a few cases of changing k to g and t to d and of retaining d: some of these are Śaurasenī tendencies. P, on the other hand, has a very few inorganic t, is more partial towards initial n and conjunct nn and prefers more consistent use of ya-sruti (with the constituent vowel a or a), and also ya for ca after a vowel. Then there are syllabic variations arising out of incorrect auditory or visual reception on the part of the copyist. He may not have heard a syllable correctly, if the text is dictated to him from an exemplar by some one else; or he may not have read correctly the script from his ādarsa. To this category belong the variations between i, o and ya and between u and o as case termination, and also between i and e and u and o before a conjunct group (J ṇevvāņa P ṇivvāṇa 5. 14). Grammatical rules are optional, and the Devanagarī script has no symbol for short e and o, for which i and u are often used. In the early medieval Devanagari script, there are some symbols which are likely to be misread by one who is not skilled in the earlier form of the script but tries to read it as if it is the modern form to which he is more accustomed: for instance, J via P cia 5. 23, J mokkhai P sokkahi 2. 28, J tu P nu 5. 4, J Dadhavammo P Dadhadhammo 9. 13 etc. Then some words are apparently mis-understood and some closely resembling forms of them are written instead; for instance: J pavittiya P pavattiya 1. 8, J narae P nirae 2. 7, J ruddammi P rumdmmi 2. 12, J viviha P vihava 3. 5, J pāyayam P pāiyam 3. 27, J tasaï P hasaï, J gavviya P gaddiya etc. The initial consonant of a non-initial word in a compound expression may remain unchanged, get elided leaving behind the constituent vowel, or be softened; or may stand single or double, if it is a conjunct: this option also gives rise to many