Bruhat Katha kosha

SR No.: 016060
Original Sutra Author: Harishen Acharya
Publisher: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan
Publication Year: 1943
Total Pages: 566
Language: Prakrit, Sanskrit
Classification: Dictionary & Dictionary
File Size: 16 MB

Page 90

INTRODUCTION
a) SRICANDRA'S KATHAKOBA IN APABHRAMA.
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This work is written in Apabhraṁsa with varied metres and is divided into 53 Samdhis which do not necessarily correspond to t of stories some of which are vivisected by the Samdhi-division. The colophons give the author's name as Siricaṁda. The Sanskrit Prasasti at the end gives his spiritual genealogy thus : Srīkirti (of Kundakundānvaya), Srutakirti, Sahasrakirti (who was respected by Gangeya, Bhojadeva and others). Viryacandra and Sricandra. At the request of the Bhavyas, he mastered the work of a pūrvācārya, an earlier author, and wrote this Kathākośa more specifically for the family of Krşņa, the son of Sajjana of Prāgvāța family. who was a resident of Anahillapura in Saurăştra and who was a legal adviser (dharmasthānasya gosthikah.) of king Mularāja. As to the date of this author, Prof. Hiralal" remarks: History tells us that there have been two kings of this name in the Chālukya line of Anhillvād. The first was the founder of the dynasty and reigned from A.D. 941 (961?) to 996, and the second, who was tenth in the line, sat on the throne in 1176 A.D. and ruled only for two years. Our author flourished about the time of one of these kings, probably of the first”. But the way in which the Prasasti gives the facts shows that our author was one or two generations Mūlarāja'. Sahasrakirti was a contemporary of Gāngeya and Bhoja, the former possibly the Kalacūri of Cedi (c. 1015-1040) and the latter the Paramāra of Malwä (c. 1018-1060). So tentatively we can put Sricandra at the close of the eleventh century A. D. In the following lines he speaks of the Kathäkośa of earlier poets :
महं धम्मे परेकभत्ति गुरुक्क अण्णु किं पिन वियाणमि । जलहि व्व असोसु जो कहकोसु सो हउं केम समाणमि ॥
जो विरइउ आसि महामईहिं महरिसिहिं अणेयहिं सक्कइहिं । तं रयमि केम हठं मंदमई
भूयरहो होइ किं गयणगई ॥ He gives some important facts about the source or the basis of his Kathākośa in the following lines :
गणहरहो पयासिउ जिणवइणा सेणियहो आसि जिह गणवइणा । सिबकोडिमुणिंदि जेम जए
कहकोसु कहिउ पंचमसमए । तिहं गुरुकमेण अहमवि कहामि नियबुद्धिविसेसु नेव रहमि । महु देवि सरासइ सम्मुहिया
संभवउ समत्थु लोयमहिया। आयण्णहो मूलाराहणहें
सग्गापवग्गसुहसाहणहें। गाहंतरियाउ सुसोहणउ
बहु कहउ अस्थि रंजियजणउ । धम्मत्थकाममोक्खासयउ
गाहासु जासु संठियउ तउ । ताणत्थं भणिऊण पुरउ
पुणु कहामि कहाउ कयायरउ । 1 Allahabad University Journal, vol. I, pp. 171-72. 2 Sajjana was a contemporary of Mülarāja; his son was Krşņas; and Śricandra
refers to the sons etc. of Krsna. 3 This Ms. retains initial n, so I have retained it. The lines are quoted with minor
corrections.