Descriptive Catalogue of Sanskrit Manuscripts Asiatic Society Vol 08 Part 02

SR No.: 020275
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Hariprasad Shastri, Chintahran Chakravarti
Publisher: Asiatic Society
Publication Year: 1940
Total Pages: 340
Language: English, Sanskrit
Classification: Catalogue
File Size: 19 MB

Page 47

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xliii. )
father Jai Singh in 1833 and ruled up to 1854, was like his father a lover of literature and learning to which he gave his support (p. 17). It is further stated there that 'Maharaj Visvanath Singh, himself a good scholar, was a great patron of Sanskrit learning and invited Brahmans to settle in different parts of the state and form seminaries for teaching Sanskrit' (p. 69). There is no reference here to any books composed by the Maharaja. The Catalogus Catalogorum of Aufrecht, however, mentions manuscripts, found mostly in Oudh 1, of as many as half a dozen works 2-all on the cult of Rāma-by Maharaja Viśvanātha, who in all probability is identical with the above-mentioned ruler of Rewa. The Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal possesses five manuscripts of four oi these works 3 of which one, the Mantrārtha-nirnaya (6494) is described in the following pages.
One of these MSS. (e.g., Rāmamantrārtha-nirnaya) is in Bengali characters, shewing that one at least of his works had travelled beyond the limits of his own territories. Three of these MSS. are dated. The MSS. of the Brahmasūtra-bhāsya, the Manträrthanirnaya and the Samgīta-raghunandana are stated to have been copied respectively in 1843 (1900 V.S.), 1850 (1907 V.S.) and 1880 (1937 V.S.). It will be seen that two of these MSS. were copied during the lifetime of Visvanātha. The fact that one MS. was copied after his death and one was copied in Bengali characters shows that the works concerned had gained some popularity.
Some details about his personal history may be gathered from several of these works of Viśvanātha. As most of the works deal with Rāma and his cult it seems that he was a follower of the cult of Rāma. It seems later in life he became a follower of the Rādhā-vallabhi school when he commented on the Brahmasūtra
1 It mentions only three MSS. outside Oudh :-Two MSS. of the Rāmacandrähnika described by R. L. Mitra (Notices of Sans. MSS., I. 73) and P. Peterson (Descr. Cat. Sans. MSS., State Library, Ulwar, No. 962) and the only MS. of Sarva-siddhānta (R. L. Mitra, op. cit., VII, 2329).
2 Rūma-gita, Rāmacandrāhnika (with commentary), Rāmamantrūrtha-nirnaya, Brahmasūtra-bhāsya, Sarva-siddhānta and Samgita-raghunandana.
3 Two MSS. of the Rāmacandrāhnika, one MS. of the Samgita-raghunandana described in ASB. (VII. 5255, 5256, 5269), one MS. each of the Manträrtha-nirnaya, described in the present volume (6494), and of the Brahmasūtra-bhāsya, to be described in the philosophy volume.
For a critical account of these works cf. JRASBL., 1939, pp. 455-8.