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Shri Mahavir Jain Aradhana Kendra
www.kobatirth.org
Acharya Shri Kailassagarsuri Gyanmandir
PREFACE.
xiii
MS. ends with the words, स्वस्ति सं १४४९ वर्षे श्रा० शु० रखौ नंदपंडे द्विवे (two letters obliterated) i nget (several letters worn away at the edge)
97 9498 T WITT FE 98 wafugat afe (the concluding line being obliterated with ink). The second date probably is that of the sale of the MS., and the obliterated words the name of the then owner. The writing of this MS. is still very clear. One of its peculiarities is worth noticing. The medial diphthongs e and o are not written above the line, but with perpendicular strokes at the side of the consonant; e.g. to=ke, =ko; similarly kai would be to, and kau, 11. It is not a correct MS., being very corrupt in many difficult passages. It is especially untrustworthy in grammatical quotations. I nevertheless found it a very valuable MS. for Shadgurusishya, because owing to its great age, being separated from that commentator's time by only two centuries, it was bound to contain many old readings.
(9) P2, which also belongs to the Deccan College, is about 250 years younger than P1, being dated 1638 or 1645 A. D. (Saka 1560 or 1567)". It consists of 147 leaves, but 2 leaves, 122 b to 124 a, are missing. It has the same contents as P1. It begins with the words, FOTO AT WITTUNTU 74: I 90 Pregata etc.; and ends, T Rezo 11 HAFT 11
a 94&9 (?) T atuato fofer Il There can hardly be a doubt as to its being lineally descended from P1. An examination of the critical notes will show that its mistakes coincide in a remarkable manner with those of that MS. The lacunae of Pi are generally filled up, and often wrongly. One passage in particular will make pretty clear the connexion of P 2 with P1?. P1, however, contains two long quotations from the Brihaddevatâ not to be found in P2 or in any other of the MSS.
Besides the above-mentioned MSS., I have used three of the Brihaddevata, kindly lent me by Professor Max Müller, for collating with the quotations from that work in the Vedârthadîpika. I have called them M1, M2, and M 3. They are all quite young MSS., the latter two being dated 1845 and 1866 A. D. respectively. M 2 and M 3 are almost identical (the latter probably being a copy of the former), while M1 diverges from them to some extent; but as a rule, the readings of all three agree where they differ from those of Shadgurusishya.
1 It is difficult to make out whether the last figure is a 7 or a o. ? See note on comm. to Introd., § 2, 22.
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