Doha Giti Kosa

Author(s): Sarahpad, Dalsukh Malvania, H C Bhayani
Publisher: Prakrit Text Society Ahmedabad

Page 13

There are a number of verses which due to textual corruption or obscurity defy interpretation. There are others of which I have failed to grasp the purport, because of my poor knowledge of the ideas and philosophy of the Siddha tradition.
The present attempt has the very limited aim of restoring the original language that is so far as possible free from phonological and morphological inconsistences, and that of removing some obvious and self-evident metrical and textul errors, corruptions etc. Establishing a satisfactory and inproved text of Dgk. is the essential first step for sparing us from unfounded speculations, and for ascertaining Saraha's own ideas and views and the tradition he had inherited.
The principal aim here is to restore the language so as to conform with the Apabhraíśa language we find in the literary works of c. ninth and tenth century. Its standardized form (with a few regional traits) has been described by Hemacandra in the Apabhramsa section of his grammar, the Siddhahema-śabdānuśāsaa (VIII 4 329-4).
S.K.Chatterji has expressed the following opinion regarding the orignal language of the Dohākośas of Saraha and Kānha
The two Dohākośas present the same dialect, which is a kind of Western Apabhramśa as its -u termination, its -aha genetives, its -ijja passives and its general agreements in form with the literary Western Apabhraíśa amply indicates (The Origin and Development of the Bengali Language, Vol 1, p 112).
The metrical form of the verses of the Dohākośa also has served as guiding principle. Numerous clues have been provided by many preserved, original forms. Such an effort, I repeat, in the very nature of things can be considerably tentative and relying on surmises. Its value is to be judged by whatever success it achieves in improving the text by throwing light on numerous obscure and doubutful passages and in establishing the 'Dohā-Kośa' as an early important literary work in Standard Apabhramśa.
I should also point out that in the present attempt, at several places I am in the dark or uncertain about the textual restoration,