Indian Antiquary Vol 05

Author(s): Jas Burgess
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 37

JANUARY, 1876:]
CORRESPONDENCE AND MISCELLANEA.
taranginis, written in the Sârada character, and 2. The Dasavatáracharita of Kshemendra, about fifty to sixty years old. As already stated, 3. The Rimiyanamanjart of Kshemendra, the present editions are not trustworthy,-least so 4. The Samayandtrikd of Kshemendra, in the 7th and 8th books,- because they have been 5. The Sitkanthacharita of Mankha, based on Devanagari MSS. I am confident that 6. The Rånanirunya ? (incomplete), with the help of my collation and of the new Sarada 7. The Stutikusumdnjali, MS. it will be possible to produce a readable and 8. The Haracharitachintamani, reliable text. There are also two works of the and some smaller productions. The oldest of late Såhibrâm Pandit, both entitled Rdjatarangi- these poems is the first, which dates from the be. nisa ringraha which explain difficult passages in ginning of the 9th century; next come the works Kalhana's chronicle, and a third bearing the same of Kshemendra, who wrote in the first half of title, which treats Jonarâja's Tarangint in detail. the 11th; and last Man kha's, who flourished in A collection of Mahatmyas. describing many the beginning of the 12th century. famous Kasmir tirthas will further assist in elu- Babu Nilâmbar has already forwarded copies of cidating the Rijatarangini. Among the sources the Haravijaya to Pandit Isvarachandra Vidyasafrom which Kalhana compiled his work, I have gara in Calcutta, and an edition of the book may be obtained the Nílamatapurána in five copies, four expected. In order to make the collection as useful written in Sarada characters, and one in Devand- as possible, I have secured for nearly all these gari. Just before I left Kasmir three copies of poems both Devanagart and Sarada copies, and, in Kshemendra's Rajddau, a work which Kalhana the case of Nos. 1, 2, 5, 6, and 7, commentaries. criticizes very sharply, were discovered. Two of Among the known but raro pootical works these have been promised, and are probably already
7 are copies of Kshemendra's Bhardtamanjart and on their way to Lahor. I think there is still a of the Yudhishthiravijaya, whose author the hope that some more of the old chronicles will Kasmirian MSS. state to be Vásude v a. There turn up. One Pandit certainly assured me that is also a commentary on the latter work. An old he had news of the existence of Sankuka's Bhuva. copy of Bilbana's Panchéika definitively settles the ndbhyudaya. Besides, a great many old birch-bark question as to the authorship of the little poem, and volumes are in the hands of Brahmans, who, them- explains the origin of the literary anecdotes cur. selves unacquainted with Sanskrit, had learned an- rent regarding it. Several ancient birch-bark MSS cestors. The learned Pandits find it hard to make of Somadeva's Kathesaritsigara-which the Kassuch men give up their books, but in course of time mirians usually call Vrihatkathi-will, I trust, they will no doubt succeed in extracting all that enable us to correct the errors of the Devanagari is valuable, since they have become fully alive to MSS. on which the published edition is based. the importance of searching the gartas.'
A large Subhashitdvalí, or collection of elegant Of other historical books I have acquired three extracts, by Srivara, the anthor of the third copies of Båna's Harshacharita and an imperfect Rajatarangin (second half of the 15th century), is copy of its commentary, the Samkota. The latter important for the literary history of Kasınîr. is, however, not of much use, as its compiler, In Poetics or Alamkâra there are, besides the Samkara, knew little of Sanskrit and less of well-known Kdvyaprak isa--of which, howerer, the history. There is, finally, a curious work on the Kasmirian MSS. differ from thoso, used in Hinhistory of the great Chahuvâna prince Prith- dustân-and its commentary tho Anandivir&ja, entitled Prithvirajavijaya, with a com- 1. The Alankdrasarvasva, see Oxef. Cat. p. 210, mentary by Jonaraja, the author of the second 2. The Alankdravimarsini, see ibid., Rdjatarangins. The MS. is a very old and very 3. The Dhvanigdthápanjild of Ratnakara, dilapidated birch-bark volume, and in so bad n con- 4. The Dhivanyalochana of Abhinavagupta with dition that I fear it will not be possible to docipher the Uliyota, the whole of its contents. It contains portions of 5. The Alamoirasekhara, the twelve Sargas. The name of its author is not 6. The Alandraratnlara, given in the colophons of the Sargas, but it would 7. The Chandraloka of Jayadeva, with a comseon that the work belongs, like the Harsha
mentary, charita, the Gau lavadha (of Våkpati), and the 8. The Kdvydlanikúra, attributed to Rudrata, Vikramunkakdoya, to a protégé of the hero. It 9. The Abhidhdurittimdtrikel of Mukula, will be interesting to compare its contents with and a few minor works. Chand Bardai's great Hindi Raedo.
If No. 8 really belonged to Rudra ti-a stateBesides these historical works there nre eight ment which I very much doubt-it would be the larger new Kavyas :
oldest work in the collection. For Rudrata or Ru1. The Haravijaya of Ratnakara,
drabhatta, like Udbhata, was one of the Pandits