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APRIL, 1911.) CRITICAL NOTES ON KALHANA'S SEVENTH TARANGA.
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CRITICAL NOTES ON KALHANA'S SEVENTH TARANGA.
BY PROF. E. HULTZSCH. A MONG the eight Tarangas, i.e., . waves,' into which Kalhana's Bājatarangini or " River of A Kings" is divided, the seventh is perhaps the most satisfactory and interesting one and makes the nearest approach to what we consider history. The eighth Taraiga enters too deeply into insignificant details of purely local importance, while the first six Tarangas are too concise and contain much legendary matter. As shown by Dr. Stein, the seventh Teranga is based on authentic information : the incidents it relates were probably communicated to Kalhana by his father Chappaks and other eye-witnesses of the stirring events of this period of Kasmir history. But although Kalbana's work has been edited three times-by the Calcutta Pandits, by Dr. Stein, and by the late Pandit Dargāprasad, -and although many of its difficulties are finally solved in Dr. Stein's adtoirable translation and its footnotes and appendices, the seventh Taranga still contains many thorns' which pazzle the reader and owe their origin to the corrupt condition of the Sanskrit text. The three editions all present the readings of a recension which is best preserved in the Sārada MS. called A in Dr. Stein's edition. When preparing his translation, Dr. Stein discovered at Lahore a Nägeri copy of a different recension of the Rājatarangini, which enabled him to emend many of the corruptions of A. An incomplete Sáradā MS. of the same class with the Lahore MS. is in my possession. From the critical notes on Dr, Stein's text which I now subjoin. it will be seen that my Särada MS. corroborates a good many of the readings of the Lahore MS. and sopplies a large number of additional variants which are either preferable or worth consideration. I have also added various readings from other MSS. consulted by me and some conjectural emendations.
The word rend' or the sign are profixed to those readings of the subjoined list which I would not hesitate to substitute in Dr. Stein's text: the word 'read' marks corrections made by me or others; the hand marks various readings of manuscripts as preferable to the printed text. The following abbreviations are used in the list:
M = an old Särada MS. of portions of Tarangas VII and VIII, purchased by me at Srinagar in 1885 from the late Pandit Damodar. This MS. is incomplete, and some of the existing leaves are seriously damaged. The preserved leaves of the seventh Taranga are numbered 133-147, 149-164, and 166, and contain verses 558-1067, 1105-1699, and 1727-1732.
L = Nägari MS. from Lahore, quoted in the footnotes of Dr. Stein's Translation ; see his remarks in Vol. I, pp. 50-53.
A = the Särada MS. on which Dr. Stein's edition of the Rajatarangirl is based ; see his Preface.
N = a modern Sirada copy, purchased by me, like M, from Panlit Damodar. It contains IV. 1-373 ; V, 18 to VI, 54 ; VI, 286 to VIII, 1618.
P complete Särada copy of Kalhana's work in the Deccan College, Poona, No. 170 of Bühler's Kalmar Collection. This MS. was kindly placed at my disposal by the Government of Bombay through the India Office,
E = India Office Library, No. 3017, presented by Lord Elphinstone, a beautifully written Nigari copy of Kalbama's whole work. I am indebted to the kindness of Dr. F. W. Thomas for the loan of this MS.
0 = the Calcatts edition of A.D. 1835.
D = Pandit Dargiprasad's edition of Tarangas I-VII. Bombay, 1892. 1 Translation, Vol. I, pp. 6 f. and 87.
Compare VII, 539, 942, 1063. • Soo Professor Eggoling's Catalogue, p. 1606, No. 8937. Another MS which is described on the same page (Xo. 2739 8) costains oaly Tarangm IV-VI, Aad Rot IV-VIII as stated by Professor Eggeling.
