Kavyashiksha

Author(s): Vinaychandrasuri, Hariprasad G Shastri
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

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INTRODUCTION Selection for editing : Ever since 1937 when the Descriptive Catalogue of Manuscripts in the Jaina Bhandars at Patan was published, the Kavyasiksa by Vinayacandra drew attention of scholars for some of the remarkable references contained in the select extracts quoted from it in the Catalogue. But the work is available only in the form of a single manuscript which again is incomplete. However, it was high time for the work to be published, though no other manuscripts of it have come to light so far and though the missing folios of the known manuscript are not recovered. It was at the instance of Pt. Dalsukh Malvania, the Director of Lalbhai Dalpatbhai Institute of Indology that I undertook the editing of this valuable work that remained unpublished so far. Material of Mss. : As the original palm-leaf Ms. of the work was not available outside the premises of the Bhandar at Patan, I prepared a provisional presscopy of the work on the basis of a modern copy of the ms., which I could procure for long through the courtesy of Muni Shri Punyavijayaji. The copy was made in the traditional form of old mss. by Shri Gordhandas H. Trivedi in V.S. 1971 at the instance of Pravartaka Shri Kantivijayaji. It consists of 52 folios measuring 11" x 4.5"; and is preserved in the Atmaram Jain Jnanamandir at Baroda. The copy-ms. facilitated my work to a large extent. On the completion of the provisional press-copy prepared on the basis of the copy-ms. I went to Patan for consulting the original ms. The place represents the old capital of Gujarat and is situated in the Mehsana District of the State. The ms. of this work lies in the Sanghvi Pada Jain Bhandar at Patan. The custodian of the Bhandar was kind enough to give me full access to the ms. at his place. Through the full and active co-operation of my friend Pt. Amritlal Bhojak I collated my provisional press-copy with the original ms. verbatim et literatim and corrected several misreadings noticed in the press-copy based on the copy-ms. The original ms. is a palm-leaf ms. Its folios measure 131" X 11". It is incomplete, the last folio bearing No. 177. Twelve folios even in the extant portion of the ms, are missing. These missing folios are