________________
Professor G. BUHLER's critical study
of
THE SUKRITASAMKIRTANA OF ARISIMHA
(TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN OF THE LATE PROFESSOR G. BÜHLER, C.I.E., LL.D., VIENNA BY E. H. BURGESS, UNDER THE DIRECTION OF JAS. BURGESS, C.I.E., LL.D.)
Published in the INDIAN ANTYQUARY, Vol. XXXI (1902) (Pp. 477-495)
[The paper, of which the following is a translation, appeared in the Sitzungsberichte of the Imperial Academy of Sciences of Vienna (Vol. CXIX., 1889), and some copies of it were struck off in a separate form, chiefly for distribution to friends. There are many scholars, both in Europe and India, who are interested in the subject of the paper but are not familiar with the German language; to them the following translation is offered in order to make its contents accessible.-J.B.]
In my Report on the Search for Sanskrit MSS., 1879-80, p. 5, I announced the discovery of a historical poem which bears the title Sukritasamkirtana, and was composed by Arisimha in honour of his patron, the Jaina Vastupala, who served the Vaghela prince Rāṇaka-Viradhavala of Dholka and his son Visaladeva as minister from Vikrama-Samvat 1276 to 1296 or 1297. Although since .theh, by the publication of Someśvara's Kirtikaumudi, the most important source concerning the origin of the power of the Vaghela dynasty of Gujarat, has become generally accessible, yet a discussion of the contents of Arisimha's poem will not be superfluous. For this touches on several details about which Someśvara is silent, and gives new and in part valuable accounts of other incidents. The manuscript which I have used for the following examination is No. 302 of my collection in the library of the India Office. This was copied in August 1880 from the same original in Ahmadābād from which No. 415 of the Dekhan College Collection of 1879-80 was taken; and it was then carefully collated with No. 411 of the Dekhan College Collection of 1880-81. It is therefore, with the exception of the confusion between the sibilants, between a and i, ra and ri, as well as ta and tha, pretty free from errors, and text is almost throughout easily intelligible.
THE CHARACTER AND ARRANGEMENT OF THE WORK
The Sukritasmkirtana is, as the inscription of each canto intimates, a Mahakavya or artistic poem, composed according to the rules of prosody, and it contains 11 Sargas with 553 verses. Five verses at the end of each Sarga are due not to Arisimha but to Amarapandita. It says, I. 46:- "In this work which Arisimha composed, Amarapandita wrote these four last verses canto by canto." The number
†The German original is accompanied by the Sanskrit text of the passages that are translated in this paper.
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