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12
MAHAPURANA
page 21 of the Introduction to Jasa haracariu, enabled me then to fix up that Mss. S and T of the work presented an older version. I had there an occasion to test the correctness of the hypothesis by referring to one of the Prasasti stanzas of the Mahāpurāņa, viz.,
दीनानाथधनं सदाबहुजनं प्रोत्फुल्लवल्लीवनं मान्याखेटपुरं पुरंदरपुरीलीलाहरं सुन्दरम् । धारानाथनरेन्द्रकोपशिखिना दग्धं विदग्धप्रियं
क्वेदानी वसतिं करिष्यति पुनः श्रीपुष्पदन्तः कविः ॥ which puzzled the historian in respect of the fixing of the date of the composition of the Mahāpurāņa, in as much as the plunder of Mãnyakheta, a wellascertained historical event of 972 A. D., was referred to by the poet in the middle of the work in the above mentioned stanza found in the Karanja Ms. at the beginning of the 50th saņdhi, while the completion of the Mahapurāņa in the Krodhana year, i. e., in 965 A. D. was an equally certain event. I found that the stanza did not occur in my Ms. K. This fact coupled with the absence of praśasti stanzas in my best Mss. of the Jasa haracariu enabled me to advance the hypothesis set out above, which further examination of a large number of Mahapurāņa Mss. fully corraborates. The Nayakumăracariu of Puşpadanta, which was then being prepared for the Press by my friend Professor Hiralal Jain, did not contain any praśasti stanzas in any of his Mss., and hence I could not test the accuracy of my hypothesis there. I therefore proceeded to collate the praśasti stanzas occurring at the beginning of the samdhis of the Mahāpurāņa. I have not so far discovered a Ms. of the Mahāpurāpa which has no praśasti stanzas : at the same time I have found that Mss. do not agree in giving them all. I have however found that groups of Mss. agree amazingly in giving a stanza at a particular place or omitting it altogether. A smaller number of stanzas was found in my Mss. G and K of the Adipurāna, while the remaining Msg. gave a much larger number of them. I therefore regard that G and K preserve an older, if not the oldest, recension of the text of the Adipurāna. I think that these stanzas do not form an integral part of the text and hence they are relegated to notes in the Critical Apparatus. I however believe that they were composed by the poet himself as nobody could be interested in glorifying Bharata to such extent. I also believe that the poet composed these stanzas long after he had completed the composition of the Mahápurāņa. At any rate the stanza ataTATE etc. he could not have written before 972 A. D., i. e., seven years after the completion of the Mahāpurāna. As the question of these stanzas is important for the manuscript tradition and as they throw considerable light on the relation of
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