Operation In Search of Sanskrit Manuscripts in Mumbai Circle 1

Author(s): P Piterson
Publisher: Royal Asiatic Society

Page 74

IN THE BOMBAY CIRCLE.
परं क्व द्वादशांगीभृद्भद्रबाहुगुरोगिरः। मुग्धधीर्वालिशः काहं पदमात्रेप्यशक्तिमान् ।। तद्यदावश्यकमहं विवरीतुं मतिं व्यधाम् | गंगांतरीतुमारब्धस्तदोष्णैकेन कृष्णवत् ।। महाशास्त्रस्य चामुष्य महाकविविनिर्मिते । गंभीरार्थे महत्यौ स्तशूर्णिवृत्तिश्च यद्यपि ॥ तथाप्यत्यल्पधीहेतोरल्पधीरप्यहं पुनः ।
रचयिष्याम्य वृत्तिमुत्तानार्थी लघीयसीम् || Of his own spiritual genealogy Tila k á cháry a gives the following account: He was the pupil of Ert-Sivaprabhasuri, who succeeded śrí- Ch a kreśvara súri, who succeeded śr 1-D har. maghosha. King Jayasiinhadeva, we are told, was a “ swan at the lotus feet of Dharmaghosha." That teacher's predecessor was śrí- Chandraprabha.
The closing lines of the book give an interesting glimpse of the way in which, in that old time, books were finally prepared for publication. The sage, conscious of his own weakness, but in his master's strength, has made this commentary on the Âvaśyakasätra. What through haste he may have explained amiss the learned world is humbly asked to correct : and a prayer is put up that the merit of the work may not be entirely lost to the worker :
एतां वृत्तिं लघुमविषमां सोहमावश्यकीयां तत्पादाब्जस्मरणमहसा मुग्धधीरप्यकार्षम् । तद्यत्किचिद्रभसवशतो दृष्टमस्यामशुद्धं तत्संशोध्यं मयि कृतकृपैः सूरिभिस्तत्त्वविद्भिः।। वृत्ति रचयता चैतां सुकृतं यन्मयार्जितम् ।
। भवेहं तेन स्यां श्रुताराधनतत्परः॥ Then follows the date put in verse like the rest of the epilogue, that it may endure so long as the book shall last.
शतद्वादशकेब्झानां गते विक्रमभूभुजः।
संवत्सरे षण्णवते वृत्तिरेषा विनिर्ममे || “When twelve hundred of the years of Vikrama the king were gone, in the ninety-sixth year this commentary was made." The book was therefore composed in A.D. 1240 ; and the Cambay copy was written in that town, where we may presume it has remained ever since, in A.D. 1389.
But the book is not yet ready to be published. Before it undergoes that ordeal it must be revised or corrected ; and that labor of