________________
ON THE SANSKRIT SUKTIRATNAHĀRA, AS SUBHĀŞITA-SAMGRAHA
- OF PRÄKRIT SUBHĀSIT A-S
Ludwik Sternbach
(1) The late lamented AN Upadhye complained always that there does not exist a complete subhasita-sangraha of Prakrit verses and that it is difficult, if not impossible, to identify Prakrit aphorisma.
(2) There are about five hundred Sanskrit anthologies(subhasita-samgraha-s) and collections of stray didactic verses! and only a few Prakrit anthologies of which the most important are Hala's Sattasai, Jayavallabha's Vajjalaggam, Chappannaya Gabão, the Gathasahasri' and the lately published by the L.D. Institute of Indology, Ahmedabad, the Gabarayanakosa, the Subhasiyagābasamgaho and the Subhāsıyapajjasamgahoo. In addition, there are a few other Prakrit subhasita-samgraha-8 which are, however, not yet publisheds, as, for instance, the Gathakośa of Municandra from the beginning of the twelfth century called also Rasaulsgätbakośa), or the Gatbaratoakośa of Vatrocana7.
(3) In addition to these Prakrit subhaşıta-sangraha-s some typically Sanskrit anthologies contain a selection of Prakrit subhasita-s, as for instance, the Padyaracana of Laksmana Bhatta Ānkolakaras, the Vidyakarasabasraka of Vidyakaramiśra and, particularly, the Suktiratnabara of Süryakallngaraja (SRHt] from the first half of the fourteenth centurylo, as well as, to a lesser extent, its counterpart11, the Subbasita-sudhandhi (SSSN.] of Sayana 12
1 Cf, L Sternbach, Snbhasita, Gnomic and Dulactic Literature, in A History of Indian
Literature, edited by J Gonda, Vol IV, Otto Hairassowitz, Wiesbaden, 1974 2 opclt (fn 1), pp 10-14 3 op clt (fa 1), P 59, footnote 4 L D. Sories No. 52 5 CF L Sternbach, Sayana's Subha sita-sudhānidhi and Suryapaudita's Süktirat nahāra la
Gangānātha Jha Kendriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha, formerly JOJRI 27, pp 166-260. 6 Extracts (46 verses) were publushed by P Peterson in Three Reports on the Search
for Sanskrit Manuscripts, Bombay, London 1887, pp 297-302 and by P-E Pavolini (20 verses) in Yenti Strofe del Gathākosa di Municandrosari (with translation into
Italian), Firenze 1894 7 New Catalogus Catalogorum, University of Madras, vol 5, p 341. 8 op. cit (fn. 1), p. 27. 9 op cit (fn. 1), pp. 29-30 10 op. cit (fn. 1), P 19 11 op. cit (fn. 1), footnote 85 on p. 20 12 op. cit (fn 1); pp. 19-20 Sambodhi 5.2-3
