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Damayantī-Kathā-Campūḥ
(With the Commentary by Shri Guņavinayagaņi) A Valuable Addition to the Commentatorial Literature: Some Observations
A Review : Vijay Pandya
It is quite gratifying to note that, the L. D. Institute of Indology, Ahmedabad, has brought out the Damayanti - Kathā Campūh with the commentary called Sarasvativivrti by Shri Gunavinayagani who flourished in
st phase of the 16th century c.e. This commentary is edited by Mahopadhyāya Vinayasagara with an exhaustive introduction along with three indices which give an index of the verses occurring in the Nalacampū, an index of the verses quoted by the commentator and the last one index gives the classification of the meters (it should have been EOGHI and not Eati which is grammatically incorrect) of the verses of the Damayanti-Kathā-Campūḥ and published in 2010, by L. D. Institute Indology, Ahmedabad, a renowned institution, actively engaged in the research and publication of the valuable works and having a precious collection of some 75,000 manuscripts and has been a nodal agency of National Mission for Manuscripts, a Central Government Undertaking for quite some time.
We know that the source of the Damayanti - Kathā Campūḥ is obviously the Great Epic Mahābhārata (Mbh.) which says in the introductory verses SPRETH 141Gwlunt ofag.4: 1 (Mbh. Critical Edition, 1-2-237 a), poets are born from this historical account of the Mahābhārata. Trivikrama Bhatta is one of the innumerable poets who got inspiration from the Mbh. and composed a literary work called Damayanti-Katha-Campūh based on the story of NalaDamayanti which in itself is a beautiful story, called mirror - storyl reflecting the main story of the Mbh. Nala-Damayanti - Kathā has inspired more than
