Sandesha Rasaka

Author(s): Abdul Rahman, Jinvijay, H C Bhayani
Publisher: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan

Page 37

eight)
this vārtā (vārtika?). In this if anything that was not proper was unguardedly written by him it was not he, but, Gahaḍa who was to be held answerable for that. Thus it appears that Lakṣmicandra learned the purport of the poem from some Kṣatriya named Gahada. We do not know any thing else regarding this Gāhada.
PREFACE
From this commentary of Laksmicandra we can see that he was not a good student of Sanskrit. He must have only a working knowledge of that language. In spite of his defective knowledge of Sanskrit and his immature study he has enthustastically tried to explain the purport of the Rasaka by writing in his broken style a commentary in the form of this 'vārtika', and to-day it has certainly proved of considerable help in understanding the poem. It is probable that the Avacārikā which is found in the Poona Ms. (A) was prepared by some student on the basis of the substance of this commentary of Lakṣmicandra. From what is said by Lakṣmicandra we can also surmise that possibly there was nothing like a Sanskrit commentary on the Samdesarāsaka before one written by Lakṣmicandra himself. So in course of time this Apabhramsa poem of Abdala Rahamana being felt difficult to understand, Lakmicandra, who found the poem very attractive and worthy of study, learnt it from some Kshatriya called Gahada who knew its language and purport tolerably well, and composed this vrtti or vārtika in his own words. Since, the text of the Rasaka as found in this Ms. and the one which forms the basis for the commentary are in some places at variance with each other, it is to be concluded that either the text and the commentary were copied from two different Mss. or the prototype of this Ms. must have been copied in the said manner. Ms. C This is from a Bhandar at Patan. The number of the leaves is 17, and the script is Jain Devanagari. The copyist is Muni Manasagara, who was a disciple of Upadhyaya Devasagara. Some Bhaṭṭāraka - the name has been scored off by somebody got this copy prepared by Muni Manasagara. Here also the date of copying is not given. So we cannot say what must be the exact date, but looking to the condition of the Ms. it appears to have been written during 1700-1750 V. S.
This Ms. contains merely the text of the Samdesarāsaka. The copyist has not put down the numbers to the stanzas, but