Shadavashyaka Banav Bodh Vrutti

Author(s): Prabodh Bechardas Pandit
Publisher: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan

Page 41

A STUDY OF THE GUJARATI LANGUAGE
The colophons (see appendix) clearly say that the work was composed by Tarunaprabha on Saturday, Dipotsava day. 1411 V. S at Anahilla-pattana, and the present ms. was written by Pandita Mahipaka on Friday, 9th day of the bright half of Caitra, 1412 V. S. The elaborate prasasti stanzas at the end give the genealogies of the teachers of the author and the patron.
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The margins of the text are indicated by thick red lines on both sides, and two big red dots on the two sides, and a third red dot in the middle of the page in a 1" sq. The middle dot is perforated, and the edges of the hole are worn, indicating that the paper mss. were also preserved by binding with string. The red dots and the lines together with the size of the paper indicate a palm-leaf origin (cp. Vaidya MP Vol 1 p. xi, Hertel HOS Vol 12 p. 38. ).
The ms. is written on a thin paper and ink is well preserved. The corrections in the ms. are indicated by a kakapada in the line and the same in the margin together with the no. of the line. When some words are to be deleted from the body of the text, a yellow pigment is rubbed over the unrequired words, or marks like """, or a wavy line is placed over those words. Usual punctuation signs i. e. of danda and ardha-danda, are used. Vertical strokes over the words are used as a device for the punctuations. Usually padimätra is used.
The ms. begins with:-Arham. shri Gautamasvamine namah. Surāsurādhisamahisanamyam praṇamya samyag jinarājavīram, subodham artham dinakṛtyasatkam likhamy abuddhipratibodhanaya and ends with... ivam astu. Bhadram bhavatu. Samasta sädhu samudayasya. Acamdrärkkam nandatu.
The text presented by our ms. is as good as an autograph copy, but at the same time an autopsy and a comparison with other mss. shows that the haplographies and other eye-mistakes cannot be explained without the existence of a lost autograph.
Of all available mss. this is the oldest and best.
(ii) Bh. A paper ms. from Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Poona No. 797 of 1895-1902.
Though worm-eaten at many places this ms. is preserved in a good condition, and is written in clear bold hand-writing. It has 342 folios, measuring 93" x 4", margin of 1" to right and left, a little less on top and bottom; ten lines to a page, 36 letters to a line, except lines 4, 5, 6. 7, which have an average of 27 due to the space kept in the middle.
The colophons give the same date and place of composition. The last page giving the date of copying is lost and instead, a new paragraph is added at the end, in later hand, which gives the name of the person, who, at the suggestion of his master, presented the ms. to the bhāṇḍāgāra. The loss of the last page can be easily explained. As the person who possessed the ms. wanted to preserve his name, and not the name of the scribe, threw away the last page, which did not contain anything by way of text, but which contained the name of the scribe and the date of copying; and then inserted his name and his
master's name.
The prasasti in this and the remaining two give the genealogy of the patron in B. are not given. not the patron of the scribes of the other mss.
mss. is short. Stanzas 14-32, which Evidently, the patron of the B. was
The margins are indicated by thick red lines on both sides, and two large red dots on the two sides, and a third red dot in the middle of the page in a 14" sq. (this measurement is not uniformly observed) kept in the centre. The central dot is perforated by a very pointed needle, but it appears that the hole was never used for tying the ms. with a string, as the edges of the hole are not worn. The red dots and the decorative lines indicate a palm-leaf origin (see above)