Suktiratnakosa

Author(s): Lakshman, Nilanjana Shah
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 10

are ascribed to Chittapa, verses 117–118 to Someśvara, verses 119 to Váhada, verses 313-322 to Vālmiki, verses 473–474 to Trivikrama and verses 484 to Vararuci.
The verse here attributed to Vidyāpati is found in anthologies without any ascription. At the same time it is very difficult to identify Vidyāpati. Several verses occurring in the anthologies are ascribed to Vidyāpati. The verses attributed to Chittapa are not found in the anthologies consulted. According to the editers of Subhasita-Ratna-Koşa (SrK), Chittapa was a court poet of King Bhoja of Dhārā and of some Kalacuri king of his time. Most of the Chittapa's Stanzas quoted in the well-known Sanskrit anthologies are replete with court-flattery. The verses here ascribed to Chittapa are not found in any of the prominent Sanskrit anthologies. Therefore this anthology should be given credit for bringing to light three verses of Chittapa, perhaps not noted elsewhere.
- Verses attributed to Someśvara are not traceable in the extant work written by the authors bearing that name. The verse 119 ascribed to Váhada is not found as such in any of the works of two Vāhadas known so far, viz, Vägbhața, the author of Vāgbhatālamkara and Vägbhața, the author of Kāvyānušāsana. The section on rainy season contains 17 verses (312–328). Out of these, 10 have been ascribed to Vālmīki. But only two (315, 322) could be traced to the Kişkindhakāņda in the critical edition of Rāmāyaṇa, while two verses 316 and 320 are found in the popular edition of two Rāmāyaṇa.
Two verses ascribed to Trivikrama are found in his work, Nalacampo. The verse here attributed to Vararuci is also found in Sūktimuktavali (SMV --48-4), Šarngadharapaddhati (SP-3506) and SV(1434) with the same ascription.
We do not know which Vararuci is here referred to out of the several writers known to bear that name, such as Vāraruci alias Katyāyana, the author of Vårtikas, Vararuci, the author of Prakrit grammar or Vararuci, the pre-Daņdin writer on Alamkāra : (Ref. : History of Sanskrit Poetics, I, p. 70)
Yet a majority of verses in this anthology are left without ascriptions, but in other anthologies they are ascribed to their authors. These ascriptions have been shown in the footnotes in the verse-index. One should not put too much reliance on those ascriptions which are unsupported by other information, because sometimes, the same verse is attributed to different poets in different anthologies.
Though the compiler has not indicated the source of the verses, we re able to find out the sources of forty verses in about twelve works, viz,