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राजशेखरकृतः छन्दःशेखरः।
[In the following pages I am publishing again only the fifth chapter of Rājasekhara's Chandaśśekhara because this alone is at present available. The only MS. of this chapter written on palm leaves, exists at the Bada Bhandar of Jesalmir in Bundle No. 238. A copy of this was procured and presented to me by Muni Sri Jinavijayaji of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan with his usual kindness and generosity. The MS. consists of pp. 44 to 51 only, the first 43 pages which contained the earlier chapters being untraced at least for the present. Dalal's Catalogue does not mention this MS. among the other MSS. on Prosody in Bundle No. 238 and it is very likely that it was not there originally. Our MS. is 124 x 19 inches in size; each page. contains 6 lines, and each line contains on an average 60 letters. One or more letters put within the brackets in the following edition represent the correct form of the corresponding number of letter or letters immediately preceding the brackets. Like Hemacandra and Svayambhu, our author uses the terms ष, प, च, त. (always written as in my copy but corrected to a by me) and in his definitions to represent groups of 6, 5, 4, 3 and 2 Mātrās, respectively. The copy, evidently following the MS., always writes for and sometimes drops an obvious Visarga. I have corrected both mistakes, but otherwise I have tried to follow my copy faithfully. Letters in rectangular brackets are suggested additions.]
पञ्चमोऽध्यायः । द्विगुणो यद्यवलम्बकः । क्रियते गीतिनिधनको द्विपदीखण्डं तदा वदन्ति बुधाः ॥ १ ॥ प्रथमं बध्यते द्विपदिका पश्चाद्गीतिर्विरच्यते। एषा द्विभङ्गिका भवेदन्यास्तु यथेप्सितैः रूपकैः स्युः ॥ २ ॥ यद्यवलम्बकस्य मुखतो द्विपदी निधनेऽथ गीतिका ।
पूर्वाचार्यसमीरिता। एषोच्यते त्रिभङ्गिका त्वपराः प्राहुर्यथेप्सितैः रूपकैः ॥ ३ ॥ पथ्या(श्चा)र्धवर्जितं गाथस्यार्या(द्या), तु वर्धते स्वेच्छया
चकारगणैः पादेषु चतुर्षु यदि समैरेवांशैः सर्वैस्तान्तैः
कथितं तत्समशीर्षकम् ॥ ४॥ मालागलितकक्रमान्ते यदा चकारगणका द्विवृद्धया भवन्ति
सर्वे गणाः विषमसंख्यया स्थिता विषमशीर्षकं तत् ॥ ५॥ किं लक्षणेन बहुना यत्क्रियते किमपि खञ्जकं दीर्घम् । तच्छीर्षकमिति कथितं द्विपदीखण्डानि सर्वाणि ॥६॥
-शीर्षकप्रकरणम् । यत्प्राकृतसंस्कृतयोः सारं तस्यात्र लक्ष्यलक्षणं गदितम् । प्रायोऽतोपभ्रंशे समुच्यमानं निशृणुत संक्षेपेण ॥ ७ ॥
उत्साहे षडजचाः शिखीष्टो(प्वो)स्तु यो(जो) लनौ वा ॥ ८ ॥ १ Ms. has समासरिता. २ Ms. has यथेप्सितरूपैः.
