kavidarpan

Author(s): H D Velankar
Publisher: Rajasthan Prachyavidya Pratishtan

Page 9

by the fact that they are directly borrowed from the Svayambhūcchandas, (Pūrvabhāga, 3.2, 4.2, 4.1, and 3-3; Prof. Velankar's edition, p. 105). So also are the illustrations of the Dūhā (vol 83, Svayambhūcchandas 5.2, p. 53).
On the other hand, though the text of the Chandaħkosa, seems to have been preserved properly, the work itself is mostly but an expansion of some earlier metrical manual of Alha and Gulha. Its interest lies in the fact that in contrast with the classical prosodic tradition of Şvayambhū, Hemacandra, etc. it represents a metrical tradition which has later crystallized as the bardic tradition in the hotch-potch of Prāksta-paingala and in the 'Pingala' and 'Dingala' metrical treatises and practices.
Here it should be noted that many of the metrical forms, that have been described in the different and divergent prosodic traditions typified by the metrists from Virahānka to Ratnasekhara, were very vigorously cultivated in Rājasthān and Gujarāta, and we can point to the metrical versatility of Abdala Rahamāna, the author of the Sandes arāsaka and to the numerous citations from the Vịttajātisamuccaya, the Gathālakṣana and the Chandaḥkosa in the commentary on the same (both of which are closely connected with Rājasthān), as just one proof of that fact.
One cannot emphasize too much the fact that Prof. Velankar has done a signal service to Indology by bringing to light and studying critically all those important works, which are unique and invaluable as sources for reconstructing the entire history of Middle IndoAryan prosody. We are grateful to him for allowing us to enrich the Rājasthän Purātana Granthmālā by this publication.
Rajasthan Oriental Research Institute, Branch: Chiltodgadh (Rajasthan) March 1, 1963.
-MUNI JINAVIJAYA