[South Indian Sanskrit MS 043, Whish MS 42] Kuḻārṇavatantra

Kuḻārṇavatantra

Language – Sanskrit

Date – [1800?]
Palm leaf; about 10 lines on a folio.

Winternitz notes that there is an entry by C. M. Whish dated 1825 [on verso of third blank folio at beginning), but he thinks that the manuscript may be about 50 years older.

Manuscript consists of: 1. the Kuḻārṇava(tantra) in 17 Ullāsas (ff.1-95); 2. the Mantrākṣaramālā, in 16 stanzas (ff.95b-98b).

Text of the Kuḻārṇavatantra begins: gurubhyo namaḥ [|] upaśrutīnām anyeṣām upaśrutiriyaṃ sadā | śruṇ[ut]aṃ sarvavīrāṇāṃ caraṇaṃ smaraṇaṃ mmamā | guruṃ gaṇapatiṃ durgāṃ kṣetreṣaṃ śivaṃ arca[read acyu?]taṃ | brahmāṇaṃ girijāṃ lakṣmīm vāṇīṃ vande vibhūtaye | anādyāyākhilādyāyāmāyine gatamāline | arūpāya svarūpāyāśivāya guruve namaḥ | etc.

It ends: iti śrīmatkuḻārṇave mahārahasye sarvāgamottame mokṣapāde kuḻavivāhapraśaṃsan nāma saptadaśollāsaḥ ||

The 7th Ullāsa ends on f.37, the 8th on f.44b, the 9th on f.51, the 10th on f.56, the 11th on f.61b, the 12th on f.67b, the 13th on f.72b, the 14th on f.78, the 15th on f.84b, the 16th on f.89b.

Text of the Mantrākṣaramālā begins: kallolo[lla]sitāmṛtābdhilaharīmaddhye virājanmaṇidvīpe kalpakavāṭikāparivṛte kādaṃbavāṭojvale ratnastaṃbhasahasranirmmitasabhāmaddhye vimānottame cintāratnavinirmmite janani te siṃhāsanaṃ bhāvaye || 1 ||

It ends: śrīmahātripurasundaryyai namaḥ | karakṛtam aparādhaṃ kṣantum arhanti santaḥ | śaṃkarasya caritākathārasaḥ candraśekharaguṇānikīrttanaṃ nīlakaṇṭha tava pādasecanaṃ saṃbhavantu mama janma[ni] janmani | idaṃ pustakaṃ guruvanujñā Ananta – Nārāyaṇa – likhitaṃ | śrīgurubhyo namaḥ | hariḥ om śubham astu ||

For more extensive quotations from the text, see digital copy of Winternitz catalogue (see below).

South Indian Sanskrit / Whish Manuscript Collection.

See ’A catalogue of South Indian Sanskrit manuscripts (especially those of the Whish Collection) belonging to the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland’ by M. Winternitz, with an appendix by F. W. Thomas (London: RAS, 1902) p.49-51. Go to http://tinyurl.com/j3tkdwj for a digital copy of this catalogue.

For the Kuḻārṇavatantra, see also ‘Catalogi Codicum ManuscriptorumBibliothecae Bodleianae Pars Septima, Codeices Sanscriticos completens’ by Th. Aufrecht (Oxford, 1864), p.90 seqq. (No. 147); ‘Catalogue of the Sanskrit Manuscripts in the Library of the India Office’ by Julius Eggeling (London, 1887-), Part IV, by Ernst Windisch and Julius Eggeling, p. 879; ‘Notices of Sanskrit Manuscripts’ by Rajendralala Mitra (Calcutta, 1892-), I p.138 (No. 258), p.160 (No. 290).

J. L. Whish, gift of manuscripts collected by his brother C. M. Whish, July 1836.

Text in Sanskrit; Grantha script.