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[South Indian Sanskrit MS 048, Whish MS 49] Pañcāṅgarudranyāsa


Pañcāṅgarudranyāsa

Language – Sanskrit

Date – [1800?]
Palm leaf; 7 or 8 lines on a folio.

Text consists of the following: 1. Rules and prayers for the worship of Rudra (ff.1-32); Whish gives the title Rudra-nyāsam, but Winternitz prefers Pañcāṅgarudranyāsa; the mantras belongs o the Black Yajurveda; 2. an itihāsa (legend) of King Vṛṣādarvi, with an enumeration of the great benefits, temporal and spiritual, to be reaped by one who reads the legend (ff.1-10); 3. the Somotpatti, a kind of Pariśiṣṭa (ff.11-12); 4. the Vedapādastava, a Stotra devoted to the worship of Śiva (ff.13-26).

Text of the Pañcāṅgarudranyāsa begins: oṃ athātaḥ pañcāṃgarudrāṇāṃ nyāsapūrvakaṃ japahomārcanābhiṣekavidhiṃ vyākhyāsyāmaḥ | yā te rudra iti śikhāyāṃ | yā te rudra śivā tanūr aghorāpāpakāśinī | tayā nas tanuvā śantamayā giriśantābhi cākaśīhi | asmin mahaty arṇava iti śirasi | asmin mahaty arṇaventarikṣe bhavā adhi | teṣām sahasrayojaneva dhanvāni tanmasi | sahasrānti lalāṭe | sahasrāṇi sahasraśo ye rudrā adhi bhūmyāṃ | teṣāṃ sahasrayojaneva dhanvāni tanmasi | etc.

It ends on f.32b (apparently incomplete): kukṣis saptasamudraṃ bhujagiriśikharaṃ saptapātāḻapādaṃ vedaṃ vaktraṃ ṣadaṃgaṃ daśadiśi vadanaṃ divyaliṃgaṃ namāmi | oṃ gaṇānān tvā |

Text of the Itihāsa of King Vṛṣādarvī begins: Vṛṣādarvikulaṃ haviś[?] Śibikulam babhūva | tasyāyam itihāsaḥ kulavidyā babhūva | tad yo ha smaimam [read smemam?] adhīte | sa ha sma rājā bhavati | sa kiñcit prāpyāntarhitaḥ | sobravīt | yo mām itihāsaṃ grāhayet | parasmai dadyām iti | tato brahmaṇaḥ | saṃyogaṃ sayyayujet[?] || 1 ||

It ends: ete dve dhanam āryyāṇāṃ mantrāś caiva vratāni ca | mantrāś ca vā vratāni ca namo namaḥ on namaḥ Vṛṣādarvi namo namaḥ suparṇosi garutmān trivṛt te śiro gāyatrañ cakṣu stoma ātmā sāma te tanūr vāmadevyaṃ bṛhadrathantare pakṣau yajñāyajñiyaṃ pucchaṃ chandāṃsy aṃgāni dhiṣṇiyāś śaphā yajūṃṣi nāma | suparṇosi garutmān divaṃ gaccha suvaḥ pata || hariḥ om || 30 | itihāsam samāptā śrīgurave namaḥ śrīsarasvatyai namaḥ śrīrāmacandrasvāmine namaḥ śubham astu |

Text of the Somotpatti begins (f.11): oṃ somotpatti | ṛṣaya ūcuḥ | kautūhalasamutpannā devatā ṛṣibhis saha | saṃśayaṃ paripṛcchanti vyāsaṃ dharmmārtthakovidaṃ | katham vā kṣīyate somaḥ kṣīṇo vā vṛddhate [read vardhate] kathaṃ | imaṃ praśnam mahābhāga brūhi sarvam aśeṣataḥ | śrī-Vedavyāsa uvāca | etc.

It ends (f.12b): yaś ca rājā dvijātīnāṃ tasmai somātmane namaḥ | somotpatti saṃpūrṇaṃ ādityātinavagrahadevatābhyo namaḥ śrīgurubhyo namaḥ |

Text of the Vedapādastava: oṃ vande maheśvaraṃ śaṃbhuṃ vighneśaṃ ṣaṇmukhaṃ guruṃ | gaṇeśān nandimukhyāṃś ca śivabhaktān mahāmunīn | umāpatyam[sic] umājānim umāñ comāsahodaraṃ | umānanāndaraṃ patmāṃ vidhiṃ vayam upāsmahe |

It ends: śivaci[ṃ]daṃbaram iti brūyāt sakṛjjananavarjitam | muktighaṇṭāmaṇipadaṃ mokṣam eva samaśnute | ayan dānakālasuhṛndānapātraṃ [f.26:] bhavān nātha dātā tvad anyan na yāce | bhavatbhaktim eva sthirān dehi mahyaṃ kṛpāśīla śaṃbho kṛtārtthosya tasmāt | hariḥ oṃ vedapādastavaṃ sampūrṇam śubham astu śrīmahādevyai namaḥ

For more extensive quotations from the text and a summary of one of the tales in the itihāsa of King Vṛṣādarvi, 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.55-59. Go to http://tinyurl.com/j3tkdwj for a digital copy of this catalogue.

For the Pañcāṃgarudranyāsa see also ‘Catalogue of the Sanskrit Manuscripts in the Raghunatha Temple Library of His Highness the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir’, prepared by M. Stein (Bombay, 1894), p.16: pañcāṅgarudrāṇāṃ nyāsapūrvako japahomārcanavidhiḥ.

Winternitz notes that the Somotpatti is the same work as Bodleian MS. Walker 144, ff.203-204b, where it forms part of an Āśvalāyana-Mantrasaṃhitā. The Sāma-veda Pariśiṣṭa of the same title in the Bodleian MS. Wilson 466, ff.11-13, though beginning differently, seems to be the same. For further references, see digital copy of Winternitz catalogue.

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

Text in Sanskrit; Grantha script.