[South Indian Sanskrit MS 052, Whish MS 53] Mahābhārata

Mahābhārata

Language – Sanskrit

Date – [1800?]
Palm leaf; 9 lines on a folio.

Manuscript consists of the text of Parvan IV of the Mahābhārata, the Virāṭaparvan, in 76 Adhyāyas.

Winternitz notes that there are entries by C. M. Whish dated ‘Tellicherry 1826’, but he thinks the manuscript may be about 50 years older.

Text begins: śrīkṛṣṇāya namaḥ | Janamejayaḥ | kathaṃ virāṭanagare mama pūrvavapitāmahāḥ | ajñātavāsam u[k]ṣitā duryyodhanabhayārditaḥ | pativratā mahābhāgā satataṃ satyavādinī | draupadī vā kathaṃ brahmann ajñātā duḥkhitāvasat | etc.

It ends: tan mahotsy[y]avasaṃkāśaṃ hṛṣṭapuṣṭajanāvṛtaṃ | nagaram matsyarājasya śuśubhe bharatarṣabhaiḥ | Janamejayaḥ | vṛtte vivāhe hṛṣṭātmā yad uvāca yudhiṣṭhiraḥ | tat sarvaṃ kathayasveha kṛtavanto yad uttaraṃ || oṃ iti śrīmahābhārate śatasahasrikāyāṃ saṃhitāyāṃ vaiyāsikyāṃ śrīvirāṭaparvaṇi abhimanyuvivāho nāma ṣaṭsaptatitamoddhyāyaḥ || … || hariḥ oṃ || śrīkṛṣṇāya namaḥ || śubham astu śrīgurubhyo namaḥ ||

Winternitz catalogue entries include more extensive quotations from end of text.

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.63-64. Go to http://tinyurl.com/j3tkdwj for a digital copy of this catalogue.

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

Text in Sanskrit; Grantha script.