[South Indian Sanskrit MS 053, Whish MS 54] Rāmāyaṇa

Rāmāyaṇa

Language – Sanskrit

Date – [1800?]
Palm leaf; 11 to 14 lines on a folio. Text consists of the Rāmāyaṇa of Vālmīki, Kāṇḍas 1-6, viz. Bālakāṇḍa ff.1-47; Ayodhyākāṇḍa ff.47-148; Āraṇyakāṇḍa ff.149-207; Kiṣkindhākāṇḍa ff.208-277; Sundarakāṇḍa ff.278-341; Yuddhakāṇḍa ff.342-498. Winternitz includes in his catalogue a table showing the number of Sargas in each Kāṇḍa according to (1) the Whish MS, (2) Bodleian MS Sansk. b. 28 (also a Grantha MS), and (3) the recension called C in Prof. Jacobi’s concordance (Das Râmâyaṇa. Geschichte ind Inhalt nebst Concordanz der gedruckten Recensionen, Bonn 1893, p.220 et seq.). This shows that the Whish MS belongs to the “C Recension”, though it differs somewhat from other editions of this recension. It differs in small respects from the Bodleian MS. Winternitz notes that there are entries by C. M. Whish dated ‘Tellicherry 1826’, but he thinks the manuscript may be about 100 years older. Text begins: abhīpsitārtthasiddhyartthaṃ pūjite yas surair api | sarvavighnaśmide [-bhide?] tasmai gaṇādhipataye namaḥ | kūjantaṃ rāmarāmeti madhuram madhurākṣaraṃ | āruhya kavitāśākhām vande Vālmīkikokilaṃ | Vālmīker mmunisiṃhasya kavitāvanacariṇaḥ | śṛṇvan rāmakathānādaṃ ko na yāti parāṃ gatiṃ | etc. The Bālakāṇḍa has 77 Sargas and ends: tayā sa rājarṣisuto hi kāmayā sameyivān uttamarājakannyayā | atīva rāmaś śuśubhetikāmayā hari śriyā viṣṇur ivāmareśvaraḥ || iti śrīmatbālakāṇḍe saptasaptati[tama]s sargaḥ || iti śrīmadrāmāyaṇe ādikāvye bālakāṇḍaṃ samāptaṃ || hariḥ om || The Ayodhyākāṇḍa has 120 Sargas, the Āraṇyakāṇḍa 75 Sargas, the Kiṣkindhākāṇḍa 68 Sargas The Yuddhakāṇḍa ends: yuddhakāṇḍe tu padyānāṃ daśonā ṣaṭsahasrikā | ekatriṃśacchatamitās sargā api ca kīrttitāḥ | tṛṣāhasraṃ śate dve ca catutriṃśat tathaiva ca | ślokā ittarakāṇḍasthās sargā[ḥ] pa[ṃ]ktyuttaraṃ śataṃ | bindudurllipi- etc. For much more extensive quotations from the beginning of the manuscript and end of each kāṇḍa, see scanned copy of Winternitz catalogue (see link 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.64-67. 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.