[South Indian Sanskrit MS 054, Whish MS 55] Commentary on Vālmīki’s Rāmāyaṇa

Commentary on Vālmīki’s Rāmāyaṇa

Language – Sanskrit

Date – [1800?]
Palm leaf; thick boards decorated with painted pictures (same Gaja Lakshmi – Lakshmi with an elephant each side – design both boards), paintings partly rubbed away; generally 11 lines on a folio; some damage to top right of ff.1-18, with slight loss of text on f.1.

Manuscript consists of the following texts: 1. the beginning of a commentary on Vālmīki’s Rāmāyaṇa, up to I, 1, 83; 2. the Adhyātma-Rāmāyaṇa, a part of the Brahmāṇḍa-purāṇa, in 6 Kāṇḍas; 3. {the Maṇimañjarī) a commentary on Kedāra’s Vṛttaratnākara, by the Purohita Nārāyaṇa, a son of Nṛsiṃhayajvan.

Winternitz notes that there is an entry by C. M. Whish dated ‘Tellicherry 1826’. He thinks the manuscript may be about 80 to 100 years older.

Text of commentary on Vālmīki’s Rāmāyaṇa begins: upadiśati manum yas tārakāñ janmabhāje nijam alabhata kāmaṃ yatprasādena rāmaḥ | yam anusarati sarvo devatānāṃ nikāyas sa bhavatu hṛdaye me devadevo maheśaḥ | prācīnavyāhṛtīnām ayanam anusaran devadevasya śambhor ājñāmātrāvalaṃbī nijavibudhajanair īrito rāmabhadraṃ | santoṣan netum icchur viśayam apanayaṃs tatra tatra sphurantaṃ | kurve sarvārtthasāraṃ vivaraṇam ucitañ cārurāmāyaṇasya ||

It ends: karmmaṇā rāvaṇadhāntena | mahateti [ti] sarvalokepsitatamatvād iti bhāvaḥ | ata evāha sacarācaram iti

Text of Adhyātma-Rāmāyaṇa begins: yaḥ pṛthvībharacāraṇāya divijais samprārtthitaś cinmayaḥ | sañjātaḥ pṛthivītale raghukule māyāmanuṣyovyayaḥ | niścakraṃ hatarākṣasaḥ punar agāt brahmatvam ādyam parām kīrttim pāpaharāṃ vidhāya jagatāṃ tañ jānakīśam bhaje ||

The Bālakāṇḍa (in 7 Sargas) ends on f.17b; the Ayodhyākāṇḍa (in 9 Sargas containing 700 ślokas) on f.45b; the Āraṇyakāṇda (in 10 Sargas containing 500 ślokas) on f.67b; the Kiṣkindhākāṇḍa (in 9 Sargas containing 555 ślokas) on f.92; the Sundarakāṇḍa (in 5 Sargas, containing 300 ślokas) on f.106.

The Yuddhakāṇḍa ends on f.160b: iti śrīmad-addhyātmarāmāyaṇe umāmaheśvarasaṃvāde yuddhakāṇḍe ṣoḍaśas sargaḥ || kāṇḍe yuddhyeddhyātmake sargā navasapta nīlakarṇoktāḥ | sārddhaikādaśaśataślokānusaṃkhyāyā yuktāḥ | jayati raghuvaṃśatilakaḥ kausalyānandavarddhano rāmaḥ | daśavadananidha[na]kārī dāśarathiḥ | puṇḍarīkākṣaḥ || hariḥ om śubham astu śrīgurubhyo namaḥ || śrīsāṃbaśivāya namaḥ || The scribe then adds Udayamūrttikumāran … followed by 2 or 3 words in Tamil, not deciphered.

The text of the Vṛttaratnākara is given in full, but the commentary in brief notes only. It is incomplete, breaking off in the middle of the 3rd Adhyāya (see RAS Whish MS 182 / South Indian Sanskrit MS 170). Text begins: namo namo gaṇeśāya namas te śivasūnave | nirvighnaṃ kuru deveśa namāmi tvāṃ gaṇādhipa | śvetāṃbhodhisthitan devaṃ śuddhasphaṭikavigrahaṃ | vāgvibhūtipradaṃ sākṣād vande gandharvakandharaṃ | Nṛsiṃhayajvanaḥ putro Nārāyaṇapurohitaḥ | vṛttaratnākaravyākhyāṃ vyākaroti yathāmati |

It ends: śāliny uktā mtau tagau gobdhilokaiḥ | caturbhis saptabhiś ca varṇair yyatiḥ | nīlāṃ keśe nirguṇām maddhyabhāge durghān netre nirmmalāṃ gaṇḍabiṃbe | pīnān tu gāṃ śroṇivakṣojabhāre kṛṣṇe līlāśālinīn naumi lakṣmīṃ |

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.67-70. 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.