[South Indian Sanskrit MS 071, Whish MS 71] Mahābhāratasaṃgraha

Mahābhāratasaṃgraha

Language – Sanskrit

Date – [1800?]
Palm leaf from 12 to 15 lines on a folio. Text consists of the Mahābhāratasaṃgraha by Maheśvara. C. M. Whish describes it as “the Sangraha-Bhāratam of Mahēswarah; compleat in eighteen Parvvas”. Winternitz notes that there are really only 17 Parvans, as follows: Parvans I-IX correspond to the usual Parvans of the Mahābhārata; X Gadā-Parvan; XI Sauptika-Parvan; XII Aiṣīka-Parvan; XIII-XVII Āśvamedhika to Svargārohaṇika Parvans. The Strī, Śānti, and Anuśāsana Parvans are not represented. Winternitz notes that there is an entry by C. M. Whish signed ‘Tellicherry December 1828’, and that the Pramāthin year (see quotation from end of MS) immediately preceding 1828 is 1819/20 CE, but that the MS looks older, and may have been written in 1759/60 CE, or even 1699/1700 CE. Text begins: śuklāṃbaradharaṃ viṣṇuṃ śaśivarṇañ caturbhujaṃ | prasannavadanan dhyāyet sarvavighnopaśantaye | śrīmān paurāṇikas sūtaḥ kadācid raumaharṣiṇaḥ | ugraśravā nāma puṇyam naimiśāraṇyam āgamat | varttamāne śaunakasya satre dvādaśavārṣike | tatrāsīnān munīn sarvān prāṇamat saṃprahṛṣṭadhīḥ | kathāś citrā śrotukāmā munayas sūtanandanaṃ | paripapraccha tān sa tān papracchus sa ca kauśalaṃ | abhinandya samāsīnās tam āhus saṃśritāsanaṃ | kuta āyāsi ko deśas tvayā carita ity api | viprān sa prāha suprītān tatrāgacchan yadṛcchayā | sarpasatraṃ yatra rājā cakāra janamejanaḥ [sic] | yā vaiśaṃpāyanāt tatra śuśrāva janamejayaḥ | kathās tā Vyāsakathitās tv a[u]śrauṣaṃ bhāratāśritāḥ | parārddhyāni parikramya tīrtthāny āyatanāni ca | s[y]amantapañcakan nāma tan deśaṃ gatavān ahaṃ | kurūṇāṃ pāṇḍavānāñ ca sarveṣāñ ca mahībhṛtām | bhavatāṃ vividhau[?] tasmād didṛkṣur aham āgataḥ | śrotuṃ kim icchatety uktā munayas sūtam abruvan | pārikṣitena Vyāsoktā yā vaiśaṃpāyanāc chrutāḥ | tāḥ kathā śrotum icchāmo mahābhāratasaṃjñitāḥ | etc. It ends (F.201): iti śrīmahābhāratasaṃgrahe svargārohaṇike parvaṇi dvitīyoddhyāyaḥ || śrīkṛṣṇāya namaḥ | sītālakṣmaṇabharataśatrughnahanumatsametaśrīrāmacandrāya namaḥ || śrī-umāpataye namaḥ || hariḥ om | śubham astu śrīgurubhyo namaḥ | karakṛtam aparādhaṃ kṣantum arhanti santaḥ || pramāthināmasaṃjñāyām śaradi prāpnuvaty api | cāpaṃ haṃse dakṣiṇākhyāyane pakṣe site tathā | aṣṭāviṃśākhyake hy anhi somavāsarasaṃyute | svātitārasamāyukte daśamyāṃ mīnalagnake | śravaṇāt sarvapāpaghnaḥ paṭhanān muktidaṃ śubham | lekhanāt śrīpradaṃ sammyak mahābhāratasaṃgraham | Rāmakṛṣṇasya putreṇa Raghunāthena dhīmatā | rāmabhaktena viduṣā likhitaṃ bhadram astu vaḥ || kṛṣṇāya vāsudevāya devakīnandanāya ca | rukmiṇīsatyabhāmābhyāṃ sevitāya namo namaḥ | śrīgurubhyo namaḥ || For further quotations relating to the ends of Adhyāyas and Parvans, see Winternitz catalogue entry. 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.90-93. Go to http://tinyurl.com/j3tkdwj for a digital copy of this catalogue. See also A. Holtzmann ‘Das Mahābhārata’, II, 1 seq., III, 46 seq.; also R. v. Roth, ‘Verzeichnis Indischer Handschriften der Kgl. Univ. Bibl. Tübingen, p.23. J. L. Whish, gift of manuscripts collected by his brother C. M. Whish, July 1836. Text in Sanskrit; Grantha script, very small, sometimes difficult to read.