[South Indian Sanskrit MS 135, Whish MS 136] Bālabhārata

Bālabhārata

Language – Sanskrit

Date – [1800?]
Palm leaf; from 9 to 11 lines on a folio.

Manuscript consists of a fragment of the Bālabhārata by Paṇḍita Agastya, ending with the 9th Sarga. The complete work is said to contain 20 Sargas: see ‘Classified index to the Sanskrit MSS. in the Palace at Tanjore’ by A. C. Burnell (London, 1880), p.159b, and ‘Das Mahābhārata’ by A. Holtzmann, III, p.44.

Text begins: hariḥ śrīgaṇapataye namaḥ avighnam astu asty atrinetraprabhava[ḥ] kalātmā śaśīti nakṣatragaṇasya nāthaḥ yaṃ vārijaśrīharam āptavāco vāmaṃ harer llocanam āmananti | sevyas surāṇā[ṃ] himavarṣipādas saṃbhāvanīyaś śirasā śivena mahīddhrabhartteva tamopahantrīṃ yaḥ kaumudīṃ divyanadīṃ prasūte | na jāhnavīyaiś ca na yāmunaiś ca na cāparāsāṃ saritāṃ payobhiḥ yannyā[?]dayenaiva sujātadhāmno baṃhīyasīṃ vṛddhim upeti pārtthaḥ | budhas tatobhūn navasu graheṣu ratneṣu muktāphalavan manojñaḥ yaḥ karddamāpatyam iḻābhidhānaṃ paryyagrahīt pañcaśarāyudhārttaḥ |

It ends: prītosmi te prājñatamāya rājan yam icchasi bhrātṛṣu taṃ dadāmi uktas sa tenaivam upoḍhaharṣo jīvantam aicchan nakulan narendraḥ | 101 |

For a more extensive quotation from the beginning of the text, 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.191-192. 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; Malayalam script.