[South Indian Sanskrit MS 139, Whish MS 141] Ṣodaśakriyā

Ṣodaśakriyā

Language – Sanskrit

Date – [1800?]
Palm leaf; 6 or 7 lines on a folio.

Manuscript consists of the text of the Ṣodaśakriyā, a manual of domestic ceremonies (Jātakarman, Upanayana, Marriage, etc), according to the school of Bodhāyana, in the Malayalam language, with the Vedic Mantras being quoted in Sanskrit, e.g. f.9b: mantraṃ aśmā bhava paraśu[r] bhava hiraṇyam asṛtaṃ bhava | vedo mai[read vai] putranāmāsi sa jīva śaradaś śataṃ indraḥ śreṣṭhāni draviṇāni dhehi cittin dakṣasya subhagatvam asme, etc. See Mantrapāṭha II, 12, 1; 11, 33.

F.35: mantraṃ ā tiṣṭhemam aśmānaṃ aśmeva tvaṃ sthiro bhava abhi tiṣṭha pṛtanyatas sahasva pṛtanāyataḥ | … mantraṃ yā akṛntann avayan yā atanvata yāś ca devīr antān abhito dadhantha | tās tvā devīr jjarasā saṃ vyayantv āyuṣmān idaṃ pari dhatsva vāsaḥ | See Mantrpāṭha II, 2, 2; 5.

F.67: mantram | sakhāsi saptapadā abhūma sakhyan te gameya | sakhyāt te mā yoṣaṃ sakhyān me mā yoṣṭhāḥ | See Mantrapāṭha I, 3, 14.

F.79: mantraṃ yas tvā hṛdā kīriṇā manyamānomartīyaṃ marttyo johavīmi | jātavedo, etc. See Mantrapāṭha II, 11, 5.

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.195. 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 and Malayalam (see above); Malayalam script.