[South Indian Sanskrit MS 140, Whish MS 142] Nārāyaṇīya

Nārāyaṇīya

Language – Sanskrit

Date – [1800?]
Palm leaf; 9 or 10 lines on a folio.

Manuscript consists of the text of the Nārāyaṇīya, a Stotra by Nārāyaṇa Bhaṭṭa of Kerala. On the last folio is an entry by C. M. Whish: “Nārāyaṇīyam; by a native of malabar of the Vaiṣṇava sect. The completion of the work by the author is dated 27th November 1586 O. S.” The author is described as the ‘most popular and well-admired author of Prakriyāsarvasvam, Dhātukāvyam, Nārāyaṇīyam, etc.’ by the Mahārāja of Travancore, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. XVI, 1884, p.449. See also RAS Whish MS 112A, South Indian Sanskrit MS 114.

Text begins: hariḥ śrīgaṇapataye namaḥ avighnam astu | sāndrānandāvabodhātmakam anupamitaṃ kāladeśāvadhibhyān niryyuktan nityam uktan nigamaśatasahasreṇa nirbhāsyamānaṃ aspaṣṭan dṛṣṭamātre punar urupuruṣārtthātmakaṃ brahmatatvaṃ tat tāvat bhāti sākṣāt gurupavanapure hanta bhāgyāñ janānāṃ | etc.

F.18 margin: venasya kathā |

F.22 margin: ajāmiḻakathā |

F.24b margin: hiraṇyākṣakathā |

F.25b margin: narasiṃhāvatāraṃ |

It ends: ajñātvā te mahatvaṃ yad iha nigaditaṃ viśvanātha kṣamethā[ḥ] | stotrañ caitat sahasrottaram adhikataraṃ tvatprasādāya bhūyāt | dvedhā nārāyaṇīyaśrutiṣu ca januṣā stutyatāvarṇṇanena sthitaṃ līlāvatārair idam iha kurutām āyurārogyasaukhyaṃ || śrīkṛṣṇāya namaḥ nārāyaṇīyaṃ samāptaṃ || || śrīgurubhyo namaḥ || etc.

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.196. Go to http://tinyurl.com/j3tkdwj for a digital copy of this catalogue.

J. L. Whish, gift of manuscript collected by his brother C. M. Whish, July 1836.

Text in Sanskrit; Malayalam script.