[South Indian Sanskrit MS 203, Whish MS 187B] Kumbhakoṇamāhātmya

Kumbhakoṇamāhātmya

Language – Sanskrit

Date – [1800?]
Palm leaf; 5 (or sometimes 4) lines on a folio; includes covers. Manuscript consists of the Kumbhakoṇamāhātmya of the Uttarabhāga of the Kṣetravaibhavakhaṇḍa of the brahmāṇḍa-Purāṇa. The colophon to Add. XI has Pālāśavanamāhātmya instead of Uttarabhāga. Text begins: purā kadācid ājagmuḥ puṇyāraṇyopaśobhitaṃ | naimiśan nimiśīkṣetraṃ ṛṣayo gautamītaṭe || vidhātukāmā vidhivat satraṃ dvādaśavārṣikaṃ | hutāśanasamākārāḥ prātarastuhutāśanāḥ [sic] || Kapilaḥ Pulaho —————————————————-[12 ślokas] (2a, 1.2) Sūtam abhyāgataṃ vīkṣya tejasā sūryyasannibhaṃ | tasmai brahmāsanan datvā tam ūcus tatra tenaghāḥ || Sūta prasīda sumate sutarāṃ sujāta s[v]arvāhinījalasaurabhasodarībhiḥ | vākbhir viriñca vanitākaruṇājharībhis tvan no drutaṃ vṛjinatāpam apākuruṣva || ————————————(2b,1.3) purā prasaṃgena purāṇaratne brahmāṇḍanāmnī [sic] prakaṭīkṛtaṃ yat | kiñcit tad ācakṣva vivicya kāmaṃ śrī-Kumbhakoṇasthalavaibhavan naḥ || It ends: ādikuṃbheśamāhātmyaṃ prektam [read proktam] eva dvijottamāḥ || anyad atraiva yuṣmākaṃ tatra sarvahitāya ca || iti brahmāṇḍapurāṇe kṣetravaibhavakhaṇḍe kuṃbhakoṇamāhātmye kṣetravaibhavan nāma dvādaśoddhyāyaḥ | Sūtaḥ | For a summary of t he Adhyāyas, see notes by F. W. Thomas in Winternitz catalogue entry. Thomas notes that the colophons normally spell Kuṃbhaghoṇa [sic], and that the final colophon was apparently intended to be followed by a fresh adhyāya, as Sūta’s name is repeated; see also RAS South Indian Sanskrit MS 204 / Sanskrit MS 19. The label reads in Tamil: yinta stalappurāṇam ku[mpa]koṇam sivanakovi ** yeḍu312, with the numbers 2 (Tamil) and 7 (European), and the title Brahmāṇḍapurāṇam (European). For another MS. of the Kumbhakoṇamāhātmya professing also to belong to the Brahmāṇḍa-Purāṇa, see ‘Classified index to the Sanskrit MSS. in the Palace at Tanjore’ by A. C. Burnell (London, 1880), p.190a. South Indian Sanskrit / Sanskrit 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.276-278. 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, rather cramped, but legible.