[South Indian Sanskrit MS 211, Whish MS 180] Śaṃkarācāryacarita

Śaṃkarācāryacarita

Language – Sanskrit

Date – [1800?]
Palm leaf; 9 (or later 8) lines on a folio; board covers; left hand lower corner of first 16 folios has been partially rubbed away. Manuscript consists of the Śaṃkarācāryacarita, in 9 Adhyāyas. According to the manuscript, this work was composed by Govindanātha, friend of Śaṃkara (23a, 1.1): idaṃ śrī-Śaṃkarācāryyacaritaṃ lokapāvanaṃ kṛtaṃ Govindanāthena yatibhaktisahāyataḥ. F. W. Thomas notes in the Winternitz catalogue entry that he finds it impossible that the work could be so ancient, given that it cites Medinīkara, apparently the author of the Medinīkośa, among the distinguished sons of Kerala. Text begins: * * * * namas tasmai yatprasādavivasvatā | pratyūhadhvāntavidhvaṃsaḥ kriyate sarvakarmmaṇāṃ || madīyrasanābaṃśanaṭaneṣu samutsukā | eṣā Sarasva * * * * * m ānandadāyinī || samāśritapadāṃbhojajanatāsurapādapaḥ | sarvam mama śubhābhīṣṭaṃ pūrayet pārtthasārathiḥ || kṣiptvājñānatamorāśiṃ padārtthā * * * * * | gururatnapradīpo me manodhāmani bhāsatāṃ || viṣṇulīlāmṛtānān te karttāraḥ kavipuṃgavāḥ | jayanti sutarāṃ loke Vālmīkivyāsasaṃkarāḥ || * * * * * * * nde vyāsācalam idaṃ kaviṃ | babhūva Śaṃkarācāryyakīrttikallolinī yataḥ || atyunnatasya kāvyadror vvyaḥsācalabhyapo khilaṃ | * * * * * * * * m asamartthoham atbhutaṃ || hrasvam atyaṃkuśagrāhyaṃ gṛhītvā kalayāmi tat | nibandhanasṛjaṃ kāñcitadvatīśvaramagno mude || * * * * * * * * * * * * vakārpitaṃ | karomi yativaryyasya nideśaṃ samupāśritaḥ || kathāsaṃkṣepa evādyo dvitīyoddhyāya utbha[v]e[t] | etc. It ends: śrīmacchaṃkaradeśikasya caritastotraṃ prabodhapradaṃ nirddaṇḍākhilapāpavṛndavidhinaṃ saṃkṣiptam etan narāḥ | ye śṛnvanti paṭhanti cādarayutā sañcintyanvahaṃ te labdhvā bhuvi saṃpadañ ca sakalām ante labhantemṛtaṃ || iti śrī-Śaṃkarācāryyacarite navamoddhyāyaḥ | śrīgurubhyo namaḥ | For a summary of the story, see notes by F. W. Thomas in Winternitz catalogue entry. On f.24b is written in C. M. Whish’s hand ‘Samkara Āchāryya charitram professing to be a history of that learned individual’ and ‘An unworthy work No. 79b’ (see RAS South Indian Sanskrit MS 79 / Whish MS 79. 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.288-291. Go to http://tinyurl.com/j3tkdwj for a digital copy of this catalogue. For other MSS. of this work, see ‘Classified index to the Sanskrit MSS. in the Palace at Tanjore’ by A. C. Burnell (London, 1880), and ‘Report on a search for Sanskrit and Tamil MSS. for the year 1893-1894’ by Śeṣādri Śāstrī, pp.101-2 and 257-9. For the story of Śaṃkara as related in the Śaṃkaravijaya, see ‘Catalogi modicum manuscriptorum Bibliothecae Bodleianae pars septum, Codices Sanscriticos completes’ by Th. Aufrecht (Oxonii, 1864), pp.247-. J. L. Whish, gift, July 1836. Text in Sanskrit; Grantha script, square, clearly written.