General Estimate of the Commentaries

We have so far noticed eight commentaries on Naiṣadhacarita, of which only two, those by Mallinātha and Nārāyaṇa, have been printed. Among the commentaries mentioned here, the Sāhityavidyādharī of Vidyādhara is the oldest and, in fact, the earliest known commentary on Naiṣadhacarita. The Dīpikā of Cāṇḍūpaṇḍita is the most learned, and there are few Kāvya commentaries which can compare with it in the extent and variety of its references. Cāṇḍūpaṇḍita seems to have realised that Naiṣadha was essentially a learned poem, and must be approached with the full equipment of the traditional learning.

Mallinātha’s Jīvātu is an excellent introduction, and pays due attention to interpretation as well as grammar and rhetoric. Nārāyaṇa’s commentary is the most comprehensive and particularly well adapted to the needs of the student. Yet no single commentary is sufficient for a proper understanding of the poem. It is often necessary to compare different interpretations and readings, and seek the help of more than one commentator in solving the difficulties of many a puzzling verse. The extracts given in the Notes, however inadequate, will show the necessity of such comparison and co-ordination. At any rate, the need of some such attempt was felt by the commentator Bhagīratha, who in his Naiṣadhagūḍhārthadīpikā gives notes and extracts from a number of earlier commentators, besides offering interpretations of his own [see note below].

Note:

See Pandit Vindhyesvariprasad’s [Vindhyeśvarīprasād’s] Sanskrit Introduction to Tārkikarakṣā, p. 31. Bhagīratha quotes Nṛhari (Narahari?), Lakṣmaṇa, Nārāyaṇa, Viśveśvara, Jagaddhara, Tāṇḍava, Mukuṭa, Jīvātu and other commentators and commentaries.

The following verse occurs in the manuscript which is incomplete—

adhyāpakaṃ vinā yo naiṣadhagūḍhārthadīpikāṃ ṭīkām |
paśyati rasanāgre tu vāgdevī tasya sphurati bhṛśam (?) ||