Part 1(a).2 - Structure of Kohalamatam

The manuscripts of this work bear the title Kohalamatam. The text begins with a nāndī śloka in praise of Nādabrahman. A table of contents/ list of the names of the chapters that will be dealt with is not to be found. The name of the work i.e. Kohalamatam, or the name of the author does not appear in the available colophons. 

The closest to a colophon that is found in the work is—

इति कोहलमतङ्गसंवादे चतुर्थोऽध्यायः

iti kohalamataṅgasaṃvāde caturtho'dhyāyaḥ^[1]

The mention of caturthodhyāyaḥ shows us that this work had definitely been organized into chapters which were called adhyāyas. Also, this colophon is found towards the beginning of the work, which could probably mean that this manuscript starts with the fourth chapter. But unfortunately, indication of completion of any other chapter is not to be found. Therefore it is possible that the available Kohalamatam is a part of a bigger work which is yet to be discovered.

There are some other markers which are seen periodically. These are—

S.No.	Colophon Entry	Folio No.
i.	iti pūrvakohalarahasyaḥ	15
ii.	iti tālāṅgasaṅgrahaḥ	53
iii.	ityasaṃyuktahastāścaturviṃśatiḥ	67
iv.	iti saṃyutahastāstrayodaśa	69

The first of these colophons refers to Kohalarahasya. It is a little unclear as to whether this reference points out that this portion of the work has been interpolated from another called Kohalarahasya, or whether this portion is called Pūrvakohalarahasya and the one following it is Uttarakohalarahasya. The only way to resolve this issue and clarify the situation would be to check the extant Kohalamatam with the text of Kohalarahasyam. Unfortunately, we have only a part of the thirteenth chapter of Kohalarahasyam today. Therefore until we are fortunate enough to unearth this work, this confusion will remain. The colophons in the text of Kohalamatam are perhaps only indicators of the end of a particular sub-chapter, or a section of the text. Apart from these a few other indicatory markers can also be found, some being, “Iti Ḍhakkālakṣaṇam”, “Maddalalakṣaṇam”, “Śṛṅgalakṣaṇam”, “Iti Śirāmsi nava”, “Vakṣāmsi catvāri”, “Iti paribhāṣā” and such like. These look like they refer to the beginning or end of a particular sub-heading in a chapter. 

The text of Kohalamata [Kohalamatam] ends in an abrupt fashion. The subject being dealt with seems to have been left half-way. Also there is no colophon found at the end that would confirm the completion of this work.

Footnotes and references:

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[1]:

Kohalamatam: ORI Tvm: Acc no. C1724: Fol.20