48. Date of Vimalabodha’s Commentary on the Mahabharata

48. Date of Vimalabodha’s Commentary on the Mahabharata called the Visamasloki - - after 1150 A. D. # Dr. V. S. Sukthankar in his recent article on the commentators of the Mahabharata states that Arjunamisra mentions Vimalabodha and Vimalabodha cites Devabodha and hence we get the series Devabodha-Vimalabodha-Arjunamisra. As the date of Vimalabodha's commentary has not yet been fixed by scholars I propose in this note to analyse a Ms of his commentary called the Visamasloki viz. No. 84 of 1869-70 in the Govt. Mss Library at the B. O. R. Institute, Poona, referred to by Dr. Sukthankar in his article mentioned above. This Ms consists of about 88 folios and bears the date Saka 1724 (= A. D. 1802). It was copied at Poona by one Krsnabhat Sivarama Sivanekar from some original, which he complains (in the colophon) was extremely incorrect. Vimalabodha refers to the following commentary :- ( 1 ) " nighamtabhasyaniruktani "fol. 1, 85. (2) vaisampayanatika - fol. 1. ( 3 ) devasvamimata - fol. 1, 12, 15, 23, 24, 31, 54, 59. (4) devabodhapa | dah - fol. 2. ( 5 ) medhatithih - fol. 2. ( 6 ) nighamtu - fol. 2, 43. nighamta fol. 12. (7) vimalabodhapadadyah - fol. 2. ( 8 ) varahapurana - fol. 2. ( 9 ) bhavisye - fol. 3. ( 10 ) agame - fol. 3. ( 11 ) brahmamde - fol. 4. authors and works in his (12) bhattajanamejayacarya - fol.12, 70. ( 13 ) vedanighamta - fol. 12. ( 14 ) brahmavaivarte - fol. 13, 81. (15) sutrakarah - fol. 22. ( 16 ) smrtikaraih - fol. 23, 25. ( 17 ) atharvanasruteh - fol. 25. (18) sadamgayoga - fol. 25, 81. ( 19 ) kapilah - fol. 26. ( 20 ) mamdukopakhyane - fol. 27. ( 21 ) vikramadityah - fol. 30. " aralikah sucanako hastinam damakastatha " Annals (B. O. R. Institute), Vol. XVII, pp. 394-397. 1. Annals, Vol. XVII, p. 194. 319

( 22 ) bhojah - fol. 31 ( Gujarati Press Edition of Virataparvan, the P. 59 quotes this passage ). ( 23 ) sanatsujate - fol. 48. ( 24 ) srutih- fol. 47. ( 25 ) purvanibamdhakrdbhih - fol. 47. (26) visalaksah - fol. 48. ( 27 ) canakyena - fol. 48. (28) kalimgatikayam - fol. 48. ( 29 ) karmasamuccayapaksa - fol. 48. (30) yogasutram - fol. 52. (31) purane pamcalaksane - fo 1. 58. ( 32 ) vaisesikah- fol. 59. ( 33 ) manuna - fol. 61, 63. ( 34 ) nitisastre - fol. 61, 64. ( 35 ) kautilyah - fol. 61, 62. ( 36 ) bhojarajena vyavaharamamjaryam fol. 63. (37) dharesvaradibhih api nibamdhakaih fol. 64. ( 38 ) " iti mahapauranikopadhyaya sri- trivikramakrtau mahabharatavisama- padya tatparyartha vivaranatikayam samtiparvani rajadharmam slokah " samaptah fol. 35. ( 39 ) gitayam - fo 1. 66. (40) yogasare - fol. 67. " " (41) samkhyaprakriya - fol. 67. ( 42 ) kalpasutre - fol. 67. ( 43 ) kapilena - fol. 69. ( 44 ) janakapamcasikhasamvade - fol. 70. ( 45 ) sutrakrta - fol. 70. (46) vikramajita (vikramaditya ? ) fol. 70. ( 47 ) brahmapuraniya - fol. 70. (48) jamadagnivacanat - fol. 71. (49) sutrakrta - fol. 71. ( 50 ) yogasastre - fol. 71. (51) chamdogaparisiste - fol. 72. (52) vrttikarena - fol. 72. ( 53 ) yogasastravidam - fol. 72. ( 54 ) naradah - fol. 74, 77. (55) sarasvatikamthabharane - fol. 74. ( 56 ) jaiminina - fol. 74. ( 57 ) nitisastrajnah - fol. 76. (58) sukena - fol. 76. ( 59 ) nirukta - fol. 78. ( 60 ) " kasyapiyam vidya upabhuktavisa- nasini " - fol. 78. (61) pratisakhyapanjikayam - fo 1.78. (62) atharvani srutih - fol. 80. (63) rasayane - fol. 85. 66 gamdhamadana parsve ya siddhajambu- riti srita | amrtakhyam phalam tasya jararogavinasanam || " In the above references the colophon on fol. 65 quoted by me does not appear to have formed part of Vimalabhodha's commentary and this conclusion is proved by its absence in another Ms of Vimalabodha's commentary viz. No. 167 of 1887-91 of the Govt. Mss Library, where on folio 49 we have the following brief colophon ete rajadharmasthavisamah slokah . Evidently the colophon on folio 65 of Ms No. 84 of 1869-70, which ascribes definitely the authorship " mahapaura of " mahabharatatatparyarthavivaranatika ' to one trivikrama ( styled as nikopadhyaya " ) is wrongly inserted in the present Ms. Aufrecht in his Catalogus Catalogorum does not mention any commentator of the name fafa as the author of a commentary described in the

above-mentioned colophon. In the list of 22 commentators the Mahabharata given by Dr. Sukthankar in his Epic Studies commentator of the name fafa has been recorded.² 66 ,, " 1 321 no " We now come to the question of the chronological limits for Vimalabodha's commentary. Dr. Sukthankar has already given us the series Devabodha Vimalabodha- Arjunamisra" which states the relative chronological position of the three commentators. In the list of references recorded above, the references to dharesvara on folio 64, to "" and his "" on folio 63 and to"" on folio 74 enable us to fix one terminus to sarasvatikanthabharana the date of Vimalabodha's commentary. As king Bhoja of Dhara is assigned to a period 1010 A. D. to 1055 A. D.3 and as A. D. 1062 is considered as a limit for his date we may not be wrong in fixing about 1150 A. D. as one terminus for the date of Vimalabodha's commentary on the Mahabharata. 1. Annals, Vol. XVII, p. 185. 2. Whether was another name of Vimalabodha in the grhasthasrama (householder's life) is a matter for investigation. We may cite as an analogy the name, which was the name of Anandajnana, the author of the Tarkasamgraha (G. O. Series, Baroda) in the grhasthasrama. 3. S. K. De History of Sanskrit Poetics, Vol. I, P. 147. 4. Keith: History of Sanskrit Literature, p. 153, foot-note 2- "Bhoja was alive later than 1060; so also Kalhana vii, 259 treats him as alive in 1062. " 8.1.1.H.21