17. Paleographic Imagery in the Text of the Mahimnastotra

17. Authorship and Antiquity of a Stanza with Paleographic Imagery in the Text Of the Mahimnastotra * Having published a paper on the History of Ink-manufacture in India I developed some interest in the literary references about writing materials frequently found in Sanskrit sources. While reading the popular hymn to God Siva called the Mahimnastotra, which is recited by some devout people every day, I was much charmed by the following stanza which contains in the form of sublime imagery references to writing materials viz. (1) ink, (2) pen and (3) palm-leaf or birch-bark and (4) ink-pot :- " asitagirisamam syatkaja़lam sindhupatre surataruvarasakha lekhani patramurvi | likhati yadi grhitva sarada sarvakalam tadapi tava gunanam isa param na yati || (O God Siva! even though the Goddess of Learning (Sarada) continues recording perpetually your good qualities on the leaf in the form of the earth with pen in the form of the branch of the heavenly tree and ink made of a mountain of black soot dissolved in the ink-pot in the form of the river Indus, she will not be able to exhaust all your qualities.) In view of the sublime imagery of paleographic interest contained in the above stanza I began to investigate the antiquity and authorship of this stanza. In the first instance I wanted to satisfy myself that this stanza is a genuine part of the Mahimna-stotra itself. While my investigation was going on I happened to read the edition of Aparoksanubhava (with Jayaramas vami Vadgaonkar's metrical commentary in Marathi) by V. L. Bhave, Thana, 1905. This edition contains the Sanskrit text (in verse) of the Aparoksanubhava (also called Aparoksanubhuti), the authorship of which is ascribed to Samkaracarya (8 th century A. D.). The Marathi commentary was composed by Jayaramasvami, who flourished between A. D. 1599 and 1672 (vide p. 396 of Madhyayugina Caritrakosa by S. Chitrav Shastri, Poona, 1937). Jayaramasvami (=JS) has divided his Marathi commentary in 12 Prakaranas. The 11 th Prakarana ends as follows:-Bharatiya Vidya, Vol. XII (1951), pp. 139-143.

148 Page 82 - " paripakkam mano yesam .. yesam ... gurudaivatabhaktanam ... Commentary :. .... l javat || 56 || " prakarana svayameva akaravem || Page 84 - Prakarana 12 th begins:- " asitagirisamam syatkajjalam sindhupatre surataruvarasakha lekhani patramurvi | likhati yadi grhitva sarada sarvakalam dal lag galval tadapi tava gunanamisa param na yati || 57 || " Commentary: - " meru mamdara parvata sakala | (2) bae mod-to titukem masi kelem kajala | simdhu evadhem patra prabala | bharilem kevala ucambalata || 6 || kalpavrksaciya sresthasakha | ani prthviciya sakalavrksam | karuniya lekhaniya surekha | su patra dekha prthvi sakala || 7 || i itukem gheuniya lekhana | Siv 30 sarvakala sarasvati apana | Boy lobbgsg guibioses Babie assa (karitam sarvatha tujhem guna | dolasq svami purna na ganavati || 8 || "d to mistan This occurrance of the stanza " asitagirisamam " from the popular text of the Mahimnastotra in the text of the Aparoksanubhava came to me as a surprise but the commentary of this stanza bs JS (A.D. 1599-1672) pleased me as it proved the following points connected with my inquiry:- (1) JS (A.D. 1599-1672) had before him a MS of Aparoksanubhava with the stanza " asitagirisamam " as part of the text. (2) This stanza was in existence about A.D. 1600 irrespective of the question of its authorship. With regard to the authorship of the stanza we have now to answer the following questions:-- (1) Does this stanza form a genuine part of the Mahimnastotra ? or (2) Does it form part of the Aparoksanubhava of Samkaracarya? These questions can be answered by examining all known MSS and printed editions of the Mahimnastotra and the Aparoksanubhuti (bhava). To begin with I shall record below the results of my examination of the material available to me:--

Paleographic Imagery in Mahimnastotra 149 (I) Mahimnastotra - The Govt. MSS Library at the B. O. R. Institute possesses the following MSS of the Stotra :Fire - (1) Text with commentary by Krsna nrpa No. 742 of 1886-92. - The stanza " asitagirisamam " is given on folio 14 b as No. 32. - " Stanza No. 33 - "surabhujaganarendrah " is the last stanza of the text. morabaThe commentary explains only stanzas No. 31 and 33. There is no Commentary for Stanza No. 32. - (2) Text with commentary - No. 645 of 1883-84 -- On folio 14 the stanza " asitagirisamam " is found as No. 32 with the following commentary :- " he isa he svamin asitagirisamam amjanagiritulyam | kajjalam syat | va simdhupatre yadi surataruvarasakha lekhani syattu | yadi sarada sarasvati urvi patram grhitva sarvakalam likhati tadapi tava gunanam param na yati || 32 || " 32) (3) Text with commentary-No. 539 of 1891-95-On folio 17 the stanza ". asitagirisamam " appears as the last stanza ( No. 32 ) of the text with the following commentry:- "he isa asitagirisamam amjanagiritulyam kajjalam syat kva simdhupatre yadi surutaruvara- sakha lekhani syat || yathe sarada sarasvati urvi patram grhitva sarvakalam likhati | tadapi tava gunanam param na yati || 32 || " This commentary is practically a copy of that in MS No. 645 of 1883-84 recorded above. 4 ) Madhusudana Sarasvati has commented on the Mahimnastotra. I have examined the following MSS of his commentary:No. 175 of 1884-87 - dated Saka 1747 ( = A.D. 1825 ) - Copied at saptarsipura ( = Satara ?). The stanza " asitagirisamam " is not found in this MS. There is also no commentary on it by Madhusudana Sarasvati. No. 75 of A 1879-80 -Text with commentary. Neither the stanza " asitagirisamam " nor its commentary is found in the MS. No. 33 of 1883-84 - Text with commentary of Madhusudana Sarasvati. The last three stanzas of the text are the following:- (1) " kusumadasananama mahinmah || 32 || ayam slokah stavamtargatopi sugamatvanna vyakhyatah || " ( 2 ) " suragurumabhipujya .. ( 3 ) " asitagirisamam ( 4 ) " sripuspadamta mukhapamkaja ... ... puspadamtapranitam || 33 || " . isa param na yati || 34 || " • bhutapatirmahesah || 35 || "

ete trayah slokah na sampradayikatvena slokamtargatah tatha sugamaiceti upeksitah iti subham " " mei It will be seen from the above extract that the verse asi affa" is found in this MS among verses which are not accompanied with the comment of Madhusudana Sarasvati. The attempt of the copyist to explain away the non-inclusion of these four verses in the body of the text of the Stotra accompanied with the commentary by his own endorsements viz. (1) "t: etc." and (2)" ga:: etc." is (1): ete trayah slokah . futile and confirms our suspicion about their genuineness. No. 159 of 1881-82-Text with commentary of Madhusudana Sarasvati. The last stanza of the text is " (?) nama ...... mahinma " followed by the endorsement " ayam slokah stotramtargatah sugamasceti sarvam bhadram " but without commentary. The stanza " asitagirisamam " is absent in this MS so also any commentary on it is not traceable. No. 206 of 1902-07-Text with commentary of Madhusudana Sarasvati. The MS is dated Saka 1726 (= A.D. 1814)The last stanza of the text is the same as in MS No. 159 of A 1881-82. The endorsement following the stanza is also the same as in MS No. 159 of A 1881-82. The stanza "faffe asitagiri- samam and its commentary are absent in the MS. " The absence of Madhusudana Sarasvati's commentary on the stanza "fff" in the above four MSS leads me to believe that the text of the Mahimnastotra known to him as genuine did not contain this stanza. (II) Aparoksanubhava ascribed to Samkaracarya. With a view to seeing if the stanza "erfuafnf" of the Mahimnastotra forms parts the Aparoksanubhava (or 'bhuti) I have to record below the result of my examination of the following MSS of this work in the Government MSS Library at the B. O. R. Institute:- (1) MS No. 246 of 1892-95-Text with the Comm. of Vidyaranya (c. A.D. 1850)-Contains 147 verses of the text. (2) MS No. 111 of 1902-07-Text with Comm. of Vidyaranya-144 stanzas only of the text plus 3 extra stanzas. (3) MS No. 368 of A 1881-82- Commentary called fafafat by Balagopala on 144 stanzas of the text. (4) MS No. 678 of 1887-91-Text only-143 stanzas.

Paleographic Imagery in Mahimna-stotra (5) MS No. 180 of 1883-84-Text only-143 stanzas. 151 (6) MS No. 112 of 1902-07-Text only--145 stanzas - MS dated Saka 1643 (A.D. 1721) (7) MS No. 3 of 1919-24-Text with verse for verse comm. in Marathi by Vamana-144 stanzas. ' (8) MS No. 744 of 1891-95-Text with comm. called 'afi which refers to the work "cc" (folio 27)-- 142 stanzas. (9) MS No. 656 of 1882-83-Text with Vamana's Marathi comm. (same as No. 7 above)-144 stanzas. (10) MS No. 640 of 1887-91-Text only- MS dated Samvat 1837 (= A.D. 1781)-144 stanzas. (11) MS No. 589 of 1884-87-Text only - MS dated Samvat 1866 (= A.D. 1810) --144 stanzas. (12) MS No. 626 of Vis I--Text with the comm. (fac) of "--144 stanzas --MS dated Saka 1685 " (= A. D. 1763)- The commentator refers to god Vithoba of Pandharpur (teta) on the last folio 148. None of the above MSS of the text of the Aparoksanubhuti and the commentaries on it by Vidyaranya (c. A. D. 1350) and others contain either the text or commentary of the stanza of the Mahimnastotra viz. "fa" etc. I am, therefore, inclined to believe that this stanza did not form part of the Aparoksanubhuti, though Jayaramasvami (A. D. 1599-1672) had before him a MS of the Aparoksanubhuti with this stanza incorporated into it as he comments in Marathi verse on this stanza considering it as genuine part of the text. 1 In the light of evidence recorded so far about the textual history of the stanza in the popular Sivamahimnastotra viz. " asitagirisamam param afa" the following inferences can be tentatively drawn :- (1) This stanza is possibly an interpolation in the text of the Shiva-mahimna-stotra. (2) This stanza is also an interpolation in the text of the Aparoksanubhuti available to Jayaramas vami (A. D. 1599-1672) for his Marathi commentary in Ovi metre. " 1. I have not examined all the printed editions of the Aparoksanubhuti. The following " asitagirisamam etc. or its editions examined by me do not contain the Stanza commentary:- (i) Samkaracarya's Miscellaneous Works, Vol. II, Mysore, 1898-pp. 1-57 - Text with Vidyaranya's Commentary, (ii) Pothi Edition, Bombay, 1883-Text with comm. of Vidyarannya (Printed in Jagadisvara Litho Press),

(3) The authorship and the exact date of the composition of this stanza is so far unknown but it was in existence between A. D. 1599 and 1672, as Jayaramasvami comments on it. (4) Perhaps the stanza formed part of some other Stotra or was a stray Subhasita available for indiscriminate insertion in any text according to the caprice of a copyist or a devotee, who was charmed by the beauty of imagery contained in the stanza. (5) This stanza has a clear antiquity of more than 350 years. I await more documentary evidence for or against the inferences tentatively drawn by me on the basis of the data recorded in this paper. (P) to Edodgy bog ofe all to eds to (1)