11. Prakriyasarvasva by Melpathur Narayana Bhattathiri

The work of Melputtur Narayana Bhattatiri [Melpathur Narayana Bhattathiri] (1547-1640) also transmit valuable historical information. Among the sastra works the most outstanding is the Prakriya Sarvasva [Prakriyasarvasva]^[1] in twenty sections explaining and illustrating the Sutras of Panini and auxiliaries arranged under definite heading. It was pointed out earlier that the work was composed as the instance of his patron Devanarayana of Ampalapuzha who spelt out the whole plan of the work for the benefit of the author. Narayanabhatta has actually drawn on many predecessors in composing this compendium. This he has acknowledged in the different sections of the work.

The Vyakhya of Nilakantha Diksita, this is a commentory extending only upto the Sutra Ukaloc etc. in the Samjnakhanda. This Nilakantha Dikshita is the son of Vadesvara Dikshita and Kamaksi, grandson of Ramachandra makhin and disciple of Jnanendra Sarasvati, the author of the commentary Tattvabodhini on Siddantakaumudi of Bhattoji. His commentary is elaborate and even in the small fragment available he has quoted more than twenty authors and works including two of his own. Among the works cited the latest is Sabdakaumudi Vyakhya of Ramabhadra Diksita whose date is the latter half of the 17th C. So the work cannot be assigned to any period earlier than that. Nor can it be much later either the tradition that Jnanendrasarasvati was a contemporary of Bhattoji is accepted.

Ullur however asserts that Nilakantha was a contemporary of Bhattatiri at the court of Devanarayana and that the commentary must have seen written between 1616, the date of composition of Prakriyasarvasva and 1625. The date of the demise of Devanarayana and that perhaps it was written at the command of that king himself. He does not state his reason but presumably his view is based on the facts that tradition speaks of a Nilakantha in the court of Devanarayana.

Contemporaries with Bhattatiri and that at the beginning of the commentary we get two verses.

keralakṣoṇipāleṣu devanārāyaṇaprabhuḥ
dvijarājajassarvaśāstradhurino'sti hāripriyaḥ |
tatkāritaṃ prakriyāyāḥ sarvasvaṃ sakalārthadāmaṃ
tatvyākhyānaṃ nīlakaṇṭhadīkṣitena viracyate ||

Which seems to speak of the patron king of Narayanabhatta as then living. But this goes against the date we have arrived at above. The tradition speak only of a Nilakanta and it is silent about the fact whether he was a Dikshita. Some scholars identify him with Nilakantha, the author of Malayalam Champu, Tenkarilanathodayam and there fore different from the Diksitha. Devanarayana with hereditary name common to all ruling kings of Ambalapuzha and Nilakandha might have been mistaken in taking the ruler at his time as the patron of Bhattatiri. It is also significant that he does not speak of this king as his own patron.

A statement in the commentory also deserves attention in this connection while corresponding on the portion.

rūpāvatāre punaḥ kaumudyādiṣu cātra sūtramakhilaṃ nāstyeva

In the fifth introducing verse in the text he says:—

rūpāvatāretyadi ādiśabdena siddhāntakaumudyādayo gṛhyante |

He however, feels the incompatbility of this explanation. Since Sidhanta-Kaumudi contains all the Sutras, and so continues that although it contains all the Sutras some are not fully explained and some are not illustrated. Evidently this explanation in inadequate to justify the application of Sutramakhilam Nastyeva to Sidhantakaumudi. Moreover as already pointed out P.S. does not show any acquaintance with Sidhantakaumudi. Had the author been a contemporary of Bhattatiri in the court of Devanarayanan, the possibility of such interpretation is very remote.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Travancore Sanskrit Series Nos. 106, 139, 152, 174 (First nine sections)—Taddhita and Unadi, Madras Uty. Sanskrit series Nos. 15, 17 (Part II)—A complete edition is being issued from Guruvayoor Devasvam, Guruvayoor 1998, Vide—Narayana Bhatta’s -Prakriyasarvasva -A critical study -Dr. S. Venkata Subrahmania Iyyer Tvm, 1972