THE SVARGAKHANDA OF THE PADMAPURANA .

INTRODUCTION.

AN ACCOUNT OF THE MANUSCRIPTS.

 

Manuscript A.

 

This manuscript of the Svargakhanda of the Padmapurana was found in the private collection of the late Pandit Shyama Carana Kaviratna Vidyavaridhi of Sibpur, Howrah. Shri B. C. Banerjee, his grandson, has kindly presented this manuscript to us.

This is complete in 107 fols. But on account of a mistake in the numbering of some of the pages, the last page is numbered, 105 instead of 107. The error is first seen on page 22 which is numbered both as 22 and 20.

Of these the latter was originally written but afterwards corrected as 22. Similar is the case with the page 23 which bears an old but erroneous number 21. From this page no attempt was made to correct the numbering. This false numbering was allowed to continue. It is all the more curious to note that the numbering of 38 is 36 as usual, but there was another numbering of this page also, which was 35 instead of 38. This number of 35 was later erased.

From pages 93 to 107, there is always the double numbering, one is from 91 to 105; the other, each being higher by one, is curiously from 92 to 106.

It is written on country made paper in Bengali characters with nine lines (3 + 3+3) in each page. The page 105a, however, contains ten lines (3 + 4 + 3). Pages 47a and 76a also contain ten lines but that is a later addition. Its size is 16.2x5.2. It is in good condition. It begins with ‘om Shri Shri harih’ and its post colophon is as follows: —

yatnena likhitam grantham yas corayati manavafi/

mata ca sukarl tasya pita tasya ca gardabhah //

Shrir astu lekhaka pathake ca svargakha^pa of the padmapurAi^ea An accompanying sheet of the manuscript shows that the scribe after copying it sent this finished work to a king, whose name is not given, through one Lakshmlnarayana Cattoraja. (the surname shows that the messenger may have hailed from Radha in West Bengal, i. e., from Midnapur, Birbhum or Bankura district). It bears the date aaka 1763 (1841 A.D.).

Manifold is the importance of this manuscript. On two occasions in the colophons, it distinctly mentions the Parva-division of the Padmapurana (which, as we shall try to show afterwards, is an earlier division of it), reads-ity adimahapurane padme trtiye parvani svargakhande.

prathamo’dhyayafi and ityadimahapurane padme trtiye parvani svargakhande.nam astatrimsattamo’dhyayah.

It is obvious that the compiler in this manuscript being aware of the parva-division refers to it in the colophon of the first and the last chapter only and not in the other colophons which would have been superfluous.

It contains thirtyeight chapters in all instead of forty as found in the other manuscripts. The contents of chapters 28 and 38 of the text are missing in this manuscript.

We have carefully calculated the total number of the verses of the Svargakhanda. Taking into consideration of nineteen verses of the 20th chapter, the bulk of which is written in prose, their number is 2879. Variations of this number do not exceed 20, as compared to other manuscripts. But the total number of the shlokas in this manuscript is, however, less by 100 if not more.

A careful examination of this khanda shows that it has derived quite a large number of chapters and isolated verses from the Mahabharata. It may be mentioned, that this manuscript, however, is comparatively free from the influence of the Mahabharata at least at some places where it uses terms and terminologies, words and phrases of the Mahabharata to a lesser extent. Chapter 28 which is more or less a reproduction of the Mahabharata is not found in it. The following analysis will show how-so far as the Sakuntala-episode is concerned, its use of the words and phrases of the Mahabharata is less than in the other manuscripts.

This Manuscript MahUbharata and other manuscripts of the Svargakhanda 46 c sarvarajyam Chapter I sarvam rajyam 54 a dharma dharmya 1 b agamat Chapter II asrayat 5 d anindite sakuntale 44 a guhayantl Chapter III guhamana 56 c kalpanam kalyanam 57 d atmapakarina atmapaharina 61 a casya tasya 65 b samprati samsadi 70 a purvam caham 73 d priyanvitah Shriyanvitah 76 a samvasantam samsarantam 76 b visayesv 0 visamesv 0

77 a samhita samsthita 80 d prapa sa prapyeva 81 d gharmatma gharmartah 84 b dharnirenulunthitah renugunthitah 91 b anudhavata paridhavata 93 a ya mam 98 d kamavasanugah kamavasam gatah 101a kva caivograli sa caivograh 14 b anyam Chapter IV anyan 21b satyac ca satyam ca.

 

This may lead to the conclusion that in all probability this manuscript belongs to an earlier recension of the Padma-purana which may not have copiously used identical words, phrases, parts of sentences and verses of the Mahabharata. Later redactors, in order to increase the bulk of it for propagating their views, more extensively copied from the Mahabharata.

So far as the question of colophon is concerned, it is somewhat different in form from what is found in other manuscripts. While all other manuscripts mention £ iti srlpadmapurane 5 etc. all its chapter-colophons run as follows: —‘ityadimahapurane padmeh The first five chapter colophons read as ‘Sakuntale 5 while these of the other chapters mention c 3akuntalopakhyane\

Moreover, while dealing with the Marutta-episode, this manuscript does not include nineteen verses where the King Marutta glorifies Shiva in order to fetch the gold with which he can perform his sacrifice. All other manuscripts of this Khanda, besides the Mahabharata VII. 1 73, contain these verses. This suggests its comparative antiquity, as we shall show later, the redactors of the Shaiva sect subsequently took up the whole of this Svargakhanda, nay the whole of the Padmapurana, tried to eliminate its Vaispava influence and introduce passages glorifying Shiva in its different portions.

 

Manuscript B.

 

This complete ms. of the Svargakhanda is preserved in the Westdeutsche Bibliothek, Marburg. On an inquiry it was found that this was presented to Wilhelm the Second in 1910 while he, as a crown prince, was touring India (cf. Geschenk an den Deutschen Kronprinz in Indien 1910).

It is comparatively fresh, complete in 95 pages. It bears no date. It is written on country made paper in Bengali characters with nine lines (3 + 3 + 3) in each page. The colour of the pages from 77 to 80 is slightly different from the rest. These are dark yellow while the rest is light yellow.

From fol. 17a just before the end of the seventh chapter — precisely from Sunanda uvaca/ tvaya yo vaispavo yago vihitah saptahayanah, it appears that the scribe is a different man. The new hand writing is definitely bad but fortunately it ends with the seventh chapter in fol, 17a, i. e., apsarasolokavarnanam nama saptamo’dhyayali.

All the pages on one side bear the numbering in English written in pencil (obvio usly by some officials of the Library) while on other sides there is original page numbering written by the scribe himself in Bengali. Its size is 15.10X 5.2. The ms. is comparatively fresh and in good condition.

It begins with om Shri harili/ om namo bhagavate vasudevaya and ends with samaptam idam svargakhandam/ Its postcolophon is as follows asyanamtaram patalakhandam Bhavishyati/ Shri harih 1 / on fol. la the following is written in pencil Ms. Orient fol. 3174 (sanskr)

A few errors caused most probably either through oversight or out of ignorance of the scribe are found in this manuscript. Some of them are noted below.

Addition or execss of a particular letter or word.: —

Omisson of a particular letter or word 1. For a description of this manuscript, see Indische Handschrifien, teil I, herausgegeben Von Walther Schubring, beschrieben von Klaus L, Janert, p, 39, nr. 87.

 

Manuscript C.

 

This complete ms, of the Svargakhand.a is preserved in the National Library^ Calcutta. We have used a photostat copy of this ms. It is written also on country made paper. The ms. is well-bound in two volumes, the first of which contains the Shrishti, Bhumi and Svargakhanda while the rest is found in the other volume. It is a book size 15" x 10.2"

It appears to be fresh and the hand writing is clear. There is no mention of date or scribe. From the post-colophon it is only, known that the ms. belonged to one Sambhucandra Mukhopadhyaya and the copying was finished on the 25th day of the month of Sravana, i. e.; 10th August.

The post-colophon reads as follows: Shriyuktasambhucandra Mukhopadhyayasya pustikeyam. samapteyam sravanasya pancavimsatidivaslya. The ms. consists of 101 pages. From the beginning of the Svargakhanda the number of the pages has been given as 1, 2, 3, etc. at the same time it has the consecutive numbering from 484 (evidently counted from the very beginning of the Shrishtikhanda of the Padmapurana) to 584. The numbers from 484 to 488 have been written after twice cancelling some older numbers which were not readable. Pages from 489 to 491 have only one cancellation and correction. Others are free from any such correction and bear both the numbers distinctly. It begins with srl harih, om nardyanam namaskrtya etc. and the last colophon reads as samaptam idam svargakhandah asyanantaram patalakhand.am Bhavishyati.

The numbers of lines on each page is not in all cases in proper order as in other mss. of the Svargakhanda. The last page consists of 43 (13+30) lines whereas the page number 33 consists of 30 (10 + 10+10) lines. It will be easy with the help of the following chart to have an idea of it.

A = 33 lines {11 + 11 + 11 )

pages 12, 16, 20, 22-24, 29, 30, 38, 40-42, 46-49, 52, B= 32 lines {11 + 11 + 10 )

pages 4, 14, 19, 25, 26, 28, 31, 32, 35-37, 54, C- 34 line?

{11 + 11 + 12 )

pages 5-7, 9, 15, 17, 21, 43, 45, 60, 65, 68, 86, 89, 95

55-57, 78, 79, 82- 61-64, 66, 69, 74

85, 87, 88, 100

D = 34 lines {12 + 11 + 11)

pages 10, 11, 13, 59, 92, 96

C = 34 lines {11 + 12 + 11 )

pages 3, 44, 81, 99

J - 35 lines {11 + 12 + 12 )

pages 93, 97

E- 31 lines [11 + 11 + 9)

pages 18, 50, 67, 70, 71

H- 35 lines {12+11 + 12)

pages 8, 90, 91

K - 31 lines [10+11+10)

pages 39, 76

F - 31 lines [ 11 + 10 + 10 ]

pages 27, 53, 72, 73, 75

I- 33 lines { 12 + 11 + 10 )

pages 1, 94, 98

Besides these page 58 contains 35 (11+11+13) lines, page 34 32 (11+10+11), page 12 36 112+11+13), page 51

32 (10+11+11), page 77 32 (12+10+10), page 80 33 (10+11+

12) and as has been mentioned before, pages 33 and 101

contain 30 (10+10+10) and 43 (13+30) lines respectivelyA few errors caused most probably either through oversight or out of ignorance of the scribe are found in this manuscript. Some of them are noted below.

Addition or excess of a particular letter or word: —

 

Manuscript D.

 

This complete ms. of the Svargakhanda is preserved in the Bodleian Library, Oxford (Ms. God. No. 114). Theodor Aufrecht in his Catalogus Codicum Manuscriptorum Sanscriticorum Bibliothecae Bodleianae gives a short description of it (p. 13 No. 52). We have used a photo copy of it. The ms. is written in Bengali characters with nine lines (3+3+3) in each page. But there are only seven lines and these two without any gap in the pages 104a, 104b and 105a. 105b consists of eight consecutive lines, and 114b consists of four consecutive lines. 74a contains seven (2 + 3 + 2) and 74b six (2+2+2) lines. The ms. is complete in 114 pages. Page 61 bears double numbers, i. e., 51 and 61. Page 78 has a false numbering. Instead of 78, 88 has been erroneously put.

There is no numbering on page 89; on page 112 instead of the correct number, 111 has been put erroneously. It begins with om Shri §ri harih om namo bhagavate vasudevaya and its last chapter-colophon runs as follows - samaptam idam svargakhandam asyanantaram patalakhandam Bhavishyati iti. The name of the scribe is not' here, neither there is any mention of date. It appears from the hand writing that pages from 45b-47b, 48b and 10oa-10/a have been written by a different scribe.

Some palpable errors caused most probably either through oversight or out of ignorance of the scribe are found in this manuscript. A few of them are shown below: —

Addition or excess of a particular letter or word: —

Omission of a particular or word: —

 

Manuscript F.

 

This manuscript (No. G 4416) is preserved in the Asiatic Society, Calcutta (For a brief description of it see Haraprasad Sastri, Descriptive Catalogue of the Sanskrit Manuscripts in the Government Collection under the care of the Asiatic Society, Vol. 5. p. 198, No. 3462).

It is fresh, complete in 98 pages. It bears no date. The date inscribed on the outer wooden cover (may be the date of acquisition in the library) is san 1257, vaisakha 30, i.e., 14th May, 1850 A.D. It is written in country made brown paper in Bengali characters with nine lines (3 + 3 + 3) in each page. But folio 53b contains ten lines (3 + 4 + 31. The colour of the pages from 17 to 27 is slightly different from the rest. It is more reddish. Its size is 39.5x 13.2

An accompanying sheet reads in Bengali characters Padmapurana-svargakhanda patra (pages) 1-98; sampurna (complete). No. 757 has been inscribed in red ink.

It begins with sft zfi: and its post colophon is as follows:

Some palpable errors caused most probably either through oversight or out of ignorance of the scribe are found in this manuscript. A few of them are shown below.

Addition or excess of a particular letter or word:

Manuscript G.

 

This manuscript (No. 757; is kept in the library of the Vanglya Sahitya Parisad, Calcutta (For its description see Chintaharan Chakravarty, Descriptive Catalogue of the Sanskrit Manuscripts in the Vanglya Sahitya Parisad, Calcutta, p. 74).

It is comparatively fresh, complete in 106 pages It is written in country made yellow paper in clear Bengali character with eight lines in eace page. It bears no date and its size is 41.8 X 14.8

It begins with: ^ and its post-colophon at the end is as follows:

 (put erroneously as 3cR> ) %i sp(N«r m\ I It appears that originally this manuscript belonged to one Kashinatha Sarma.

A few palpable errors most probably either through oversight or out of ignorance of the scribe are found in this manuscript. Some of them are noted below.

Addition or excess of a particular letter or word

Manuscript H.

 

This manuscript (No. G 4416 A) is also preserved in the Asiatic Society, Calcutta (for a brief description of it see Haraprasad Sastri, Descriptive Catalogue of the Sanskrit manuscripts in the Government Collection Under the Care of the Asiatic Society, Vol. 5. p. 202, No. 3470).

It appears to be fresh and complete in 99 pages. It bears no date. It is written in country made brown paper in Bengali character with nine lines in each page. But folio 99 contains eight lines (3 + 2 + 3). Its size is 395 x 13’2.

An accompanying sheet reads in Bengali character, i. e., the Svarga and Patalakhandas of the Padmapurarta.

It begins with: oil Its post-colophon at the end reads as follows qi5^q I l sftciqiqq: I fefecf sftqteFcf SRkjF. It appears that the scribe was one A few errors caused most probably either through oversight or of ignorance of the scribe are found in this manuscript. Some of them are noted below Addition or excess of a particular letter or word: —

A careful perusal of all these manuscripts reveals a close relationship of B and D. There are reasons to believe that the one is a copy of the other; but unfortunately it cannot be definitely said which is the borrower. These two manuscripts have much affinity to one another. There are quite a number of places where the mistakes committed are common and occasions are not rare when both delete some words and write the correct forms in the same way leaving a prominent gap in each case in the same place.

The following obvious errors which are common in these two may be shown.

Identically unusual gaps between words or- even between letters are not rare in these two mss. The following cases may be noted in this connection Chapter 5 between " snfq ^tqq|f? cr q^rqrmfq^r err: ’ and ^Rlqrq B 11a (9th line) = D 26b (6th line).

Chapter 9 between and ‘wfarqR: qftqB 23a (8th line) = D 26b (6th line).

Chapter 10 between ®gsFrr®r sg# and ‘ftScnr srarnrfa:

B 26a (6th line) = D 30a (7th line), Chapter 10 between ufteffor’ and Tartar B 26b

(1st line) = D 30b (3rd line).

Chapter 11 between HTSpGnmnr and Vttef B 27b (5th line) = D 32a (3rd. line).

Chapter 12 between Cj PF? rr? rr? < r' and c ^of amr^^’B

33a (7th line) = D 39a (6th line).

Chapter 13 between 'srerfhr' and ‘gr B 36b

(7th line) = D 43b (2nd. line).

Chapter 15 between ‘sr»m fipwr g’ and 'aft B

B 42b (5th line) = D 50a (7th line).

Chapter 16 between 'cT^T qrfcririV and B - 3a (6th line) = D 51a (1st line).

Chapter 16 between ‘ 5 |f trsraT and B 45a (2nd line) = D 53a (7th line).

Chapter 17 between ‘pnw wi’ and ‘r^V B 47b

(6th line) = D 56b (8th line).

Chapter 29 between ‘qTnrnf’ and ‘fo? frrcrnsrn’ B 71a (2nd line) = D 85b (5th line).

Chapter 32 between sr’ and < l l! f'ttB

79b (5th line) = D 95b (8th line).

Chapter 32 between serreKrarte' and ‘fr%’ B 79b (2nd line) = D 95b (5th line).

Moreover, after the usual benedictory passage, i. e., < tff sffr «ft both of these two manuscripts begin with sff which is not found in other manuscripts.

The portions which are common to these may be pointed out below, which will further strengthen the view that these two manuscripts in question can easily be grouped together.

Moreover, it is interesting to observe, that some relevant passages are not to be found in both these manuscripts. In this connection attention may be drawn to the following omissions which occur in B and D only.

There are also repetitions common to these two, e. g.

Chapter WWi 3Wab.

Additional passages common to these two only can be found in chapter R^.vs-^ (foot note)

Thus, we have sufficient grounds to place these two manuscripts, i. e., B and D in the same group which may for the sake of convenience, be described as “e”.

 

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