ज्ञानचतुर्विंशी- Jnanacaturvimsi of Naracandropadhyaya (An Old and Rare Book)

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

Foreword I am glad to introduce to Sanskritist this first publication of the Sanskrit Academy, Osmania University. Those devoted to Astronomical-Astrological studies will find here quite a few data of historical interest, since the work happens to be not only rare and unpublished but also fairly old as far as Astrological literature in Sanskrit is concerned. The treatise is brief, but precise, and contains material which appears to have been drawn upon by later writers on the subject. Its value is to be language from this point of view, rather than from an enquiry into its intrinsic merit, which certainly is not negligible.

The Sanskrit Academy was inaugurated by Shri K. M. Munshi, Governor of Uttar Pradesh, in January, 1954. It is an institution run jointly by the Osmania University and the Government of Hyderabad. The University possesses a fairly large collection of Sanskrit manuscripts, many of them rare and unpublished; and the Academy has under taken to publish as many of these as possible, besides other useful works relating to Sanskrit. The second publication of the Academy, which is expected to be out early in 1957, will be a one-volume 'Sangraha' of Panditaraja Jagannatha's poetical works (some of them unpublished so far). Three more works, Kriyasvaralakṣaṇam, (or Yohi-Bhasya, a work on Vedic Accent), Samskrta-Kavi-Jivitam (a work on History of Sanskrit Literature in Sanskrit) and the First Volume of the Descriptive Catalogue of Sanskrit Manu scripts in the Osmania University Library, I am given to understand, are also ready for press.

I have every hope that the Sanskrit Academy will be in a position to extend the scope of its activities and serve the cause of Sanskrit learning. With the all-round re-awakening of interest in Sanskrit, both on behalf of the Indian people and the State and the Central Governments, an institution like the Sanskrit Academy should find no difficulty in making a steady progress.

Introduction The present work has been edited on the basis of a single manuscript contained in the collection of the Osmania University Library.

The manuscript is on paper and consists of a single folio (two pages) containing both the Text and the Commentary. A margin of one inch is left on either side of the Text which is bounded by thick red lines, while a margin of nearly inch is left above and below the Text without any lines. The Commentary is written in the marginal space on all the four sides, in the order-top, right, left, bottom. The characters of the Text are bigger in size than those of the Commentary. The script is Jaina Devanagari. Matra is usually indicated by a vertical stroke before the consonant to which it is attached, while the Matra is represented by a vertical stroke after the consonant as well as before it. Only rarely, the two Mātrās are written as in the modern Devanagari. and are indicated by a slanting stroke above the consonant in addition to the and at Matrás.

The Text consists of 24 verses written in 22 horizontal lines, each nearly 8 inches long and fully written out. All the verses, except Nos. 22 (Sragdhara) and 24 (Sardula vikridita), are in the Anustubh metre. The first verse is introductory, the last but one praises Astrology and the last one speaks of the author and his Gurus. The remaining twenty-one verses deal with sixteen different topics, the first four and the last one relating to Astronomical calculations and the rest to Astrology. The topics are specified after the verses dealing with them. (In the Text as edited, the names of the topics have been placed before the relevant verses).

The Commentary consists of 15 eight-inch lines, and 112 one-inch lines, all horizontal. The script of the Commentary appears to be younger than that of the Text. Both the shape of the characters and the wider use of super scribed g and an Matrás testify to this.

**Contents and Sample Pages**