Kavyamimamsa of Rajasekhara (An Old And Rare Book)

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

The third revised and enlarged edition of the Kavyamimärhä of the celebrated author Rajasekhara, published as No. 1 of the Gaekwad's Oriental Series is now presented to the public. The Kavyamimams with which the Gaekwad's Oriental Series was inaugurated in 1916, has proved to be popular with scholars as also with Universities, many of them prescribing the work as a text-book. The first edition was exhausted in 1924, and the second in 1933, and the third is going forward with several new features which, the present editor believes, will enhance its use fullness for scholars and students alike.

The text of the present edition is once more collated with MS. No. 6065 of the Oriental Institute, Baroda, which is a transcript of the original paper MS. preserved in the Wadi Parsvanatha's temple at Pattan. This MS. is marked B. in the previous editions. Quotations from the Kavyamimamsa in later works have been carefully compared with the text, and this has enabled the present editor to suggest several correct readings of obscure and incorrect words which had crept into the previous editions. Emendations such as these have been added to the text in square brackets.

Another noteworthy feature of this edition, to which attention of readers may be drawn, consists of the elaborate and exhaustive notes on words and passages of the Kavyamimämsä which have a bearing on the past history and culture of India. It is hoped that with the help of these notes, it will be possible for students to appreciate the remarkabla scholarship of Rajasekhara more fully and more comprehensively.

Among the appratus criticus added to this edition, mention may be made of a list of earlier works which Rajasekhara utilized as source-books in preparing the Kavyamimäths. This has been given in an Appendix to this edition. In another Appendix identifications have been given of 212 geographical names men tioned in the Kavyamimams. Many of these geographical names have been trested in Cunningham's Ancient Geography of India, and the Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Modern India by N. L. Doy. These two works form the background of this Appendix and no references have been given while dealing with the identifications proposed therein, unless I had reasons to differ from them.

In preparing this edition, I have received help from various sources, and in this respect, I am particularly indebted to Maha mabopadhykya S. Kuppuswami Shastri, Professor of Sanskrit, Presidency College, Madras who has offered numerous suggestions in emending the text; to Dr. B. Bhattacharyya, the Director of the Oriental Institute Baroda, who revised the press copy and proofs of the whole of the English portion; and to Mr. M. A. Joshi of the Oriental Institute who helped in collation and prepared the press copy of the notes and appendices.

K. S. RAMASWAMI SASTRI.

(Oriental Institute, Baroda,) 10th July 1934.