Slokasarasamgraha: The critical edition, annotated translation and contextualisation of an unpublished Sanskrit anthology
Final Report Abstract
The source for the present work is the previously unpublished anthology of single stanzas (muktaka) called Ślokasārasaṃgraha (“Anthology of the Essence of Stanzas”), of which two manuscripts (MS A and B) are preserved in the Nepalese-German Manuscript Cataloguing Project (NGMCP). The text, for which the compiler and date of origin are unknown, contains 903 verses and is divided into 107 sections (vrajyā). This research project aimed to establish a text-critical edition and annotated translation of this unknown anthology, analyse its content and structure, and contribute a new and reliable basis for literary, cultural, and linguistic studies of the anthology genre within Sanskrit literature. The present anthology contains a number of individual stanzas, which are documented in other significant works. The variants are helpful for understanding and interpreting the texts, and it may be possible to gain new insights into the interpretation of the text. In addition to the manuscripts, the five well-known medieval Sanskrit anthologies, viz. two anthologies of Bengal origin, i.e. the Subhāṣitaratnakoṣa and the Saduktikarṇāmṛta, the Śārṅgadharapaddhati from Rajasthan, the Subhāṣitāvalī with a Kashmiri connection, and the Sūktimuktāvalī of South Indian origin, are therefore an indispensable basis for the study of the present work. Among these works, the Śārṅgadharapaddhati (ŚāPa) or The Guide [of Poetry] of Śārṅgadhara (compiled around 1363 AD) is of particular importance for the study of the ŚloSāSaṃ. A comparison of these two anthologies reveals that Secs. 52–100 in our ŚloSāSaṃ contain, with the omission of some stanzas, the whole of Secs. 6–75 of the ŚāPa. It can thus be asserted that the ŚloSāSaṃ was partially compiled utilising the ŚāPa, and this discovery leads to the further assumption that the anthology in question might consist of different layers of style, and possibly of time. Of special importance in the ŚloSāSaṃ are finally its unknown verses, whose critical edition and translation are presented here for the first time. Among the 903 verses, 703 are, with variations, traceable in other works. Representing one-fourth of the entire text, the remaining stanzas are, to my knowledge, unknown. It is remarkable that an amount of verses found in the ŚloSāSaṃ are, despite the large number of verses quoted in the aforementioned modern anthologies, not mentioned there. The present ŚloSāSaṃ adds thus some great unknowns to the already well-known writers of Sanskrit poetry. The contents of many subhāṣitasaṃgrahas are generally stereotyped, and the verses quoted therein are frequently identical because the compilers often relied on similar sources; however, how that division was made depended on the compiler of the collection. In other words, by observing the arrangement of a subhāṣitasaṃgraha, one can gain an impression of the individuality of its compilers. As far as our anthology is concerned, one can emphasise that its fundamental theme lies in the ideals and practices of kingship. The arrangement of its sections, especially at the very beginning, reveals the possible intention of this work. Immediately after the first three sections on gods, the compiler devoted a section to royal flattery (Sec. nṛpasaṃdeśa). This section is then followed by Sec. nīti (‘right conduct’), beginning with three introductory verses, which are rather to be regarded as rājanīti (‘virtuous conduct of a king’). In addition to this apparent predilection for panegyrics shown in the organisation of the collection, the verses dealing with ‘kings,’ i.e. the eulogy of the king and ‘useful’ information for a king etc., are, scattered throughout the whole anthology, frequently found as punning verses or anyoktis. With regard to the question of the dating of the ŚloSāSaṃ, we can first rely on the assumptions based on palaeographic observations of its manuscripts. The tentative dating of MS A can be, based on the palaeographic observations, around Nepal Saṃvat 600 (1480 AD), and thus narrowed down to between the late 15th and the early or mid 16th centuries. Furthermore, the terminus post quem of the ŚloSāSaṃ can be deduced from other texts, for instance the Rājanighaṇṭu (an Ayurvedic nighaṇṭu-text composed in the 15th or 16th century), from which it might have quoted stanzas. If our anthology was a contemporary of this Rājanighaṇṭu, the dating between the 15th and the 16th centuries would be appropriate for the above-mentioned assumption based on the palaeographic grounds. The question of authorship remains a difficult matter, as unfortunately no information is available about it. It is, however, safe to say that the present anthology was compiled by a scholar who was extremely erudite in a wide range of topics in Sanskrit literature, covering a similarly wide geographical area, and dedicated to composing, a compendium of other great anthologies, to preserve ancient thoughts and practical wisdom and teach cultured people what was considered to be proper behavior.
