2023-02-16 14:47:07 by ambuda-bot
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4
EDITOR'S PREFACE
memorized. In fact, almost every commentator comments, without
noticing it, upon readings which do not exist in his text, and which,
because they generally occur in some other version, cannot be dismissed as
mere slips on his part or on that of some later copyist.
B
The need for a new edition.
The India Office Catalogue part II-), pp.
411-420 reports well over a hundred printed editions, translations, and inter-
pretations of Bhartrhari, to which the British Museum Catalogue adds several
others up to the year 1928. I myself have over a dozen such old editions,
lithographed and printed, most of which cannot be identified because the
flyleaves have been lost. A natural question, therefore, would be: why is
another printed edition necessary at all, and if one had to be prepared, why
should the oldest editions not be taken as a basis, choosing the best and
reporting only the major variants ?
The answer is simple enough. Most of the older editions are out of
print, and the very fact that some new edition is issued, be it only for school
text purposes, almost every year in some part of India, shows that there is a
demand. Moreover, none of these editions, new or old, are critical, nor do
they survey the vast field of available MS evidence in any comprehensive
manner. These two factors alone would justify the present edition if any such
justification were needed. In any case the editions now readily available in
this part of the country are in no way satisfactory. The NSP still sells
Kṛṣṇaśāstri Mahabala's eclectic version, defective as it is seen to be, though
the commentary is not bad. For more popular and full of misprints is the
NSP 7th edition of the satakatraya with commentary of Ramacandra Budh-
endra. This I hope to reissue in their 8th edition with at least the N+S
properly corrected from the old Telugu palm-leaf MS ASP 1035. But it says
nothing for the N tradition, and even represents an out-of-the-way type of
its own version. The Gujerati Printing Press edition quite frankly copies
whatever is handy, thus taking a W Niti from Telang's edition, and making
supplementary additions such as the Vijñānaśataka, as well as extras from
version A. The Venkateśvara Press of Bombay goes one step further in taking
a decidedly hybrid text, and tacking thereto the commentary of Ramcandra
Budhendra wherever the śloka is so commented, with one of their own making
where the stanza did not occur in the southern version.
Writing to the presses which published the oldest editions produced no
results. One third seem to be totally defunct; the rest may be divided equally
between those who regret that the edition is exhausted, and those who deny
that they ever published any Bhartrhari edition at all. However, a study of
the works borrowed from the IO Library showed that nothing has been lost by
my making no use of these editions except to cite extra stanzas in group III.
European editions. The oldest known printed edition of Bhartṛhari's
verses is by William Carey, who published it with the Hitopadeśa at Seram-
pere in 1803-4. However, the N and V were known in Europe long before
EDITOR'S PREFACE
memorized. In fact, almost every commentator comments, without
noticing it, upon readings which do not exist in his text, and which,
because they generally occur in some other version, cannot be dismissed as
mere slips on his part or on that of some later copyist.
B
The need for a new edition.
The India Office Catalogue part II-), pp.
411-420 reports well over a hundred printed editions, translations, and inter-
pretations of Bhartrhari, to which the British Museum Catalogue adds several
others up to the year 1928. I myself have over a dozen such old editions,
lithographed and printed, most of which cannot be identified because the
flyleaves have been lost. A natural question, therefore, would be: why is
another printed edition necessary at all, and if one had to be prepared, why
should the oldest editions not be taken as a basis, choosing the best and
reporting only the major variants ?
The answer is simple enough. Most of the older editions are out of
print, and the very fact that some new edition is issued, be it only for school
text purposes, almost every year in some part of India, shows that there is a
demand. Moreover, none of these editions, new or old, are critical, nor do
they survey the vast field of available MS evidence in any comprehensive
manner. These two factors alone would justify the present edition if any such
justification were needed. In any case the editions now readily available in
this part of the country are in no way satisfactory. The NSP still sells
Kṛṣṇaśāstri Mahabala's eclectic version, defective as it is seen to be, though
the commentary is not bad. For more popular and full of misprints is the
NSP 7th edition of the satakatraya with commentary of Ramacandra Budh-
endra. This I hope to reissue in their 8th edition with at least the N+S
properly corrected from the old Telugu palm-leaf MS ASP 1035. But it says
nothing for the N tradition, and even represents an out-of-the-way type of
its own version. The Gujerati Printing Press edition quite frankly copies
whatever is handy, thus taking a W Niti from Telang's edition, and making
supplementary additions such as the Vijñānaśataka, as well as extras from
version A. The Venkateśvara Press of Bombay goes one step further in taking
a decidedly hybrid text, and tacking thereto the commentary of Ramcandra
Budhendra wherever the śloka is so commented, with one of their own making
where the stanza did not occur in the southern version.
Writing to the presses which published the oldest editions produced no
results. One third seem to be totally defunct; the rest may be divided equally
between those who regret that the edition is exhausted, and those who deny
that they ever published any Bhartrhari edition at all. However, a study of
the works borrowed from the IO Library showed that nothing has been lost by
my making no use of these editions except to cite extra stanzas in group III.
European editions. The oldest known printed edition of Bhartṛhari's
verses is by William Carey, who published it with the Hitopadeśa at Seram-
pere in 1803-4. However, the N and V were known in Europe long before