2023-02-16 14:47:08 by ambuda-bot
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EDITOR'S PREEAOF
The part of my task for which the help of others was most necessary
was the collection of MS evidence, which kept dribbling in at all stages of the
work and indeed continues to do so even now. At a very conservative esti-
mate, there exist today some 3000 MSS of Bhartrhari. Most of these, being
hidden away in private collections, will be destroyed unused by the action of
time, air, rain, mice, white ants and all other vermin except scholars. The
greatest factor that prevents this material from becoming useful is the sloth
and negligence of their owners, who rarely know what they possess but are
even more rarely willing to have their collections examined. In one case,
this was due to the fear of losing alchemical formulae which might have been
hidden away in the mass of scrap paper by some ancestor; in several other
cases, it was due to the fear of titles to property being proved defective by
examination of the old bundles. Our public collections, apart from regarding
red tape as ample preservative for the MSS, also leave a great deal to be
desired. There are no microfilm facilities; copyists are inaccurate, catalogues
misleading; correct information is rarely supplied. It has too often been
my unfortunate experience to have to pay from two to ten times as much
as the original estimate for scribes' work, at distant centres in India, which
did not follow the very simple instructions given nor yielded the information
sought. It is a general rule (Kosambi's law!) that the actual use-value
of a MS is inversely proportional to the fuss made in lending it.
10
Under these circumstances, I have to express my special gratitude
to those curators, librarians, and private individuals who have helped
so generously in this work; and to the following in particular. P. K. Gode,
curator of the Bombay Government MS collection at the Bhandarkar O. R.
Institute not only put all his material at my, disposal and gave special facilities
for work at the BORI, but used his wide acquaintanceship among Sanskritists
to get MSS from every possible source. His powerful influence produced
MSS out of the cumbersome mechanism of our public collections, where I myself
could produce nothing more than a faint creak. Dr. H. N. Randle, former
Librarian of the India [now Commonwealth Relations] Office Library
at London, also went far out of his way to make accessible all his material
as well as whatever could be tapped in other British and European collections,
by rotograph or direct comparison. To Acarya Jinavijaya Muni is due
more such material, special advice about palaeography, the invitation to
publish in this Series, and our simplified orthography. From my friend
and former colleague Prof. Dr. V. V. Gokhale [of the Fergusson College,
Poona] I have derived the maximum of critical, active, unflagging
encouragement. The preparatory expenses-the very sinews of scholarship,
परीक्ष्य सुबहूः स्वयं विविधदेशसंपादिताः करोल्लिखितमातृकाश्विरतरं विना जामिताम् ।
विचित्रतरपाठसंग्रह विनोदहर्षोदयो भजत्यमरभारती कविजनौघकामप्रदाम् ॥ ३ ॥
बहूनि शतकत्रयोदरनिविष्टपद्यान्तराण्यवेक्ष्य गलहस्तिकां व्यतरदेष तेषां बहिः ।
यतः प्रथितभर्तृहर्यभिधयान्यसंदृब्धतां विचार्य परिशिष्टतां निरणय द्धि सुध्यग्रणीः ॥ ४ ॥
अथात्मसुरभारती परिचयाभिसंवर्धने प्रशस्यतरमग्रहीच् चतुरधीरुपायं ध्रुवम् ।
तथान्यकवि निर्मितान् रसवतः सुकाव्योत्करान् क्रमेण परिशीलयन् भवतु पण्डिताग्रेसरः ॥ ५ ॥
धर्मेण प्रेप्सितानन्दधर्मानन्दस्य नन्दनः ॥ कोसंबिकुलमूर्धन्यो मयेत्थमभिनन्यते ॥ ६ ॥
The part of my task for which the help of others was most necessary
was the collection of MS evidence, which kept dribbling in at all stages of the
work and indeed continues to do so even now. At a very conservative esti-
mate, there exist today some 3000 MSS of Bhartrhari. Most of these, being
hidden away in private collections, will be destroyed unused by the action of
time, air, rain, mice, white ants and all other vermin except scholars. The
greatest factor that prevents this material from becoming useful is the sloth
and negligence of their owners, who rarely know what they possess but are
even more rarely willing to have their collections examined. In one case,
this was due to the fear of losing alchemical formulae which might have been
hidden away in the mass of scrap paper by some ancestor; in several other
cases, it was due to the fear of titles to property being proved defective by
examination of the old bundles. Our public collections, apart from regarding
red tape as ample preservative for the MSS, also leave a great deal to be
desired. There are no microfilm facilities; copyists are inaccurate, catalogues
misleading; correct information is rarely supplied. It has too often been
my unfortunate experience to have to pay from two to ten times as much
as the original estimate for scribes' work, at distant centres in India, which
did not follow the very simple instructions given nor yielded the information
sought. It is a general rule (Kosambi's law!) that the actual use-value
of a MS is inversely proportional to the fuss made in lending it.
10
Under these circumstances, I have to express my special gratitude
to those curators, librarians, and private individuals who have helped
so generously in this work; and to the following in particular. P. K. Gode,
curator of the Bombay Government MS collection at the Bhandarkar O. R.
Institute not only put all his material at my, disposal and gave special facilities
for work at the BORI, but used his wide acquaintanceship among Sanskritists
to get MSS from every possible source. His powerful influence produced
MSS out of the cumbersome mechanism of our public collections, where I myself
could produce nothing more than a faint creak. Dr. H. N. Randle, former
Librarian of the India [now Commonwealth Relations] Office Library
at London, also went far out of his way to make accessible all his material
as well as whatever could be tapped in other British and European collections,
by rotograph or direct comparison. To Acarya Jinavijaya Muni is due
more such material, special advice about palaeography, the invitation to
publish in this Series, and our simplified orthography. From my friend
and former colleague Prof. Dr. V. V. Gokhale [of the Fergusson College,
Poona] I have derived the maximum of critical, active, unflagging
encouragement. The preparatory expenses-the very sinews of scholarship,
परीक्ष्य सुबहूः स्वयं विविधदेशसंपादिताः करोल्लिखितमातृकाश्विरतरं विना जामिताम् ।
विचित्रतरपाठसंग्रह विनोदहर्षोदयो भजत्यमरभारती कविजनौघकामप्रदाम् ॥ ३ ॥
बहूनि शतकत्रयोदरनिविष्टपद्यान्तराण्यवेक्ष्य गलहस्तिकां व्यतरदेष तेषां बहिः ।
यतः प्रथितभर्तृहर्यभिधयान्यसंदृब्धतां विचार्य परिशिष्टतां निरणय द्धि सुध्यग्रणीः ॥ ४ ॥
अथात्मसुरभारती परिचयाभिसंवर्धने प्रशस्यतरमग्रहीच् चतुरधीरुपायं ध्रुवम् ।
तथान्यकवि निर्मितान् रसवतः सुकाव्योत्करान् क्रमेण परिशीलयन् भवतु पण्डिताग्रेसरः ॥ ५ ॥
धर्मेण प्रेप्सितानन्दधर्मानन्दस्य नन्दनः ॥ कोसंबिकुलमूर्धन्यो मयेत्थमभिनन्यते ॥ ६ ॥