Vicaradipa of Bhagavatkavi (A Critical Study With Critical Edition, Introduction, Translation And Note)

About the Book

Vicaradipa is a small but compact and peculiar sastraic work (a vada- grantha) by Bhagavat Kavi Bhatta on the subject of sabdasakti. It is found in a single manuscript in Chunilal Gandhi Vidya Bhavan Surat, a reputed research institute which has preserved nearly 1600 Sanskrit manuscripts. The present work contains a critical edition of Vicaradipa text, an introduction, trans- lation and its critical study. It introduces Bhagavat Kavi Bhatta, a learned but hitherto unknown scholar who lived between 18th and 19th centuries in Gujarat and thus throws a new light on the meritorious contribution of Gujarat to Sanskrit sastra literature.

About the Author

Dr. Nina Bhavnagari is a lecturer in Sanskrit at M. T.B. Arts college, Sural. She took her Post graduate degree (Alankarasastra) with first class from South Gujarat University in 1974, and was awarded M.P. Dave Gold Medal for standing first class first in the university. This research project earned her Ph.D. degree from M.S. University of Baroda. She has presented many research papers in seminars and conferences of national level and they are published in reputed journals and magazines like journal of OR! Baroda, Svadhyaya, etc. Four books of Dr. Bhavnagari have been already published in Gujarati.

Foreword

It gives me great pleasure in writing this foreword. This work contains the critically edited Sanskrit text with English translation and notes. Dr. Nina Bhavnagari has also added a detailed introduction to it.

The text called Yicaradipa of Bhagavatkavi is a text of the category called vada-grantha. In a vada-grantha a topic is chosen for discussion and the writer develops the discussion by critically examining the opinions of the other scholars on the same issue. Such texts can be appropriately called texts on 'Analytical Discourse.

It is, therefore, heartening to see. that Yicaradipa is being brought to light by Dr. Nina Bhavnagari for which she has been awarded the degree of Ph. D. by the MS University of Baroda.

The central issue in this text is to arrive at the concept of the referent of the term sastra. While engaging himself in the discourse the author of the text, Bhagavatkavi has dealt with various other relevant issues such as the relationships between a morpheme and its referent namely. sakti, laksana and vyaiijatui. The text is indeed most valuable from the point of view of the sastric tradition of Sanskrit.

Dr. Nina Bhavnagari has added additional utility features to this work by adding a detailed study which contains rich informations on the study of MS of the text, date and works of Bhagavatkavi, summary of the contents of the text, English translation and notes on the text and very useful indices.

Dr. Bhavnagari has followed scientific principles of editing a text and hence the text accepted by her is dependable. English translation of the text and notes are lucid, readable and authentic. This reflects good command of Dr. Bhavnagari over the language. logic, style and subject matter of the sastric Sanskrit text. It also reflects that she is familiar with various branches of sastric Sanskrit learning such as vyakara~, Nyaya, Mtmamsa etc.

I congratulate her for this good work and hope that scholars of Indian Intellectual Traditions will welcome it.

I wish that Dr. Bhavangari continues to work in the field of analytic Sanskrit traditions.

Preface

Gujarat has substantially contributed in all the areas of Sanskrit literature-poetry, drama, history, philosophy, grammar, criticism, linguistics and so on. A series of scholars hailed from Gujarat we can be proud of. Asadhara Bhatta was one of them. He has given at least six works inclusive of those on grammar, poetics, Vedanta etc. The name of Asadhara Bhatta is quite well-known to Sanskrit scholars due to his scholarship. An equally erudite student of his, namely Bhagavatkavi Bhatta has given a small but compact and peculiar vadagrantha named Vicaradipa on sabdasakti. The only manuscript (codex unicum) of this work, on which this study is based, is registered in Chunilal Gandhi Vidyabhavan, Sural. The text of the manuscript is quite corrupt, the work of restoring the correct text on the basis of transcriptional and contextual probability would be quite interesting and instructive in the field of manuscriptology. Besides, no other work of this Bhagavatkavi Bhatta who hailed from Gujarat has been brought to light so far. This publication of his small but erudite work, therefore, will hopefully be found interesting to the scholors.

Vicaradipa is a sastraic work on sabdasakti. It treats the topic with a different viewpoint from that of his guru Asadhara who himself has given two prakarana works on the same subject which are already published. Unlike Asadhara, Bhagavatkavi Bhatta gives a vadagrantha which includes a number of sastraic discussions from grammatical point of view. He also brings in other sastras like Mtmamsa and Nyaya. An attempt therefore, has been made here to prepare the critical edition of the text of Vicaradtpa and to make its detailed study in view of Bhagavatkavi's contribution to Sanskrit literature. I hope this research work will throw a new light on the meritorious contribution of Gujarat to Sanskrit sastra literature. It will also bring recognition and fame to the erudite and learned contributor, Bhagavatkavi himself who has hitherto remained unknown to the world of Sanskrit scholars. It is hoped that this small research work will prepare ground for further exploration in the field of manuscriptology that can bring out our still uncovered, voluminous treasure of sastra literature.

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