Manuscript Identifiers

Collection:UPenn Ms. Coll. 390
Item:2330
Repository:Rare Book & Manuscript Library
Institution:University of Pennsylvania
Location:Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America
Catalog:Poleman
Item:828

Contents

Work 1 (complete)

Locus:ff. 1r–16v
Title:Viṣṇusahasranāmāvali
Cover rubric: f. 1r
.. śrīviṣṇusahasranāmāvaliprāraṁbhaḥ ..
Final rubric: f. 16v
.. .. iti viṣṇusahasranāmāvali samāptaḥ .. ..
Colophon: f. 16v
.. śake 1720 kālayuktasaṁvatsare āṣāḍhavadyatrayodaśyāṁ taddine dāḍekaropanāmakabhāskarena likhitaṁ ..
Note:

The Viṣṇusahasranāmāvali, of which this manuscript is a witness, reworks the core of the verse Viṣṇusahasranāman which is included in the Anuśāsanaparvan in the critical edition of the Mahābhārata at MBh. 13.135.1–142. The core reworked consists of MBh. 13.135.14–120. Each name of Viṣṇu is transposed to the dative case and made the core of a mantra beginning with the auspicious syllable and ending with the word namas. This manuscript drops the syllable everywhere but in the first mantra and drops or abbreviates namas everywhere but in the first and last.

This manuscript includes a preface, consisting of a Nyāsa and Dhyāna very similar to the preface found in popular editions of the Bhagavadgītā, such as the Gītā Press edition, which is not included in the critical text of the Mahābhārata and most of which is also absent from the critical apparatus.

Language:Sanskrit in Devanāgarī script

   Work 1.1 (complete)

   Locus:ff. 1v–2v
   Title:Viṣṇusahasranāmāvali Preface
   Incipit: f. 1v
asya śrīviṣṇor divyasahasranāmamaṁtrāṇāṁ vedavyāsa ṛṣiḥ
paramātmā devatā
anuṣṭup chaṁdaḥ
amṛtāṁśūdbhavo bhānur iti bījaṁ
devakīnaṁdaneti śaktiḥ
śaṁkhabhṛnnaṁdakīti kilakaṁ ..
śārṅadhanvā gadādhareti astraṁ .
<...>
   Explicit: f. 2rf. 2v
śāṁtākāraṁ bhujagaśayanaṁ padmanābhaṁ sureśaṁ
viśvādhāraṁgaganasadṛśaṁ meghavarṇaṁ śubhāṁgaṁ ..
lakṣmīkāṁtaṁ kamalanayanaṁ yo!ga!<gi>bhir dhyānagamyaṁ
vaṁde viṣṇuṁ bhavabhayaharaṁ sarvalokaikanāthaṁ ..1.. (Mandākrāntā)
   Final rubric: f. 2v
iti dhyānaṁ ..

   Work 1.2 (complete)

   Locus:ff. 2v–16v
   Author:Kṛṣṇa Dvaipāyana Vyāsa
   Title:Viṣṇusahasranāmāvali
   Incipit: f. 2v
õ viśvasmai namaḥ .
viṣṇave na0
vaṣaṭkārāya0
<...>
õ bhūtabhāvanāya n0
   Explicit: f. 16v
śaṁkhabhṛte na0
naṁdakine0
cakriṇe0
śārṅadhanvane0
gadādharāya0
rathāṁgapāṇaye0
akṣobhyāya0
sarvapraharaṇāyudhāya namaḥ .. ..1000..
   Final rubric: f. 16v
iti śrīmahābhārate śatasāhasryāṁ saṁhitāyāṁ viṣṇor divyasahasranāmāvaḷistotraṁ saṁpūrṇam astu ..

Physical description

Form:Folia
Material:Country-made paper
Extent:16 folia
Dimension:11 x 15 cm (h x w)
Foliation: Foliated in the upper left and lower right margins on the verso of each folio.
   Formula:1–16
   Signatures:vi0 sa0 appears above the folio number in the upper left margin on the verso of each folio.
Collation: Single folia
Condition:Good with browned and cracked edges.
Binding: Unbound
Seal: A circular stamp in blue ink on the upper right of f. 1r reads Library University Pennsylvania.
Layout:Written in 9–10 lines per page.

Hands

Additions:

There are a few marginal corrections, e.g. on f. 12r, f. 16r, and corrections made by covering errors with yellow pigment.

Decoration

Color:Yellow pigment used for corrections.

History

Origin:The colophon states that the manuscript was completed on the 13th tithi of the dark fortnight in the month of āṣāḍha in the year 1720, called kālayukta, of the śaka era, which corresponds to Wednesday, 11 July 1798 A.D. by Dāḍekara Bhāskara.
Acquisition: David Nelson (2000: 203) describes the acquisition of the Sanskrit manuscripts in the University of Pennsylvania Library as follows:

The University of Pennsylvania Library possesses a collection of almost 3,300 Indic manuscripts, the largest such collection in the Western hemisphere. While the vast majority of these manuscripts are from India, there are also a number of manuscripts from Burma, Thailand, Sri Lanka, and Tibet.

Some of the manuscripts had been acquired in chance fashion by the Library and the University Museum before 1930, but in that year, at the request of Professor W. Norman Brown (1892–1975), Provost Josiah Penniman provided a sum of money to purchase Indic manuscripts. Shortly thereafter he obtained a donation from the late Mr. John Gribbel. Substantial contributions from Dr. Charles W. Burr, the Faculty Research Fund, and the Cotton Fund soon followed. The bulk of the manuscripts are the result of purchases made using these funds in India, between 1930 and 1935, under the direction of Professor W. Norman Brown.

Subject headings

SubjectLC:Mahābhārata – Viṣṇusahasranāmāvali.
SubjectLC:Manuscripts, Sanskrit – 18th century.
SubjectLC:Manuscripts – India – 18th century.
SubjectSL:Mahābhārata

Record history

Revised: 21 February 2012

Facsimile  (work 1)

Whole image     Individual pages
f. 1r     f. 1r  
f. 1v, f. 2r     f. 1v  f. 2r  
f. 2v, f. 3r     f. 2v  f. 3r  
f. 3v, f. 4r     f. 3v  f. 4r  
f. 4v, f. 5r     f. 4v  f. 5r  
f. 5v, f. 6r     f. 5v  f. 6r  
f. 6v, f. 7r     f. 6v  f. 7r  
f. 7v, f. 8r     f. 7v  f. 8r  
f. 8v, f. 9r     f. 8v  f. 9r  
f. 9v, f. 10r     f. 9v  f. 10r  
f. 10v, f. 11r     f. 10v  f. 11r  
f. 11v, f. 12r     f. 11v  f. 12r  
f. 12v, f. 13r     f. 12v  f. 13r  
f. 13v, f. 14r     f. 13v  f. 14r  
f. 14v, f. 15r     f. 14v  f. 15r  
f. 15v, f. 16r     f. 15v  f. 16r  
f. 16v     f. 16v  

Facsimile  (work 1.1)

Whole image     Individual pages
f. 1v, f. 2r     f. 1v  f. 2r  
f. 2v, f. 3r     f. 2v  f. 3r  

Facsimile  (work 1.2)

Whole image     Individual pages
f. 2v, f. 3r     f. 2v  f. 3r  
f. 3v, f. 4r     f. 3v  f. 4r  
f. 4v, f. 5r     f. 4v  f. 5r  
f. 5v, f. 6r     f. 5v  f. 6r  
f. 6v, f. 7r     f. 6v  f. 7r  
f. 7v, f. 8r     f. 7v  f. 8r  
f. 8v, f. 9r     f. 8v  f. 9r  
f. 9v, f. 10r     f. 9v  f. 10r  
f. 10v, f. 11r     f. 10v  f. 11r  
f. 11v, f. 12r     f. 11v  f. 12r  
f. 12v, f. 13r     f. 12v  f. 13r  
f. 13v, f. 14r     f. 13v  f. 14r  
f. 14v, f. 15r     f. 14v  f. 15r  
f. 15v, f. 16r     f. 15v  f. 16r  
f. 16v     f. 16v  


Transcription (text structure)

.. śrīviṣṇusahasranāmāvaliprāraṁbhaḥ ..
śrīgaṇeśāya namaḥ ..
asya śrīviṣṇor divyasahasranāmamaṁtrāṇāṁ vedavyāsa ṛṣiḥ
paramātmā devatā
anuṣṭup chaṁdaḥ
amṛtāṁśūdbhavo bhānur iti bījaṁ
devakīnaṁdaneti śaktiḥ
śaṁkhabhṛnnaṁdakīti kilakaṁ ..
śārṅadhanvā gadādhareti astraṁ .
<...>
<...>
śāṁtākāraṁ bhujagaśayanaṁ padmanābhaṁ sureśaṁ
viśvādhāraṁgaganasadṛśaṁ meghavarṇaṁ śubhāṁgaṁ ..
lakṣmīkāṁtaṁ kamalanayanaṁ yo!ga!<gi>bhir dhyānagamyaṁ
vaṁde viṣṇuṁ bhavabhayaharaṁ sarvalokaikanāthaṁ ..1.. (Mandākrāntā)
iti dhyānaṁ ..
õ viśvasmai namaḥ .
viṣṇave na0
vaṣaṭkārāya0
<...>
õ bhūtabhāvanāya n0 VSNProse 1–9 MBh. 13.135.14
<...>
annādāya0
<...>
samagāyanāya0
devakīnaṁdanāya0
sraṣṭre na0
kṣi tīśāya0
pāpanāśanāya0 VSNProse 992–1000 MBh. 13.135.119
śaṁkhabhṛte na0
naṁdakine0
cakriṇe0
śārṅadhanvane0
gadādharāya0
rathāṁgapāṇaye0
akṣobhyāya0
sarvapraharaṇāyudhāya namaḥ .. ..1000.. VSNProse 1001–1008 MBh. 13.135.120
iti śrīmahābhārate śatasāhasryāṁ saṁhitāyāṁ viṣṇor divyasahasranāmāvaḷistotraṁ saṁpūrṇam astu ..
.. śrīmahāviṣṇvārpaṇam astu ..
.. .. iti viṣṇusahasranāmāvali samāptaḥ .. ..
.. śake 1720 kālayuktasaṁvatsare āṣāḍhavadyatrayodaśyāṁ taddine dāḍekaropanāmakabhāskarena likhitaṁ ..