Manuscript Identifiers

Collection:UPenn Ms. Coll. 390
Item:426
Repository:Rare Book & Manuscript Library
Institution:University of Pennsylvania
Location:Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America
Catalog:Poleman
Item:834

Contents

Work 1 (complete)

Locus:ff. 1r–12v
Author:Kṛṣṇa Dvaipāyana Vyāsa
Title:Viṣṇusahasranāmastotra
Incipit: f. 1v
.. vaiśaṁpāyana uvāca ..
śrutvā dharmān aśeṣeṇa pāvanāni (ca) sarvaśaḥ ..
yudhiṣṭiraḥ śāṁtanavaṁ punar evābhyabhāṣata ..1.. ( MBh. 13.135.1 )
Explicit: f. 12r
eṣa ṇiḥkaṁṭakaḥ paṁthā yatra saṁpūjyate hariḥ ..
kupathaṁ taṁ vijānīyād goviṁdarahitāgamaḥ ..147.. ( MBh. 13.135.142*637, lines 5–6 ) (Anuṣṭubh)
Final rubric: f. 12r
.. iti śrī mahābhārate śatasāhasryaṁ saṁhitāyāṁ vaiyāsikyāṁ dānadharme bhīṣma!varpa!<parva>ṇi viṣṇor divyasahasranāmastotraṁ saṁpūrṇaṁ ..
Colophon: f. 12r
.. śrīśāke 1754 ..
Note:

The Viṣṇusahasranāman is included in the Anuśāsanaparvan in the critical edition of the Mahābhārata at MBh. 13.135.1–142, yet the text as an independent treatise typically appends a phalaśruti not included in the critical text and most of which is also absent from the critical apparatus. The last verse of the text of the critical edition corresponds to verse 142 found on f. 11v. The last verse of the text in this manuscript corresponds to a verse in the critical apparatus. The final rubric situates the Viṣṇusahasranāman in the Bhīṣmaparvan rather than in the Anuśāsanaparvan.

The recitation of the names of Viṣṇusahasranāman themselves comprises a subset of the text marked at the beginning by a starting benediction and by the repetition of the last verse quarter and a closing benediction.

Language:Sanskrit in Devanāgarī script

Physical description

Form:Folia
Material:Country-made paper
Extent:12 folia
Dimension:10.4 x 21 cm (h x w)
Foliation: Foliated in the upper left margin and lower right margin on the verso of each folio except the last which is numbered on the recto. Two pages: f. 1r and f. 12v are blank.
   Formula:1–12
   Signatures:sa, vi ṣṇu, vi sa, vi, sa vi, or sa nā appears above the folio number in the upper left margin and rāmaḥ appears above the folio number in the lower right margin on the verso of each folio.
Condition:The paper is very brown.
Binding: Unbound
Seal: A circular stamp in blue ink on the front thrice and on the right of f. 12v reads Library University Pennsylvania. The same seal appears on a snipet of previous wrapping paper accompanied by a white label on which is hand-written No. 426.
Accompanying material:

1. Stephan Levitt's catalogue form provides a brief description of the manuscript, the substance of which has been incorporated into the present record. At the top of the form is written, ‘IASWR Descriptive Catalog of the Indic Manuscripts of the University of Pennsylvania’. The form bears Levitt's signature and is dated 17 March 1972.

2. A scrap of pink paper is pasted on a snipet of previous wrapping paper on which is written Viṣṇudivyasahasranāmastotraṁ śāke 1754

Layout:Written in 7–8 lines per page.

Hands

Hand 1:Written with a reed pen distinguishing thick and thin lines in tall, clear, bold, erect, regular characters in slightly wavy lines.
Additions:

Divisions between the names of Viṣṇu have been marked with a short vertcal stroke above the headbar throughout the recitation of the names themselves from start to finish on f. 3rf. 10r.

There are a few marginal corrections.

Decoration

Color:Orange powder is rubbed in over numbers, double daṇḍas, and every other syllable of the invocation, final rubric, and introductions of speakers.

History

Origin:The colophon provides the date of completion of the manuscript in śaka 1754, which is equivalent to March 1832 – March 1833 A.D.
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 – Viṣṇusahasranāmastotra.
SubjectLC:Manuscripts, Sanskrit – 19th century.
SubjectLC:Manuscripts – India – 19th century.
SubjectSL:Mahābhārata

Record history

Revised: 20 February 2012

Facsimile  (work )

Whole image
acc1
acc2
f. 1r
f. 1v
f. 2r
f. 2v
f. 3r
f. 3v
f. 4r
f. 4v
f. 5r
f. 5v
f. 6r
f. 6v
f. 7r
f. 7v
f. 8r
f. 8v
f. 9r
f. 9v
f. 10r
f. 10v
f. 11r
f. 11v
f. 12r
f. 12v


Transcription (text structure)


Subsection 1:
om śrīgaṇeśāya namaḥ ..

.. vaiśaṁpāyana uvāca ..
śrutvā dharmān aśeṣeṇa pāvanāni (ca) sarvaśaḥ ..
yudhiṣṭiraḥ śāṁtanavaṁ punar evābhyabhāṣata ..1.. ( MBh. 13.135.1 )
<...>
<...>

Subsection 2:
hariḥ om .. (The recitation of the names themselves is set off by benedictions marking their begining and ending.)
<...>
<...>
sarvapraharaṇāyudhaḥ
on namaḥ 1200 ..

Subsection 3:
<...>
<...>
viśveśvaram ajaṁ devaṁ jagataḥ prabhavāvyayaṁ ..
bhajaṁti ye puṣkarākṣaṁ na te yāṁti parābhavaṁ ..142.. ( MBh. 13.135.142 ) (Anuṣṭubh)
<...>
eṣa ṇiḥkaṁṭakaḥ paṁthā yatra saṁpūjyate hariḥ ..
kupathaṁ taṁ vijānīyād goviṁdarahitāgamaḥ ..147.. ( MBh. 13.135.142*637, lines 5–6 ) (Anuṣṭubh)
.. iti śrī mahābhārate śatasāhasryaṁ saṁhitāyāṁ vaiyāsikyāṁ dānadharme bhīṣma!varpa!<parva>ṇi viṣṇor divyasahasranāmastotraṁ saṁpūrṇaṁ ..
.. śubhaṁ bhūyāl lekhakapāṭhakayoḥ ..
.. śrīśāke 1754 ..
śubhaṁ ..
.. rāmaḥ .. rāmaḥ .. rāmaḥ ..