Page 4 of 6 1.7: However, Chauhan and other scholars do not seem to have paid heed to this
persuasion.
14
Thereafter the kāvya under reference seems to have sunk into oblivion for
about three decades.
2.1: About a decade ago a doctoral dissertation on the said
kāvya, that claimed to have studied and edited it using three manuscripts, was submitted to the Sampurnanand
Sanskrit University, Varanasi, by Dinesh Chandra Awasthi under the guidance of Kailas Pati Tripathi. The successful dissertation was published in 2005 under ISBN 81-89482-
05-X by Akash Publishers and Distributers, E-10663, Uttaranchal Colony, Loni Border, Loni, Gaziabad 201102, perhaps on behalf of Sahitya Sansthan, Loni, Gaziabad.
15
It is interesting to note that Awasthi s name has been printed as Dinesh Kumar Awasthi on
the spine and first page of the jacket and spine and the first page the hard cover of the book. However, the name on the first page of the jacket seems to have been corrected as
…Chandra… with the help of red and white screen-printing.
16
2.2: The new book does not recognize the earlier edition of the
kāvya. It claims to have been brought out critically with the use of three manuscripts
named ka , kha and ga
. D etails of the manuscripts used for editing the kāvya have not been given
anywhere in the book.
17
2.3: The doctoral researcher neither has any right to plead innocent, nor should he
avail any benefit of doubt. He seems to have done nothing new except applying unscrupulously his imagination:
1 to rearrange the kāvya in 15 cantos dropping many verses and cantos,
2 to drop the name and the date of its author, and 3 to bring out variant readings originating from the so-called three manuscripts.
With the first two measures Awasthi has effectively detached from the kāvya:
yāmabhaṭṭa Bhāradvāja, the original author , Sardar Patil-Chalukya,
18
the repositor and the sponsor, and Vishwanath Shastri Bharadvaj
the editor . A comparative chart of the 1966 edition and the 2005 edition is given below:
Canto No. No. of verses in
1966 Edition No. of verses in
2005 Edition
1 67
67 2
46 46
3 31
31 4
65 65
5 39
39
14
Mirashi and Mehendale have also informed about the spurious coins and documents from the collection of Sabajirao Patil. This enhances the doubts about the authenticity of the
kāvya.
15
This work is entirely in Sanskrit. Its copy was presented by the publisher to the Bhandarkar O. R. Institute Library in 2007-2008. Its accession number is 99863 of February 29, 2008.
16
Such lapses seem to be a common feature found in the publication of counterfeit works. See for examples the first edition of this
kāvya itself, or the various publications of Jivaram Kalidas Shastri, Gondal. See my paper in Vol. 2 of this series, pp. 29-34 and sources mentioned in the same.
17
The present author made a written query sending a letter by speed-post to Awasthi regarding provenance and details of the said manuscripts of the kāvya. The same was delivered to him on January 15, 2014. The
envelope concerned also contained a self-addressed envelope bearing postal stamps worth Rs. 35- affixed in order to save him from postal expenses. Awasthi has not cared to reply the same till date. The publishers
telephonically expressed inability to provide any details about the kāvya or its editor Ph.: 0120-2603892.
18
The details of the Maratha history that appear in the 1966 edition in cantos 16 and 17 and the concluding kavipra asti do not form a part of this edition.
Page 5 of 6
6 44
43
7 72
70
8 52
52 9
79 72
10 97
97 11
51 51
12 75
75 13
109 75
14 76
74
15 29
42
16 83
Omitted
17 99
Omitted
Ka vipra asti
17 Omitted
TOTAL 1131
899
A gross and unscrupulous rearrangement of the contents is conspicuously evident in the 13th and the 15th cantos of the 2005 edition. A comparative chart of these two
cantos from the 1966 edition and the 2005 edition stands as follows:
Canto 13: Verses in
1966 edition Verses in
2005 edition 1 to 74
1 to 74 75 to 108
Omitted 109
75
Canto 15: Verses in
1966 edition Verses in
2005 edition 1 to 3
1 to 3 ---
4 new? 4 to 6
Omitted 7 to 10
5 to 8 11
Omitted 12 to 28
9 to 25 29
Omitted ---
26 to 42 new?
2.4 The 2005 edition of the
