[INDOLOGY] New Ramayana MS?

Mon Dec 21 14:39:57 UTC 2015

Dear All,

This is basically just to confirm the information that Christophe Vielle 
has already given.  This is clearly the Rāmakathā section of the Vahni 
Purāṇā, on which Anasuya Bhaumik has been working for some time. I add 
next some notes from the first volume of her edn of the Purāṇa and from 
her as yet unpublished paper delivered at DICSEP 5 (2008),“Rāma episode 
in an unpublished Purāṇa manuscript”:

4 mss of /Vahni Purāṇa/ used by Bhowmik in edn: 2 in India Office (one 
dated 1589 A.D., the other 1804 [saṃvat 1861]), a third in Calcutta (one 
in Asiatic Society, undated?), which lacks the Rāmakathā in second part 
(found in both I.O. mss), and a fourth in Sanskit Parishad (? - *check*).

Bhowmik notes (/Vahnipurāṇa/ 2012: cxxiv) that there are references to 
the /VR/ in the main text, at 36.73 (to be read regularly, as it dispels 
and demolishes all sins) and at 61.43.“From above quotations, it can be 
concluded that Rāmakathā is not an interpolation but was included in the 
second phase of its transformation.The Rāmakathā is also getting 
published from The Asiatic Society, Kolkata in near further.” [sic]

Yours

John Brockington

Professor J.L. Brockington
113 Rutten Lane
Yarnton
Kidlington 0X5 1LT
tel: 01865 849438

On 21/12/2015 13:00, Christophe Vielle wrote:
> From the Time of India article, which is the source of the other 
> (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/6th-century-Ramayana-found-in-Kolkata-stuns-scholars/articleshow/50227724.cms 
> ), I am tempted to conclude (but maybe I am wrong) that this 
> Râma-kathâ version is the one... of the Vahnipuraa.na.
> The latter work was once in details studied by Hazra (who listed 4 
> mss. of the work, cf. ref. below [1985] p. 70 n. 14, 72 n. 18, 138 n. 
> 40), at the time it was not yet edited.
> Hazra tells us that the Râma legend "constitutes almost the half of 
> the present extensive text" of this purâ.na. And he presents it (pp. 
> 138-150) on the basis of one of the two IO ms. (no. 1001) mainly 
> because the Asiatic Society ms. was incomplete ("has lost more than 
> half [of Râma legend chapters] from the end", p. 138 n. 40).
> I fear (it should be checked) that the editio princeps of the VahniP 
> which was published by Anasuya Bhowmick in 2012 (see ref. below), was 
> based on the Kolkata AS manuscript only. I understand that they now 
> have found a new (more complete) ms. in the Samskrita Sahitya 
> Parishad. The episode referred to of the killing of the Bhârgava Kavi 
> Uzanas (Zukra)'s wife during the deva-asura war and the subsequent 
> curse on Vi.s.nu (the killer) to be reborn as Raama is given in 
> Hazra's account of the VahniP (cf. p. 144).
> The 6th century dating would be based on the (Hazra's) 6th century 
> dating... of the Vahnipuraa.na, not on the manuscript itself.
>
> • Hazra 1953-1954 « Studies in the genuine Āgneya-purāṇa alias 
> Vahni-purāṇa », Our Heritage 1/2, pp. 209-245, and 2/1, p. 77-110, 
> re-issued in Dr. R.C. Hazra Commemoration Volume (Selected Articles of 
> the Late Dr. R.C. Hazra), Part I, Varanasi, All-India Kashiraj Trust 
> (= Purāṇa 27/1), 1985, pp. 67-122, 122-171.
>
> • Vahnipurāṇam tathā Āgneyapurāṇam / sampādikā, Anasūyā Bhaumika. -- 
> Kalakātā : Di Eśiyāṭika Sosāiṭi, 2012. cxlii, 610 p. ; 24 cm. -- 
> (Bibliotheca Indica series ; no. 336) ISBN 9788192219585
>
>
>
> Le 20 déc. 2015 à 19:48, Dominik Wujastyk <wujastyk at gmail.com 
> <mailto:wujastyk at gmail.com>> a écrit :
>
>> I'd be interested to know more (indologically) about this report:
>>
>>   * http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/6th-century-ramayana-discovered-in-kolkata-twist-in-the-story-intrigues-scholars/1/551131.html
>>
>> Does anyone have the inside track?
>>
>> --
>> Professor Dominik Wujastyk* 
>> <http://ualberta.academia.edu/DominikWujastyk>
>> Singhmar Chair in Classical Indian Society and Polity
>> Department of History and Classics 
>> <http://historyandclassics.ualberta.ca/>
>> University of Alberta, Canada
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>
> –––––––––––––––––––
> Christophe Vielle <http://www.uclouvain.be/christophe.vielle>
> Louvain-la-Neuve
>
>
>
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