[INDOLOGY] Śabdakalpadruma

[Arlo Griffiths]

Dear colleagues,

Perhaps some will benefit from my sharing useful information received off-list from the following colleagues in response to my recent query.


  1.
From Charles Li: https://www.digitale-sammlungen.de/en/search?filter=volumes%3A%22bsb10219717%2FBV001653109%22— complete digital representation on the Bavarian State Library's digital books portal of the original Bengali-script edition of the Śabdakalpadruma, with dates associated to each volume, allowing me to determine that the 8 volumes were published between 1821 and 1858. Charles also reports that he had collated some bits from this Bengali edition with a reprint of the 1886 Devanagari edition, and found that it "contains a number of variant readings that may have been deliberate emendations." For example, here: https://tst-project.github.io/siberupakhyana/Ed.xml. In verse 2, the Bengali edition (VpŚ) has hariśyenāt puraḥsaraḥ, and the Devanagari edition (VpŚ2) has hariśyenapuraḥsaraḥ. In verse 11, VpŚ has tam utsṛja, and VpŚ2 has tvam utsrja. etc., etc.


  1.
From Sudipta Munsi:
     *
Sarma, Taracharan. 1867. Rādhākānta-nr̥pateś caritra-śatakaṁ. Calcutta: Girish Bidyaratna Jantra. [http://archive.org/details/dli.bengal.10689.8052].
     *
Sengupta, Syamalendu. 1990. A Conservative Intellectual of Colonial India: Raja Radhakanta Deb and His Milieu (1774-1867). New Delhi: Navrang. [http://archive.org/details/a-conservative-intellectual-of-colonial-india-syamalendu-dasgupta.pdf-filename-u].


  1.
From Peter Wyzlic:

  *   in Munich we also find a publication on Rādhakānta Deva with the title: "A rapid sketch of the life of Raja Radhakanta Deva Bahadur, with some notices of his ancestors and testimonials of his character and learning by the editors of the Raja's Sabdakalpadruma", Calcutta 1859. Link: <https://mdz-nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:12-bsb10251175-7><https://mdz-nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:12-bsb10251175-7>. The same is also in Google Books: <https://books.google.de/books?id=yfA_AAAAcAAJ><https://books.google.de/books?id=yfA_AAAAcAAJ>.

  *
Robert Lenz published a report on the Śabdakalpadruma in 1835: Lenz, R.: Account of the Sabda kalpa druma: a Sanskrit encyclopaedical lexicon, published in Calcutta by Rádhákánta Deva, in: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 2, 1835, p. 188-200. Links: <https://books.google.de/books?id=C1pVLKdoaV0C&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=Account%20of%20the%20Sabda%20kalpa%20druma&hl=de&pg=PA188#v=onepage&q=Account%20of%20the%20Sabda%20kalpa%20druma&f=false><https://books.google.de/books?id=C1pVLKdoaV0C&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=Account%20of%20the%20Sabda%20kalpa%20druma&hl=de&pg=PA188#v=onepage&q=Account%20of%20the%20Sabda%20kalpa%20druma&f=false> or <https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-the-royal-asiatic-society/article/abs/art-xi-account-of-the-sabda-kalpa-druma-a-sanskrit-encyclopoedical-lexicon-published-in-calcutta/0E12DC43E2E05C4A872E235D6E3AC707>

Best wishes,

Arlo Griffiths

________________________________
From: INDOLOGY <indology-bounces at list.indology.info> on behalf of Arlo Griffiths via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info>
Sent: Monday, August 18, 2025 4:07 AM
To: INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info>
Subject: [INDOLOGY] Śabdakalpadruma

Dear colleagues,

Is there any source to which I can turn for understanding the publication history (including chronology and relationship between Bengali-script and Devanagari-script editions) of Raja Radhakanta Deva's Śabdakalpadruma?

I have not found much better than these items in English, Hindi and Spanish:

https://en.banglapedia.org/index.php/Shabdakalpadruma

https://hi.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A4%B6%E0%A4%AC%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%A6%E0%A4%95%E0%A4%B2%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AA%E0%A4%A6%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B0%E0%A5%81%E0%A4%AE

शब्दकल्पद्रुम - विकिपीडिया<https://hi.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A4%B6%E0%A4%AC%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%A6%E0%A4%95%E0%A4%B2%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AA%E0%A4%A6%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B0%E0%A5%81%E0%A4%AE>
नीचे शब्दकल्पद्रुम का एक छोटा सा अंश प्रस्तुत है- अक्ष, न ऊ ...
hi.wikipedia.org

https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shabda_Kalpadruma

There is also a wikipedia page in Bengali that I have not yet tried to read.

I have not yet found digital versions of any edition of volume 1 predating 1875, and yet all the above sources claim that publication started decades earlier. They never specify in which script.

Thanks for any pointers!

Arlo Griffiths


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