Dear Collegues,

I'm desperately trying to find out which text is contained in a manuscript that I'm currently cataloguing.

The manuscript (belonging to the Cambridge UL collection) is written in Grantha script. The text appears to be composed of four pāṭhas, called arkāṇivratānidunduÅ›uklāṇi: the pāṭhas are organized into sections called (from the larger to the smaller) khaṇḍasāmamantra (this last always abbreviated as ma.).

The beginning of the text runs like this:

om vāco vá¹›te dve | huve vācām | tÄ« | vācaṃ vācaṃ huve vāk | á¹­hya á¹­ya ta Å›a | śṛṇotu Å›rṇotu vāg vāk | hyÄ« dya ta Å›a | samai tu samai tu vāg vāk | re | ramatāṃ ramatāṃ ramātā au ho vā | kilu khaÅ›i | ihā ihā ihā | tÅ« | sāmaṃ | 1 | huvā ivā cāṃ | á¹­Ä« ca | vācaṃ huvā i | kāc cā Å›a | vāk | ta Å›a | Å›rṇotu śṛṇotÅ« vāg vāk | cāśa cāka phaplata Å›a |

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The explicit runs like this:

Å›ukroṃ | cā | Å›ukra ho i | dviḥ | Å›ukra hā ā uvā | á¹­yu á¹­ya | e bhrā Xā bhrājā | tac ka á¹­ya kha | ma | 40 | prājāpatyaṃ gāyatraṃ prājāpatyaṃ gāyatraṃ | tat savitur pareṇyoṃ | ca Å›rÅ« | bhargo devasya dhimāhāṃ Ä« dhiyo yo nāḥ prācārhaṃ bhā o vā | á¹­yá¹›c kaá¹­yi saá¹­ caÅ›aka | á¹­ya á¹­yac | ovā huṃ bhā | saá¹­ ac á¹­ya | o vā | cā | 41 |
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Final rubric:

Å›uklāṇi pāṭhasamāptaḥ | hari om | ity āraṇapāṭhasamāptaḥ | Å›ubham astu Å›rÄ«gurubhyo namaḥ |
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Colophon (in Tamil language and script, added by a different hand):

cuppaḷam kesavaṉ āraṇakurantaṃ 1039 Äm ta kārttika mācam 5 til eḻuti mukiñcatu

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The words cuppaḷam kesavaṉ āraṇakurantaṃ recur also in the final rubric of the arkāṇipāṭha:

sāmaṃ 14 | khaṇḍaṃ 6 | arkāṇipāṭha samāptaḥ | cuppaḷam kesavaṉ Äraṇakurenatam |

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The title seems to be "Āraṇakurantam (= Āraṇya-grantha?) of Kesavaṉ", but I can't find any text bearing such a title (or a similar one) in any catalogue nor in the internet. Any suggestion will be highly appreciated!

Many thanks in advance,

Marco Franceschini
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