A delayed thank you to all who responded to my query about the Vācaspatyam and the Śabdakalpataru. It was a pleasure learning a bit more about these two scholars whose monumental works I have so long benefitted from.

I will note that the revision of the Śabdakalpadruma by Basu and Basu was more extensive than I had imagined.

For the entry I was curious about, kalikā, the Vācaspatyam includes an extensive block-quote from Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa's commentary on Rūpa Gosvāmin's Stavamālā. This quotation was not found in the original Śabdakalpadruma, but was included in the revised edition. Basu and Basu appear thus to have been directly influenced by the Vācaspatyam. But elsewhere they quote from this commentary where the Vācaspatyam does not, showing that they accessed it independently.

--
David Buchta, PhD
Senior Lecturer in Sanskrit
Department of Classics
Brown University


On Fri, Feb 16, 2024 at 9:33 AM Karttunen, Klaus J via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:
My unpublished index of Indian Indologists contains following information:

TARKAVĀCASPATI, Tārānāth (T. T. Bhattācārya) (1812 — 1885) (Sanskrit Lexicography and Philosophy)
Studies at Sanskrit College in Calcutta, then Vedānta in Benares. Taught Sanskrit at his native village, Kalna, Burdwan dt., later Professor of Sanskrit Grammar and Philosophy at Sanskrit College in Calcutta. Author of a monumental Sanskrit encyclopaedia.
– Asubodhavyākaraṇam. 438 p. 1867 (grammar, in Sanskrit).
– Vācaspatyam. (comprehensive Sanskrit dictionary) 1-6. c. 5500 p. Calcutta 1873-84.
– Śabdastomamahānidhi. (shorter Sanskrit dictionary) c. 500 p. 1886, 3rd ed. 1967.
– many text editions, e.g. Bhāravi’s Kirātārjunīyam with Ghaṇṭāpatha by Mallinātha. Calcutta 1847; Māgha’s Śiśupālavadha with Mallinātha’s commentary. 504+488 p. Calcutta 1769 (=1847); Mādhava’s Sarvadarśanasaṁgraha. 1851; Mahávíra Charita by Bhavabhúti. 124 p. Calcutta 1857; Śaṅkara’s Daśaślokī, with editor’s Sāra. 1865; Sāṁkhyakārikā with Vācaspatimiśra’s Kaumudī. 1871; Viśvanātha’s Bhāṣāpariccheda. 1871.
(Buckland, Dictionary)

DEVA (DEB), Rāja Rādhakānta, Bahadur (1784 — 19.4.1867) (Sanskrit)
Born in a rich and high Bengali family, who were supporting the British. Studied Arabian, Persian, English, NIA languages and Sanskrit. A friend of H. T. Colebrooke and H. H. Wilson. Leading figures of the liberal orthodox renaissance of Calcutta in early 19th century. One of the founders of the Hindu College and a promoter of women’s education in Bengali. With several assistants (S. Bhaṭṭācārya, H. Tarka­pañcānana, T. Tarkabhūṣaṇa, T. Tarkasiddhānta, R. Śiromaṇi & S. Nyāyavāgīśa) he compiled his well known and enormous Sanskrit encyclopædia, which testifies of his immense traditional learning. The work began in 1819, mostly from manuscripts, and was finished in 1857. The work attracted much attention and appreciation, and its author became a honorary (or something like) member of Soc. Asiatique, American Oriental Soc., Asiatic Soc. of Bengal and of the Academies of Berlin, Wien and St.Petersburg.
– a booklet on women's education publ. in the beginning of the 19th century.
– Nīti kathā 1. (moral tales chiefly from English and Arabian sources) 1818 (vol. II. compiled by Pearson, III. by T. Thomason); a Bengali spelling book 1820.
– Śabdakalpadruma I–VII. 1821–51 & Suppl. Vol. 1857.
(Gosche, Wiss. Jb. zu ZDMG 1862-67, 65f.; *Śrītārācaraṇa Śarman, Rādhakāntanṛpateś caritra­śatakam. [118 Sanskrit verses on R. D.] 28 p., Calcutta 1868; *S. Sen Gupta, "R.D., the Educator: Popular and Female Education", JASB 4th S. 17, 1975, 60-87; *A rapid sketch of the Life of R. D. Bahadur, with some notes of his ancestors, by the editors of Śabdakalpadruma. 34+16+7 p. Calcutta 1859; *Proceedings of ASB, May 1867, 77-80)

Best,
Klaus
From: INDOLOGY <indology-bounces@list.indology.info> on behalf of Asko Parpola via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info>
Sent: Friday, February 16, 2024 12:35 PM
To: Charles Li <cchli@cantab.net>
Cc: indology@list.indology.info <indology@list.indology.info>
Subject: Re: [INDOLOGY] Śabdakalpadrumaḥ and Vācaspatyam
 


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: Englishman Press, 1859. liv pp. + several appendices with testimonials in Urdu/Persian. 

http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/savifadok/2780/1/A%20Rapid%20Sketch%20of%20the%20Life%20of%20Raja%20Radhakanta%20Dev%20Bahadur.pdf


Radhakanta Deb is also included in:

Müller, F. Max, 1899. My Indian friends. (Auld Lang Syne, Second series.) London: Longmans, Green, and Co. xi, 271 pp.


With best regards and wishes, Asko


On 15. Feb 2024, at 22.07, Charles Li via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:

Hello,

1886 is the posthumous Devanagari print: https://archive.org/details/ShabdaKalpadrumaComplete (this is the 1967 reprint of the 1886 edition)

It's worth comparing with the Bengali script version, from Śaka 1743 (not quite 1819): https://www.digitale-sammlungen.de/en/view/bsb10219712

From looking at a couple of passages, the Devanagari print has a number of typos as well as a number of variant readings that are possibly deliberate emendations.

Best,

Charles

On 2024-02-15 20:38, Elliot Stern via INDOLOGY wrote:
Dear David,


For Vācaspatyam, WorldCat reports the original publication dates as 1873-1884 (https://search.worldcat.org/title/vachaspatyam-a-comprehensive-sanskrit-dictionary/oclc/830765108?referer=di&ht=edition).

Elliot


On Feb 15, 2024, at 2:10 PM, Buchta, David via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:

Dear Colleagues,

Can anyone point me to the original publication dates of Rādhākāntadeva Bāhādura's Śabdakalpadrumaḥ and Tārānātha Tarkavācaspati's Vācaspatyam. From what I can find Rādhākānta lived 1784-1867 (Śrī Wikipedia uvāca), while Tārānātha lived 1812-1885 (Śrī Brian Hatcher uvāca). The wonderful Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries website lists the dates of publication as 1886 for the Śabdakalpadruma and 1873 for the Vācaspatyam. But this seems to flip the sequence. And I found an article R. Lenz from 1835 glorifying the first three volumes of the Śabdakalpadruma.

Any help is appreciated, as is any broader scholarship on these two momentous scholars.

Thanks,
Dave
--
David Buchta, PhD
Senior Lecturer in Sanskrit
Department of Classics
Brown University

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