Narayanadiksita’s Commentary on the Prakrtapingalastitra
By K. Madhava Krishna Sharma
Summary
The article reports on two manuscripts of Narayanadiksita’s commentary on the Prakrtapingalasutra preserved in the Anup Sanskrit Library. The Prakrtapingalasutra is a treatise on Sanskrit prosody attributed to the grammarian Pingala. Narayanadiksita, son of the scholar Govardhanadiksita, composed a commentary on this work sometime after the sixteenth century, as it cites Lakshminathabhatta’s Pingalarthapradipa (composed in 1600). According to Aufrecht’s Catalogus Catalogorum, no manuscripts of this commentary were previously known. Both manuscripts in the Anup library originated from the collection of Govardhanadiksita, suggesting that the author belonged to the same scholarly family. The first manuscript (No. 5642) covers the portion dealing with mātrā-vṛttas (meters based on syllabic quantity). It opens with invocations to Ganesha and Durga, honours Govardhanadiksita and announces Narayanadiksita’s intention to elucidate Pingala’s verses. The commentary explains technical terms and references other works in the tradition. The manuscript concludes with a colophon praising a king named Satrusalyadeva, described as the patron of the author’s father, and bears Govardhana’s signature. The second manuscript (No. 5643) contains the section on varṇa-vṛttas (meters based on syllabic count). Its opening verses mirror those of the first, and its colophon similarly mentions Satrusalyadeva. Both manuscripts end with a statement that they belonged to Govardhanadiksita. Little is known about King Satrusalyadeva, but his patronage indicates that Narayanadiksita’s family enjoyed royal support. The article highlights that these manuscripts are valuable for the study of Sanskrit prosody and the intellectual milieu of the Anup court. They show continuity between Govardhanadiksita’s generation and his son’s scholarship, and they provide evidence of lesser-known commentaries on Pingala’s treatise. By bringing these manuscripts to light, the article invites further research into the life of Narayanadiksita, his patron, and the transmission of prosodic knowledge in early modern India.
Conclusion
The discovery of Narayanadiksita’s commentary on the Prakrtapingalasutra fills a gap in the history of Sanskrit prosodic literature. The two Anup manuscripts reveal that the commentary was written after 1600 and that it was supported by a patron named Satrusalyadeva. They also demonstrate the scholarly lineage of Govardhanadiksita’s family, with Narayanadiksita building on his father’s work. These manuscripts provide material for further textual and historical study, including the identification of Satrusalyadeva and the assessment of Narayanadiksita’s contributions to Pingala exegesis.