SOAS Research Online

Abstract

The present work consists of six chapters. The first chapter is an introduction comprising two parts: Part I deals with certain aspects of the commentary itself, its relation to the parent text, its title, date, metre, structure and narrative element; Part II is devoted to the author, about whom very little has been said in any history of Hindi literature, and it attempts to remove many misconceptions, one of which is the belief that Priya Dasa was a contemporary of Nabha Dasa, and to throw some light on his life, his other works, his preceptor, and his religious standpoint. The second chapter contains a description of the four manuscripts and a printed edition, with a full account of the Bodleian manuscript only, and includes a specimen of each manuscript. The 'Stemma codicum' both compares and groups the manuscripts, and is followed by a summary of the principles adopted in constituting the text. The third chapter presents the constituted text of the Bhaktirasa-Bodhini, verses 1-101, with textual notes. Appendices I and II contain the extra verses which are later interpolations. An annotated English translation of the Braj text is given in the fourth chapter. The fifth chapter is devoted to detailed notes on some technical terms and their contextual significance, on the author's statements requiring elucidation, and on the devotees mentioned in the text. All the legendary stories are traced back to their Sanskrit sources with their references, and where Priya Dasa refers to only a part of a legend or to only one of several incidents in a devotee's life, the details he omits have been supplied in the notes. The main sources are; the Mahabharata, the Ramayana, the Jaimini Bharata, the Bhagavata and other Puranas, and also the Ramacaritamanasa of Tulasi Dasa. Priya Dasa's version of a story is also compared with those of later commentators. The last chapter consists of a complete glossary with grammatical analysis and all the references for each word in the text.