SOAS Research Online

Abstract

More than a century ago the late Mr. Brookhaus brought out an edition of Krsnamisra's Prabodhacandrodaya. Before he published his work, the drama had already been printed in India. Both these editions are of little value; as the former is based on the direct descendants of one codex and the latter is merely a print. Years passed but no serious attempts were made to prepare a critical edition of the drama. In the years 1908 and 1912 Dr. W.E.Clark planned to publish an edition, but for one reason or another his work was held up for long; consequently he altogether abandoned the idea of sending his work to the press. In 1936 K.Sambasiva Sastri of Trivandrum, the editor of the Trivandinan Sanskrit Series, published the text of the drama in that series. This edition, we are told, is based on MSS., but the editor gives only the names and whereabouts of their possessors and is, strangely enough, silent about the authenticity of the MSS. themselves. This edition too, is far from being satisfactory, as I have pointed out in my introduction. Since the drama's first appearance, the Prabodhacandrodaya has been translated into many modem European languages and has also been repeatedly printed, but no one has ever tried a critical hand on it. The other aspects of the drama, such as the philosophical thought, allegory, c., have remained unexplored. The present edition is the result of a careful study of not less than 17 MSG. and 5 printed works of the play. Further, in the introduction an attempt has been made to fix the author's date precisely and also to furnish the background for the development of Krsnainisra's philosophical and religious views. Moreover, the history of the allegorical literature from the Rgvedic period, wherein the allegory is in the making, to the end of the Classical period, where it appears in its bloom, has been summarised; a task never before attempted.