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Abstract

These Studies in the Bhakta Mala consist of three parts. The first part contains an introductory chapter and a description of the manuscripts and editions. After a note on Nabha Dasa and on the scope of his work, the introduction deals with the approximate date of the Bhakta Mala and with the principles of its prosody. In the second chapter the manuscripts and editions are described and their genealogical relations are shown. A summary is given of the principles followed in constituting the text. Photocopies illustrate the peculiarities of the four manuscripts. In Mie second part, which coincides with the third chapter, the Braj text of ninety-five Bhakta Mala verses has been based on the collation of the four London manuscripts and of four editions. The third and last part contains an annotated English translation of the Braj text, followed by a glossary. In the fourth chapter it appeared useful to attempt a translation , since the Bhakta Mala has not as yet been translated or systematically commented on in a European language. The notes of the fifth chapter have a double aim. They intend to indicate the Sanskrit sources which Nabha Dasa amply used in the first twenty-seven verses. In the remaining verses the notes are meant to establish the historical features of the Vaisna-va saints and to extricate - if necessary with the help of Priya Dasa's commentary - the enigmatic legends. A glossary in the sixth chapter analyses the grammatical structure of the old Braj language as used by Nabha Dasa.