Sanskrit Manuscripts : Bhagavadgītā, Viṣṇusahasranāma, Mahābhārata, Anusmṛti, Rāmagītā, Adhyātmarāmāyaṇa, Rāmahṛdayastotra, Nārāyaṇopaniṣad, Bhīṣmastava,...

Sanskrit Manuscripts

<p style='text-align: justify;'> This illuminated paper manuscript contains a collection of devotional works of Vaiṣṇava affiliation: the <i>Bhagavadgītā</i> (preceded by a short introductory text containing information for the recitation of poem such as <i>ṛṣiḥ</i>, <i>chandas</i>, <i>devatā</i>, <i>bījam</i>, <i>śaktiḥ</i> etc., and for meditating upon it, i.e. <i>dhyāna</i> verses), the <i>Viṣṇusahasranāma</i> (from the <i>Mahābhārata</i>), the <i>Anusmṛti</i> (from the <i>Mahābhārata</i>), the <i>Rāmagītā</i> (a conversation of advaitic flavour between Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa, from the <i>Adhyātmarāmāyaṇa</i>), the <i>Rāmahṛdayastotra</i> (a conversation between Umā and Maheśvara from the <i>Adhyātmarāmāyaṇa</i>) and the <i>Nārāyaṇopaniṣad</i>. This pocket-size codex bears five polychrome illuminations and has a carefully structured and realized layout, the written area being inscribed in a multiple marginal frame in black and red ink, coloured in yellow. This manuscript can be said to belong to a typology of manuscripts, probably common in 19th-century North India, i.e. collections of devotional works in codex format with illuminations and an ornate layout (see also <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='http://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-OR-01818/1'>Or.1818</a> and <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='http://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-OR-02031/1'>Or.2031</a> and also DD.7.2, an illuminated multi-text devotional manuscript of Vaiṣṇava affiliation kept at the Christ's College, Cambridge, and containing the <i>Bhagavadgītā</i>, the <i>Viṣṇusahasranāma</i>, the <i>Bhīṣmastava</i>, the <i>Anusmṛta</i>, the <i>Gajendramokṣaṇa</i> and the <i> Rāmacandrastavarāja</i>). </p>