Sanskrit Manuscripts : Bhagavadgītā, Mahimnastotra, Viṣṇusahasranāma, Bhīṣmastava, Anusmṛta, Gajendramokṣaṇa, Rāmacandrastavarāja

Puṣpadanta

Sanskrit Manuscripts

<p style='text-align: justify;'> This illuminated paper codex, dated 1860 CE, contains two devotional texts: the <i>Bhagavadgītā</i> (preceded by a short introductory text containing the 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) and the famous Śaiva hymn called <i>Mahimnastotra</i>, by Puṣpadanta. The polychrome miniatures include the ten <i>avatāra</i>s of Viṣṇu, scenes from the life of Kṛṣṇa and a single Śaiva miniature (Śiva and Parvatī on Nāndin). The layout is carefully structured and realized with decorated title pages at the beginning of each text and a rectangular frame inscribing the written area. 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-01817/1'>Or.1817</a> and <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='http://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-OR-01818/1'>Or.1818</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>