Ratnakarasanti's Chandoratnakara (An Old And Rare Book)

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

The science of Metrics was carried to perfection by the ancient Indians. Many of their contributions are available in print. Some are hidden in manuscripts while others have been lost. Buddhist authors have also made valuable contributions in the field of Chandahsāstra but unfortunately there are only two Buddhist texts on metrics, namely the Chando- ratnākara of Ratnākaraśāntipāda and the Vettamalastuti of Jñānaśrīmitra. One more work on metric Chando-viciti by a Buddhist author Dandin is known¹. This indicates that there existed an original and independent school of metrics of the Buddhists.

Mahāpandita Rahula Sämkrityāyana discovered many valuable palm-leaf Sanskrit mss. from Tibet. During his search for Sanskrit palm- leaf mss. in Tibet he found the auto-commentary of Chandoratnakara of Ratnākaraśāntipāda. Besides he also brought a set of Kanjur and Tanjur along with Miscellaneous Series containing 1619 Tibetan mss. and Xylo- graphs in different subjects and deposited it in the Bihar Research Society, Patna. The Sanskrit Text of the Chandoratnākara occurs twice in the bstan-hgyur (Tanjur) and also in a versified Tibetan translation only.

Chandoratnākara was first published in 1890 by Georg Huth. It became out of print more than half a century ago. It also escaped the notice of eminent scholars in the field of metrics due to non-availability of Chandoratnākara.

In this present edition of Chandoratnākara. I have utilized Tibetan translations and Ratnākaraśānti's auto-commentary in original Sanskrit palm-leaf ms. The photograph of the same was brought by Mahāpandita Rahula Sänkrityāyana from Tibet. I have also divided it to six chapters according to its subject matter. Further I have numbered the definitions falling in these six chapters and made necessary changes and corrections wherever required.