The Suktimuktavali of Bhagadatta Jalhana (An Old & Rare Book)

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Suktimuktavali "pearl-garland of wise sayings" of great poets, compiled by Bhagadatta Jalhana in 1258 A.D. is a great treasure of Subhasitas worth remembering and quoting in different contexts of writing and speech. It is classified into 133 topics. It occupies a place of pride among similar works, such as, Saduktikarnamrta, Kavindravacan asamuccaya and Sarngadharapa ddhati. First published in 1938 A.D., it was out of print and in demand from scholars and general readers. It is hoped this reprint will meet their needs.

It gives me great pleasure to put in the hands of scholars this second edition of the Suktimuktavali of Bhagadatta Jalhana edited by Embar Krishnamacharya first published in 1938 as GOS No. 82. The editor has discussed the textual and other relevant points in his learned Introduction in Sanskrit to this work. The com positions like this e.g. 'Saduktikarnamṛta', 'Kavindravacanasamuccaya' etc. pre cede while Sarngadharapaddhati' etc. succeed this composition. The verse in the beginning as well as that at the end of Anukramanikaprakaraya, attribute its authorship to Jalhana. But the last two verses mention that a poet called Vaidyabhanu composed this 'Suktimuktavali' and attributed its authorship to Jalhana in order to please him. Formerly there was a king called Mailugi (Mallugi) born in the lineage of Yadavas. In his reign there was a leader of his elephant force called Dada. Dada had four sons named Mahidhara, Jalha, Samba and Gangadhara. The youngest Gangadhara's son was Janardana, whose son was Lakṣmadeva, whose son was Jalhana. There is no specific indication as regards the place of Jalhana's birth. Hence it is understood by implication that his place of residence might be the same as that of the king whose elephant force leader he was. At the time of Jalhana, yadava king Krsna was reigning. According to the statement of Hemadri, Devagiri was the capital of that king successively following from the time of king Milloma. The time of composition of Suktimuktavali is indicated in its last verse itself, which is Saka 1179 i.e. 1258 A.D. In this composition which is a sort of collection of wise sayings of many ancient poets there are 133 Paddhatis i.e. topics. These topics are briefly indicated in the very first, Anukramaṇikaprakaraya. The verse or verses composed by known poets are recorded along with their respective names and those whose authors are not known are also recorded as belonging to some poet whose identity is unknown. There is one Index which enlists all the passages in the alphabetical order. Another Index is of all the passages in keeping with the names of the poets arranged alphabetically and referring to the source wherever detected. The third Index contains the verses whose authors are unknown. In his Introduction the editor has thrown light on the known facts about the poets referred to in the work. However those poets about whose place, time and works nothing is known are dropped. This edition is based on five manuscripts out of which one MS. indicated by 'Ka' belonged to Sriyatirajaswamin. That indicated by 'Kha' was brought from the Madras Oriental Library. Moreover one indicated by 'Ca'belonged to the Government Library, Mysore while that indicated by 'Ga' belonged to the Oriental Institute, Baroda. One more manuscript called Suktimuktavalisangraha' was obtained from the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Poona. This edition is based on the above five manuscripts. In compliance with our request for financial assistance for reprinting some of the out of print works of the Gaekwad's Oriental Series, the Registrar, Gujarat Sahitya Akademy, Gujarat State, Gandhinagar had kindly conceded to grant Rs.60,000/- for reprinting "Suktimuktavali". I am indeed grateful to the Gujarat Sahitya Akademy, Gandhinagar for the said financial assistance, as a result of which this fine reprint by the photo-offset process is being placed in the hands of the scholars and research students of Oriental studies. My thanks are also due to the University Authorities for releasing an equal matching amount for this purpose. My deep sense of gratitude is due to Shri P.N. Shrivastava, the Manager, M. S. University of Baroda Press (Sadhana Press) and his colleagues for the prompt and neat reprinting.

**Contents and Sample Pages**