Studies in Indian Art c11.s3.22

c11.s3.22

Having accepted the reading शिशुमारशिरः to be the correct one as dictated by the propriety of meaning I had entertained doubts regarding its textual support since Dr. Sukthankar wrote to me; our *old* group of Northern Mss. has ‘puram’, while Southern Mss. read ‘girim’, we have accepted ‘puram’, for our Critical text. In the printed footnotes to the Critical edition only M₅K₄ of the Kashmiri version gives शिशुमार शिरः and D₄ of the Devanāgarī version शिशुमार शिरः, all others record पुरम् or गिरिम्. Besides the fact that feeble textual support is not always the find argument in rejecting an otherwise superior reading¹, we have here a good reason for the belief that शिशुमार शिरः represents the original reading. It is a very fit example of *lectio difficilior*, i.e. the more difficult text preserving the correct reading, which in process of simplification was substituted by a reading palpably easier of comprehension. But all doubt about it is now set at rest by the discovery of the oldest extant Ms. of the Ādiparvan from Nepal which according to Pt. Hemaraja is between seven hundred and eight hundred years old and which the learned general Editor of the Mahābhārata hailed as a discovery of capital importance of Mahābhārata Studies. The reading of this Ms. is शिशुमार शिरः (Sukthankar, Epic studies VII, Sukthankar Memorial Edition, Vol I. p. 282), and this to my mind sets the seal of final approval on this debated reading.