On the Aindra School of Sanskrit Grammarians, their Place in the Sanskrit and Subordinate Literatures c8.54

c8.54

*b.* Mahābhārata. Comparatively little attention has been paid to this epic, and (except by a few scholars) the uncritical Calcutta edition is generally quoted. It has been supposed⁴) that there is only one recension of the Mahābhārata; but this, I shall show, is a mistake, though it will be impossible to give more than general results here, owing to the enormous extent of all texts of the Mahābhārata, and also because I have not a complete copy of the new (or Southern) recension to refer to. The other most marked recension is that which prevails in N. India, and which appears to have been finally settled about the 16th century A. D. by Nīlakaṇṭha's commentary. All the MSS. of the Harivaṃça to which I have been able to refer, are so nearly alike, that it is pretty certain that this is a comparatively modern work, as has indeed been generally supposed. The Calcutta edition of it represents the current text very fairly.