History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v1.c6.s51.3

v1.c6.s51.3

That Dhāreśvara is to be identified with Bhojadeva of Dhārā, perhaps the most famous Indian prince as a patron of learned men, follows from several considerations. The Dāyabhāga⁵⁹³ cites Bhojadeva and Dhāreśvara without making any distinction between the two. Some views that are ascribed to Dhāreśvara in one work are ascribed to Bhojadeva in another. The Vivādataṇḍava of Kamalākara ascribes to Bhojadeva the same views as to the widow's rights as are ascribed to Dhāreśvara by the Mit. Mss. of the Rājamārtaṇḍa (commentary on the Yogasūtras) have colophons saying that the work was composed by Dhāreśvara Bhojarāja. Dhāreśvara is styled *ācārya* by the Mit. (on Yāj. III. 24) and *sūri* by the Smṛticandrikā (II p. 257). Works on numerous branches of knowledge were composed by (or in the name of) Bhoja of Dhārā. On poetics we have two extensive works of his, viz. the Sarasvatīkaṇṭhābharaṇa and the Śṛṅgāraprakāśa. A verse at the⁵⁹⁴ beginning of the Rājamārtaṇḍa tells us that Bhoja composed a work on grammar, a commentary on the Yogasūtra and a work on medicine called Rājamṛgāṅka just as Patañjali wrote on these three subjects (vide Mitra's Notices of Mss, vol. I, p. 115 for the medical work of Bhoja called Rājamārtaṇḍa alias Yogasāra). He composed a work on astronomy called Rājamṛgāṅka. A work of his on the Śaiva *āgama* called Tattvaprakāśa has been published in the Trivandrum Sanskrit Series. There are several other works ascribed to him, which need not be set out here. That he composed an extensive work on the principal subjects of dharmaśāstra follows from the numerous references to him contained in the Mit., the Dāyabhāga, the Hāralatā and other works. The Śuddhi-kaumudī⁵⁹⁵ (B. I. edition) of Govindānanda frequently speaks of a work called Rājamārtaṇḍa of Bhoja on śrāddha. The Jayasiṁha-kalpadruma (p. 26) quotes Rājmārtaṇḍa and Bhojarājīya on the same page. Whether Bhoja composed on Dharmaśāstra one work or two (as he composed two on poetics), and whether his work was a commentary or an independent digest it is difficult to say. M. M. Haraprasādaśāstri in one of his reports threw out the suggestion that the Kāmadhenu was the work of Bhoja, but this is entirely wrong, as the words of Śrīdatta in his Pitṛbhakti⁵⁹⁶ will show.