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History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v1.c6.s79: 94. Madanaratna

History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v1.c6.s79

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94. Madanaratna

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The Madanaratna is an extensive digest on Dharmaśāstra no part of which has yet been printed. In the colophons of mss. it is also called Madanaratnapradīpa or simply Madanapradīpa. The work was divided into seven⁹⁴⁴ sections called *uddyotas* on *samaya* (or *kāla*), *ācāra*, *vyavahāra*, *prāyaścitta*, *dāna*, *śuddhi*, *śānti*. The order of the various sections was the one indicated, the *samayoddyota* being the first part. I have not been able to examine the mss. of all the uddyotas.

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⁹⁴⁴ उद्योताः समयाचारव्यवहारविवेचकाः। प्रायश्चित्तस्य दानस्य शुद्धिशान्त्योश्च सप्तमे॥ तत्रादौ राजसिंहेन सर्वधर्मोपयोगतः। तन्यते मदनेन्द्रेण समयस्य विनिर्णयः॥ verses 24-25 of ms. of समयोद्योत in Viśrambāg collection I. No. 146 and verses 26 and 27 in the I. O. cat. ms. (p. 537 b) and Peterson's cat. of Ulwar mss. No. 1410 and extract No. 336 at p. 131.

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The Samayoddyota deals with the subjects usually treated of in works on *kāla*, viz discussions about the year, the seasons, the months, the intercalary months, the rules about *tithis*, the rules about the proper times for various religious observances, gifts, *homa*, the rules about *kalivarjya*.

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There is a ms. of the Dānoddyota in the Ānandāśrama collection at Poona (No. 2378). The following are the subjects treated of :- eulogy of *dāna*; the nature of *dāna*, various kinds of *dānas*; the constituent elements (*aṅgāni*) of *dāna*; the donor, proper persons for gifts, persons undeserving of gifts, what things cannot be given away, proper and improper times and places for *dāna*, measures of corn and other substances and weights and units of length &c., finding out the east and other directions, characteristics of a *toraṇa*, *patākā* and *maṇḍapa*, *tulā-puruṣa* (weighing oneself against gold or silver), gift of a thousand cows and other magnificent gifts, dedication of a tank or well and planting of a garden &c. In this work the author refers to Kalpataru and to Hemādri as a dākṣiṇātyanibandhakāra.

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Deccan College ms. No. 392 of 1891-95 deals with the *śānti* section. It treats of rites for propitiating gods and planets and averting the evil consequences of great or small portentous phenomena, such as Vināyaka-snāna, sūrya-śānti, navagraha-śānti, śāntis for birth on certain evil *nakṣatras* like *mūla*, *āśleṣā* and evil astrological conjunctions like *vyatīpāta*, *vaidhṛti*, *saṅkrānti*; rites for the safety of the foetus and of the newly born infant; *ayutahoma; lakṣahoma, koṭihoma* &c. In this section sages like Uttara-Garga, Kātyāyana, Nārada, Baijavāpa (on gṛhya), Mānava-saṁhitā, Yājñavalkya, Śaunaka and purāṇas like the Skanda, Bhaviṣyottara, Viṣṇudharmottara are very frequently cited. Besides the following are among the authors and works referred to :—Apekṣitārthadyotinī, a commentary of Nārāyaṇa, Karmavipākasaṁgraha, Karmavipākasamuccaya, Kumāratantra promulgated by the son of Rāvaṇa, Prayogasāra, Vijñāneśvarācārya (in the plural).

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A ms. of the Ācāroddyota is noticed by Burnell in his Tanjore cat. (p. 137 b). Stein (in his cat. of Jammu mss.) notices an incomplete ms. of the Vyavahāroddyota (p. 98 No. 2437). M. M. Haraprasad Sastri notices a ms. of the Prāyaścittoddyota (Nepal Palmleaf and Paper mss. cat. XVIII and p. 223).

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From the colophons at the end of the several mss. of the Madanaratna it appears that the work was composed under the patronage of king Madanasiṁha-deva, son of Śaktisiṁha.⁹⁴⁵ The king is styled mahārājādhirāja and one of his titles is kodaṇḍa-paraśurāma (meaning 'who was a veritable Paraśurāma in wielding the bow). The introductory verses⁹⁴⁶ to the Samayoddyota in the Viśrām-bāg collection and the Ulwar ms. refer to Delhi-deśa and its king named Mahīpāladeva. Then verse 9 speaks of Dāmodara whose exact relationship with Mahīpāladeva is not clear. Dāmodara is said to have made the *yavanas* of *Mūlasthāna* (modern Multan in the Punjab) give up the slaughtering of cows. The whole pedigree is given below.⁹⁴⁷ Śaktisiṁha is said to have eclipsed even Bhoja.

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⁹⁴⁵ इति श्रीकोदण्डपरशुरामेत्यादिबिरुदावलीविराजमानमानोन्नतमहाराजाधिराजश्रीशक्तिसिंहात्मजमहाराजाधिराजश्रीमदनसिंहदेवविरचिते मदनरत्नप्रदीपे दानविवेकोद्योते &c. in ms. (Ānandāśrama No. 2378); there is a similar colophon at the end of the शान्ति section.

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⁹⁴⁶ तस्मादाकस्मिकोद्यद्गहनघनम हस्तूत्यतप्तप्रतापज्वालातालाभिभूतद्विषदवनिभृतान्वये भास्करस्य । राजा राजावतारो वरसमरधुरोद्दामरामानुभावप्रध्वस्तारातिभूमीपतिदनुजवयोभूम्महीपालदेवः ॥ यत्रासीद्भुवनेषु विश्रुतचरणो दामोदराख्यः कृती श्रीमान्पुण्यवदग्रणीर्जितरिपुक्ष्मापालसङ्घः प्रभुः । मूलस्थानपुरे तुरुष्कनिवहाक्रान्ते परित्याजितो येनाद्यावधि गोवधो यवनकैः शत्रापि (कुत्रापि ?) न स्मर्यते ॥ verses 8 and 9 of the Ulwar ms. of समयोद्योत.

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⁹⁴⁷ The pedigree is

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महीपालदेव
।
दामोदर
।
देवीदास
।
सूर्यदास
।
शक्तिसिंह
।
मदनसिंह

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It is further said that Madanasiṁha called⁹⁴⁸ together four learned men, viz., Ratnākara, Gopīnātha, Viśvanātha and Gaṅgādhara-bhaṭṭa and entrusted the composition of the digest to them. The colophons⁹⁴⁹ at the end of the Śāntyuddyota in the Deccan College says that it was composed by Viśvanātha, a resident of Benares and son of Bhaṭṭapūjya, a Śrīmālī Gurjara (Brāhmaṇa). There is a similar colophon at the end of the Prāyaścittoddyota noticed by M. M. Haraprasad Sastri.

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⁹⁴⁸ तेनाहूय मनीषिभाण्डनमणिं सन्मिश्ररत्नाकरं गोपीनाथमनुत्तमं च सुधियं श्रीविश्वनाथं तथा । मुग्धं पण्डितमुन्नतद्युतिमतिं भट्टं च गङ्गाधरं राज्ञा शक्तिन (क !) सूनुना सुकृतिना ग्रंथोयमारभ्यते ॥ I. O. cat. p. 537, No. 1681, verse 53; this is verse 21 in the Viśrāmbāg ms.

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⁹⁴⁹ महाराजाधिराजस्य मदनेन्द्रस्य शासनात् । श्रीमाली (लिना ?) गुर्जरेण भट्टपूज्यात्मजेन वा। भट्टश्रीविश्वनाथेन काशीतीर्थनिवासिना । शान्तिकं पौष्टिकं वापि यथाशास्त्रं प्रकीर्तितम् ॥ The Ulwar ms. (Peterson's Ulwar cat. No. 353) reads श्रीमल्लिनाथगुर्जरेण.

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Since the Madanaratna mentions the Mit., the Kalpataru and Hemādri, it must be certainly later than about 1300 A. D. It is quoted as a great authority by the writers of the 16th and 17th centuries, such as Nārāyaṇabhaṭṭa, Kamalākarabhaṭṭa, Nīlakaṇṭha and Mitramiśra. In the Vyavahāra-mayūkha Nīlakaṇṭha relies upon the Madanaratna as often as (if not oftener than) the Mitākṣarā. The Vīramitrodaya⁹⁵⁰ says that the author of the Madanaratna refers to the views of the Mitākṣarā, Kalpataru, and Halāyudha. From this it follows that the Madanaratna was composed at some time between 1350-1500. Madanasiṁha and his ancestors are spoken of as ruling the country about Delhi. Though Madanasiṁha bears the high-sounding title of mahārājādhirāja it is highly probable that he was some feudatory chief under the Mahomedan rulers of Delhi. It is difficult to conceive of a period between 1300 and 1500 A. D. when a Hindu ruler was king of Delhi. It may be that during the troublous times of Muhammad Tughlak (1325-1351 A. D.), when the capital was transferred from Delhi to Doulatabad, or during the weak rule of the last kings of the Tughlak dynasty (1388-1413 A. D.) Madanasiṁhas' predecessors might have usurped some territory about Delhi and ruled over it. At all events it would not be far from correct if the Madanaratna be placed about 1425-1450 A. D. Dr. Jolly (R. u. S. p. 37) says that the Madanaratna names the Ratnākara and the Mādhavīya. M. M. Haraprasad Sastri (Report on palm-leaf and paper mss. from Nepal, Intro. pp. 31-32) tells us that the dynasty to which Madanasiṁhadeva belonged ruled over Gorakhpur-Champaran (Western Tirhut), that Madanasiṁhadeva was preceded by Śaktisiṁhadeva, whose predecessor was Pṛthvīsiṁhadeva. The learned Sastri further says that a ms. of the Madanaratnapradīpa-prāyaścittoddyota applies the title ‘kodaṇḍaparaśurāma’ to Madana (p. 223), that a ms. of the Amarakośa was copied in saṁvat 1511 (1454-55 A. D.) when Madanasiṁha ruled over Campakāraṇyanagara (p. 51 of the body of the Report) and that a ms. of the Narasiṁhapurāṇa was copied in La-saṁ 339 (1457-58 A. D.) when mahārājādhirāja Madanasiṁhadeva ruled over Gorakṣapura i. e. modern Gorakhpur (p. 29 of the Report). The great similarity of the names Madanapāla and Madanasiṁha misled J. C. Ghose (Hindu Law, vol. II, p. XIV, ed. of 1917) into holding that the Madanapārijāta and the Madanaratna were written under Madanapāla. But it is clear from the ancestry of the two kings, Madanapāla and Madanasiṁha, and the names of the real authors of the digests (Madanapārijāta and Madanaratna) that they have no connection with each other.

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⁹⁵⁰ तन्न मदनरत्नकारेण मिताक्षराकल्पतरुहलायुधादिसर्वग्रन्थान्तरेष्वलिखितत्वान्निर्मूलत्वमस्य जङ्गमं स्थावरमिति प्राजापत्यस्य लिखनात्समूलत्वमिति दूषणमुक्त्वा &c. वीर० p. 626; vide वीर० pp. 5, 29, 36, 59 for references to मदनरत्न.

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