History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v1.c6.s79.15

v1.c6.s79.15

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.