History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v1.c6.s83.26

v1.c6.s83.26

mother of Puruṣottamadeva,⁹⁸⁷ that Harinārāyaṇa (i. e. Bhairava) ruled from 1513 to 1527 and that the latter was killed by Nasratshah, the Pathan king of Bengal. M. M. Chakravarti holds that the literary activity of Vācaspati lay between 1450 to 1480 A. D. Since Vācaspati mentions the Ratnākara (of Caṇḍeśvara) and Rudradhara as his authorities he must be later than about 1425 A. D. Vācaspati's works are quoted by Govindānanda and Raghunandana. Therefore Vācaspati is certainly earlier than 1540 A. D. The ms. of the Mahādānanirṇaya found in Nepal is dated in 392 of the Lakṣmaṇasena era (Monday of Vaiśākha, dark half, 12th *tithi* i. e. 22nd April 1511 A.D.) The ms. of the Śuddhinirṇaya (Mitra's Notices vol. X, p. 58, No. 3308) was copied in *saṁvat* 1416, which must in this particular case be taken as equivalent to *śake* 1416 i. e. 1494-95 A. D., since Vācaspati could not have flourished about 1360 A. D. (which corresponds to Vikrama *saṁvat* 1416). Hence the period assigned by Chakravarti for the literary activity of Vācaspati appears to be correct. That date is further corroborated by the fact that Vācaspati wrote under Bhairavendra and his son Rāmabhadradeva, that were 4th and 5th in descent from king Bhaveśa of Mithilā, who as we saw above began to rule over Mithilā in the third quarter of the 14th century.