History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v1.c6.s84.2

v1.c6.s84.2

The Nṛsiṁhaprasāda is divided into twelve⁹⁸⁹ sections called '*sāra*' on saṁskāra, āhnika, śrāddha, kāla, vyavahāra, prāyaścitta, karmavipāka, vrata, dāna, śānti (the averting of evil foreboded by natural portents and other strange occurrences), tīrtha and pratiṣṭhā (consecration of temples, idols etc.). Each section⁹⁹⁰ begins with an invocation of Nṛsiṁha( the man-lion incarnation of Viṣṇu) after whom the work is named Nṛsiṁhaprasāda (the fruit of the grace of Nṛsiṁha). In the Saṁskārasāra, after invoking Nṛsiṁha, the introduction tells us that⁹⁹¹ when king Rāma ruled in Devagiri (modern Daulatabad), Śāmavit was ruler of Delhi and that after the latter Nijāmasāha wielded power over the world. Then after pronouncing an eulogy on Nijāmasāha (verses 10-13) the author speaks of himself. We⁹⁹² are told that the author was Dalapati (or Dalādhīśa), son of Vallabha, of the Bhāradvāja-gotra and of the Yājñavalkīya śākhā (i. e. Śuklayajurveda) and that he was the keeper of the imperial records of Nebajana (?). There are elaborate colophons⁹⁹³ at the end of almost each section (called sāra) in which we are told that Dalapati was the pupil of Sūryapaṇḍita, that he was a great exponent of the Vaiṣṇavadharma, that he was the chief minister and keeper of the records of Nijāmasāha, who was the overlord of all Yavanas (Mahomedans) and ruler of Devagiri. In some colophons he is styled Mahārājādhirāja. It is doubtful whether Dalapati or Dalādhīśa was the real name of the author or was merely a title. It is not unlikely that Sūryapaṇḍita said to be the *guru* of the author is the same as Sūrya, the father of the great Maratha saint Ekanātha, who wrote his Bhāgavata at Benares in *śake* 1495 (i. e. 1573 A. D.) and who states that he was born in a family of devout Vaiṣṇavas.