Talk:Kamalakarabhatta

Kamalakarabhatta was one of the foremost scions of the Bhatta family. He was a grandson of the famous Narayanabhatta and •a son of Ramakr$nabhatta. He was one of three brothers, the eldest being Dinakara alias Divakara’*’?^ and the youngest was Laksmapabhaua,“*77 who studied under Kamalakarabhatta. Kamalakarabhatta’s father Ramakr^na also was a very’"^^ learned man and a profound mtmdthsaka and his mother Uma immolated herself as a sati. Kamalakara was a man of profound erudition and composed works on almost every ^astra. In some of his own works there are high eulogies of his learning and proficiency in Tarka, Nyaya, grammar, mimamsa (in both the schools of Kumarila and Prabhakara), Vedanta, Poetics, dharma^stra and Vedic sacrifices. He composed more than twenty-two works. At the end of his Vivadatandava, it is said that he composed the Nirpayasindhu, a commentary on the Vartika (of Kumarila), a work on the mlm&thsa ( sastratattva ) and a series of 20 other works.'®*® At the end of a ms. of the 6tb Intro, vorse of ntiifttna in the Bluiu Dajt collection there is a list of 22 y^orks of his out of which the Nirpayasindhu is said to have been the first. More than half of these works are concerned with topics of Dharmasistra, viz. the Nirpayasindhu, the Danakamalakara, S^ntiratna, PUrtakamalakara, Vrata^malakara, Priyakittaratna, Vividataudava, Bahvrcahnika, Gotrapravaradarpapa, Karmavipakaratna, Sudrakamalakara, Sarvatirthavidhi. The Sadrakamalakara, the Vivadatat;idava and the Nirpayasindhu are the most famous of his works on dharmasastra. Brief references may be made here to some of the works of Kamalakara-bhatta other than the three mentioned above. It appears from the introductory verses of the Vratakamalakara that Kamalakara intended to compose a digest on dharma called Dharmatattva in ten paricchedas*®** and not only carried it out but added some more works on dharma. It will be noticed that nine out of these 10 sections are enumerated under the same 'names at the end of the ^ntiratna quoted above, the one not named being the section on OcAra. Burnell mentions a work called Ac^iadipa by Kamalakara on daily duties and on the same page notices another work on ihnika by Kamalakara. “’*3 It is difficult to say whether both are names of the same work. It is not unlikely that the acara section of the digest Dharmatattva is the same as the Bahvrcahnika enumerated at the end of the ^ntiratna. There is a ms. of the Bavrcahnika at Bikaner. It deals with daily duties commencing with rising from one’s bed at the brahma muhnrta. In this work Kamakkara- bhatta refers to his own Prayaicittaratna, and to the Madanapirijata, Madanaratna, Madhava and ^ulapapi. The PQrtakamalakara was an extensive work and dealt with the dedication of tanks, wells, trees and gardens to the public, the dedication of Aivattha tree and five sacred trees, dedication and laying the foundation of public buildings, consecration of sacred images, of Salagrima, of temples and flags, repairing of images, accidental breaking of temples, consecration of Vinlyaka, pacification of planets, coronation of kings and emperors. In this work he mentions his own Dana-kamakkara.

The Santiratna or Santikamakkara is a huge work. It deals with various rites for propitiating Vinayaka, the nine planets, and for averting the consequences of portentous occurrences and evil omens, birth on such constellations as ninla, the observances known as EkadasinI, Laghurudra, Maharudra, Satacandi &c. He refers to his own Nirpayasindhu in this work.

For his Gotrapravaradarpaija or Gotrapravaranirpaya, vide I. O. cat. p. 579 No. 1780. He follows the Pravaramanjari in this work. This work is referred to in his Nirpayasindhu.

In the Bombay Asiatic Society’s Library there is a ms. of his Sanskara-prayogakamakkara which appears to be over and above the 22 works enumerated above . *"*7 He starts with an enumeration of the 48 sathskaras mentioned by Gautama, deals with the several saihskaras of pumsavana, jatakarma, marriage &c., and with utsarjana and upakarma, propitiatory rites on the first appearance of menses, the A;taka srSddha &c. His ^stratattva-kautuhala or Tattva-kamakkara appears to have been a work of considerable interest dealing with the bearing of the doctrines and maxims of the Mimariisa system on ritual and dharmasutra. A ms. of it is dated sathvat 16^^ caitra ^ukk 4 Friday ( i. e. 9th March 1638 A. D. ). 1085 Vide lCitra'8 Notioas vol. V. p. 1S8 No. 1881 for Bombay Aaiatio Sooiety’a oolleotion there is a portion of this. 1085 Vide 1. 0. oat. p. 568 No. 1758 and BBBA8 oat. p. 234 No 729 foe 1087 Vide I. O. oat. p. 514 No 1530 for 1088 Vide Mitra’s Notioes, vel. ni. p .335 No. 1331 for

I was able to secure a ms. of the Vivadatilodava from the Mandlik collection in the Fergusson College at Poona. That work closely resembles in method and matter the Vyavaharamayfikha of Kamalakara’s cousin Nilakantha, the section on ordeals being almost the same in both. It treats of the following subjects : the sahhd ; members of the sabhd ; Judge, amatya ; the scribe and the accountant ; conflict of smrtis ; the plaint, the reply, the modes of proof, viz., documents, witnesses, possession ; modes of punishment ; sthe principal and secondary sons ; the enumeration of the eighteen titles of law ; partition of heritage and detailed description of the other titles. Like the Vyavaharamayukha, the Vivadatandava quotes the Madanaratna as frequently as ( or perhaps more frequently than ) the Mitaksaia. The other writers and works quoted are noted below.'®*’ As it mentions several works of his own, viz. Nirnaya-sindhu, the Danakamalakara, the Praya^ittaratna and the §udra-dharma (i. e. udrakamaUkara ), the Vivadatandava was one of his late.st works. On several points he differs from his own cousin Nilakaotha. For example, he prefers the mother to the father as an heir and does not give the sister a high place among the gotrafa heirs as Nilakantha does. The Vivadatandava has been frequently noticed in judicial decisions.

The Sndrakamalakara ( also called §adra-dharmatattva or Sudra dharmatattvapraka^a ) has been printed in Bombay several times (with Marathi translation). I used the Nirpayasagara edition of 1895. In this work he refers to his own Danakamalakara, Purtakamalakara, Praya^ittaratna and Nirpayasindhu. Out of about two hundred authors and works quoted therein, prominent ones are noted below.'®’' This work is a standard treatise on the duties and religious observances of Madras. He first starts with the discttsston that the Sadra is not authorised to study the Vedas, but that he can listen to the recitation by Brahmanas of smitis and puripas and religious rites are to be performed for Madras with PurSpic mantras. Then the following subjects are dealt with worship of Vi§pu and other deities by Sudras and the observances of vratas and fasts by them ; Sodra can make gifts of works of public utility (purta ) ; Sodra can adopt a son ; the conflicting views as to the number of saihskaras for a Sudra, most authors holding that he is entitled to ten sathskaras (without Vedic mantras), viz. garbhadhana, puihsavana, slmanta, jfltakarma, nlmakarapa, ii^uniskramapa, annapralana, cUdakarma, karpavedha and vivaha ; the five great daily yajnas were to be performed for the ^lldra according to the Vajasaoeya5akha; Sraddhas for Sodra (to be performed with uncooked food ) ; actions prescribed and forbidden in the case of Sudras ; the details of various rites and saihskaras of Sudras j the daily duties of Sudras ; impurity on birth and death ; rites after death ; duties of wives and widows ; persons of mixed castes who have to follow the rules laid down for Madras ; rules for those who are born of pratiloma connections ; about K&yasthas. The Nirpayasindhu or Nirpayakamalakara is the most famous of Kamallkara’s works. It is a monument of erudition, industry and lucidity. It has been judicially referred to as a work of authority. '“’J I have used the Nirnayasagara edition of 1905 (with Marathi translation ). In the whole range of nibandhakSras there is hardly any other writer, except perhapas Nilakaptha and Mitra mi^ra, who lays under contribution as many works as KamalSkara does. In the Nirpayasindhu about one hundred smrtis and over three hundred nibandhakaras are mentioned by name. In the introductory verses he expressly says that he pondered over the views of Hemadri, Madhava and other learned writers. The work is divided into three paricchedas. The following is a very concise. This is interesting statement of the contents of this voluminous work. The principal subject is to give decisive opinions as to the proper times for various -eligious acts; the various views about the year being solar, lunar, lidereal etc., months of four kinds, lunar, solar etc., sathkiAnti rites ind gifts ; intercalary month ; kfayamAsa ; about tithis, iuddhA and ( combined with another /i 7 W on same day); vratas\ the various vratas and festivals during the twelve months of the year ; the •lathskdras from garbhadhtna onwards ; sapipd^ relationship ; consecution of images ; auspicious times (mubarfos) for various actions >uch as sowing operations, buying horses and cattle &c. ; sraddha ; mpurities on birth and death; rites after death, rites for sati. The time when Kamalakara flourished can be determined with great accuracy. We saw above that the Nirpayasindhu was one of his earliest works and that it is referred to in several works of his. According to a verse at the end of the Nirpayasindhu the work was composed in 1668 of the Vikrama era Dn the 14th day of the dark half of the month of Magha when cyclic year was Raudra ( i. e. on the aoth February 1612 A. D. ). In a ms. noticed by M. M. Haraprasada ^astri the same verse is read differently, so as to refer the composition to Vikrama sathvat 1678 ; but it is clearly a copyist’s error or misreading, since the cyclic year Kaudra cannot tally with Vikrama We saw above that ms. of the Tattvakamaltkara is dated 1638 A. D. Kamalakara was i voluminous writer and therefore we shall be not far wrong if his literary activity be assigned to the period between 1610 A. D. and 1640 A. D. This date is corroborated in several ways. His grandfather Nirayaubhatta was born in 1513 A. D. and he quotes in his Nirnayasindhu the Tod^J^nauda compiled in the last quarter of the 1 6th century. Gagibhatta ah’oJ Viiveivarabhatta, who officiated at the coronadon of the great Shivaji in 1674 A. D., was Kamalakarabhatta’s nephew.

Synopsis: Grandson of Narfiyanabhatta - personal history - composed more than 22 works on several sastras - about a dozen works on dharma&astra, the Nirnayasindhu, Sudrakamalikara and Vivada- tapdava being most famous - he meant all the works on dharma- §astra to be parts of a digest called Dharmatattva - contents of Purta- kamalakara, Santiratna, Vivadatandava, §udrakamalakara and Nirpa- yasindhu - the last, one of his earliest works composed in 1612 a. d. and so his literary activity lies between 1610-1650 a. d.