BY: DR. DEMIAN MARTINS
Oct 30, 2013 — INDIA (SUN) — Vidyabhusana Project Update.
I am glad to announce the discovery of the manuscript of the Pada-kaustubha, a treatise on Sanskrit grammar composed by Srila Baladeva Vidyabhusana. According to the Gaudiya Vaisnava Abhidhana,
this text was seen by Haridas Baba in the library of one of the
Goswamis of the Radha-Ramana temple in Vrindavan more than 60 years ago.
Later on, that collection was either sold or given away, and since then
the whereabouts of the Pada-kaustubha was unknown. One important
feature of this manuscript is that Srila Vidyabhusana tells us the name
of his grammar teacher, Shiva-Rama, "by whose mercy I was given access
to the nectarean ocean of Panini's grammar."
During
the last year, I travelled around twelve states in India, visited
dozens of public and private libraries and collected a huge amount of
digital copies of manuscripts, books and reference materials. As usual, I
received cooperation from many parties, except the Gaudiyas. Recently,
I was allowed to copy many manuscripts in an ancient library of the
Nimbarka sampradaya, while in Govardhana I was refused entry to three
Gaudiya libraries.
Despite
my best efforts, I have been criticized and harassed in several ways. I
have had people tell me that I am not doing anything special, as the
manuscripts are in libraries and anyone going there can find them. Well,
if it is that simple, we may wonder why nobody has done anything about
it until now. I have also received messages from people demanding copies
of the manuscripts, claiming that I have no right to keep them, or as a
last recourse, offering me money in exchange. There are also others
trying to pass as potential donors and supporters while actually just
making up stories to see if somehow they can get hold of a copy. There
was even a Gaudiya Math Swami who wrote to me insinuating that I am
exploiting Baladeva Vidyabhusana for my own selfish ends.
Notwithstanding
such 'encouragement', this last discovery gives me the impetus to go
ahead and search for many other lost manuscripts, although there is
hardly any hint about their possible location. Important manuscripts
have been found in as remote places as Udupi, Madras and Germany, so
this may be a lifetime dedication. There are many collections still to
be catalogued, and there are good chances that in the next years we may
come across many other Gaudiya texts. I personally met the director of
the National Mission for Manuscripts, Prof. Dipti Tripathi, who
appreciated our activities and promised to assist us in whatever they
can. Despite innumerable difficulties and little support, in two years
since the Vidyabhusana Project was launched, we were rewarded with the
following successes:
1) Discovery of five unpublished manuscripts: Tattva-dipika, Brahma-sutra-karika-bhasya, Sabda-sudha, Laghu-siddhanta-kaustubha and Pada-kaustubha.
2) Acquisition of digital copies of more than 15,000 pages in manuscripts.
3) Publication of two critical editions with English translation: Chandah-kaustubha and Siddhanta-darpana.
4) Digitization of nearly all printed editions of Srila Vidyabhusana's works.
In the next year we hope to be able
to start uploading the PDF files of all printed editions, which will be
freely available for download. We also plan to soon publish the English
translation of the Tattva-dipika and the Brahma-sutra-karika-bhasya along with the original text.
There are still many places to
visit, many people to meet and a lot of work to do, therefore I humbly
request those who appreciate the importance of this project to kindly
contribute so that it may progress. For further details about it and for
samples of the manuscripts, please visit www.VidyabhusanaProject.blogspot.in.
On the same page I am also posting a diary to share a bit of what I am experiencing.
For enquiries and donations, please write to bkdemian@sify.com.
http://www.harekrsna.com/sun/news/10-13/news5108.htm
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