Ancient manuscript of Nityanandastakam in the name of Prabodhananda Sarasvati
Manuscript of Visvanatha Cakravarti's Gaura-gana-svarupa-tattva-candrika, copied on 1808 AD
Not so long after locating a
manuscript of his Caitanyastakam, I was fortunate enough to come across a
manuscript of the Nityanandastakam attributed to Prabodhananda Sarasvati.
Although no date is mentioned, after having the manuscript assessed by a few
experts, they all agreed that the paper, ink and style seem to be of the 16th
century, so this is one of the oldest extant Gaudiya Sanskrit manuscripts. Both
astakas will be published soon with the Viveka-satakam in a single book.
An important discovery was
another copy of Visvanatha Cakravarti’s Gaura-gana-svarupa-tattva-candrika. The
manuscript is dated Samvat 1865 (1808 AD) and contains several verses which
were missed by the copyist in the other copy previously found, and it also
presents more correct readings. This will be essential to revise the text to
bring it closer to the original in future editions.
Another phase of the BV Project
has been started in order to retrieve the original documentation relevant to
the life and work of Baladeva Vidyabhusana. There seems to be a good number of
such documents preserved in some of the government archives, and I have already
copied some of the personal letters issued by Vidyabhusana for the King of
Jaipur. Other documents reveal important information about Vidyabhusana’s
activities and achievements in Vrindavan and Jaipur.
Despite my best efforts, I still
couldn’t get cooperation from the Vrindavan Research Institute, which hosts the
largest collection of Gaudiya manuscripts in the world, but where unfortunately
the present staff know nothing about research and are adamant that manuscripts
should not be shown and that copies should not be given to anyone, besides
having an extensive history of corruption. This has led me to lodge a complaint
addressed to the Prime Minister of India, and the case is being processed.
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