- Ballālasena and Lakṣmaṇasena
These two famous kings of Bengal ( father and son ) com piled five works on Dharmaśāstra viz. Acārasagara, Pratisthā sāgara, Vratasāgara, Dānasāgara, and Adbhutasāgara. Of these, all except Adbhutasāgara, were compiled by Ballālasena; the fifth, Adbhutasāgara, was begun by Ballālasena, but it was completed by Lakṣmanasena.
When the first edition of the H. of Dh. (first volume ) was published in 1930, the only published work of Ballālasena was
• Adbhutasagara’ about which we are told (vide under Halāyudha above) that it was begun by Ballālasena in sake 1090 (i. e. 1168-69 A. D.) but that he passed away before the work was finished and that it was completed by king Lakṣmaṇasena, son of Ballālasena. The Dānasāgara is a huge digest on Dāna ( gifts ).
(Continued from the previous page) निष्कामेन द्वादशीयुक्तकादशीति वाचस्पतिमि श्रोक्ता युक्ता । … विष्णुरहस्यानार्ष त्वस्य दानसागरेऽनिरुद्धभट्टेनाभिहितत्वाञ्च । यथा लोकप्रसिद्धमेतद्विणुरहस्य शिवरहस्यं च । द्वियमिह न परिगृहीतं सङ्ग्रहरूपं च यत्नतोऽवधार्य ॥ इति Chiaritara vol. II. p. 44.84. Ballālasena and Laksmanasena
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It has been edited and published in the B. I. Series ( 1956 ) by Mr. (now Doctor) Bhabatosh Bhattacarya, with a Preface, contents in Sanskrit, Introduction in English (pp. XV-LXVIII ), Index of Vedic Mantras, and of non-Vedic quarter verses and prose quotations. The text alone covers 722 pages. There are 75 Āvartas1053 (chapters) and 1375 kinds of gifts have been dealt with. The Editor gives a summary of 18 chapters that are the most important of the 75 chapters (on pp. XL-LXVIII of Intro.). The Vratasāgara is mentioned on pp. 52 and 59 of Dānasāgara and Dr. Bhattacarya pointed out in Indian Culture’ vol. XI for 1945 pp. 141-144 that the Kṛtyaratnākara cites two quotations from the Vratasāgara. Verses 55 and 56 of the printed Danasāgara’ refer to the Pratisthāsāgara and Acārasāgara as already composed. The first (verse 55 ) says that reservoirs of water and temples of gods are not dilated upon in Dānasāgara, because they have been well dealt with in Pratisthāsāgara and verse 56 says that certain dānas mentioned in the · Adipurana’ are not fully dealt with in the Danasāgara as they have been mentioned in the Ācārasāgara.
The Dānasāgara deals with the sixteen great dānas and other lesser gifts. The subjects dealt with by the Danasagara are as follows : eulogy of brāhmanas, eulogy of the merit arising from gifts, proper recipients of gifts, persons not fit to receive gifts, the nature of gifts, the donor, faith as to the utility of gifts, proper times and places for gifts, things proper to be donated, what cannot be gifted away, bad donations, religious rites and procedure followed in making gifts and in accepting them, the technical terms of the subject of gifts, the sixteen mahādanas, lesser danas of various kinds (the author himself says at the end that he has described 1375 kinds of gifts ), the names of various Purāṇas and their extent. The Dānasāgara contains extremely valuable information about the Mahābhārata and the Purāṇas. As it quotes extensively from the Puranas, it serves as an excellent check for the textual restoration of Purāṇas. For example it says that the Bhagavata, Brahmānda and Nāradiya Purāṇas do not contain dānavidhis and hence they are not drawa
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The usual meaning of ’ Avarta’ is whirlpool or eddy’ as the Amarakośa says ‘syād-āvartosmbhasām bhramah’. The name of the work ending in ‘sāgara’ ( ocean) suggested that parts of the work may be called ‘āvartas’.
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upon in the work. In another verse he says that it is well-known that the Viṣṇurahasya and Śivarahasya are of the nature of mere compilations and so have not been relied on in the work. The Devipurāṇa, he says, is approved of by the heterodox systems and is not included in various lists of Purapas and upapurāṇas and hence it is not included in the Dānasāgara. He says that the subject of the dedication of reservoirs of water and of temples has been dealt with at length in the Pratisthā sāgara, so it is omitted in the Danasāgara and that the gifts made in accordance with the divisions of the year (into ayana, season, month, pakșa &c.) are not spoken of in their entirety in the Dānasāgara, as they are described in the Ācārasāgara. The work is mentioned in the Danaratnākara of Caṇdesvara and in the Nirnayasindhu. His Adbhutasāgara has been printed by Messrs. Prabhakari and Co. ( 1905). The Authorities on which he relies therein are noted below.1054 The adbhutasagara is men tioned in Todarānandasamhita-saukhya and Nirnayasindhu. This was his last work which he left unfinished and which was comple ted by his son Lakṣınanasena. It deals with the rites and observances appropriate on certain celestial and terrestrial por tents for removing the evil foreboded by them.
The word ‘adbhuta’ occurs many times in the Rgveda and the Nirukta I. 6 tries to explain it. Vide H. of Dh. Vol. V. pp. 719-738 for the development of the subject of sāntis against un favourable occurrences and portents and pp. 740-746 for the meanings and disquisition on the three cognate words “adbhuta, utpāta and nimitta.’ Raghunandana quotes and illustrates a passage of the Adbhutasāgara ( quoted below).1055 The idea was that an unusual happening like an earth-quake occurs as a divine indication or warning of an impending calamity. Such a view was entertained even by Western people and poets till the end of the 18th century. The Cowper in his Task gives powerful support
1054 3 5 7, 35784, 709a, 1796, 47594, TT, GTI, , ,
नारद, पराशर, पालकाप्य, बादरायण, बार्हस्पत्य, बृहस्पति, ब्रह्मसिद्धान्त, भार्ग वीय, मयूरचित्र, यवनेश्वर, राजपुत्र, वराहमिहिरग्रन्थ, वसन्तराज, वसिष्ठ, विन्ध्य
वासि, विष्णुगुप्त, वैजवाप, शालिहोत्र, षइविंशब्राह्मण, सुश्रुत, सूर्यसिद्धान्त. 1055 अथाद्भुतम् । अद्भुतसागरे आथर्वणाद्भुतवचनम् । प्रकृतिविरुद्धमद्भुतवचनम् ।
प्रकृतिविरुद्धमद्भुतमापदः प्राक् प्रबोधाय देवाः सृजन्तीति। तेनापज्ज्ञानाय Faktai Fat al en Sant ā l (Vol. I) Fella Fira, p. 704.
- Ballalasena and Laksmanasena
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to such an idea. The Adbhutasagara is mentioned by Raghu nandana in vol. I of Jyotistattva, p. 704 and Malamāsa, p. 765.
In the present state of our knowledge it is impossible to prove to the satisfaction of scholars when the La. Sam. was started. If it was started on Laksmanasena’s birth, it could have been done only by Ballālasena or by Lakṣmanasena himself when he became a king. But both of them though concerned with the Adbhutas, gara, several times refer only to the Saka era as the notes show. If it was started by Laksmanasena he also does not mention any era as having been started by him and counted from his birth, He was concerned with the compilation of at least a portion of the Adbhutasāgara. In the E. I, Vol. 14. p. 156 ( the Naihati grant ) the pedigree starts from Samantasena ( said to be a scion of the Candravamsa) and that grant also names the following rulers viz. Hemantasena, Vijayasena, Ballalasena, Lakṣmaṇasena. The latter lost Bengal and ruled for some years in North Bihar. In the confusion about the starting point of the La. Saṁ, it appears to the present author that the only safe course is to hold that the era probably started about the time when he left Bengal or some years after it.
Another vexed question is whether the Dānasāgara was com posed by Ballalasena or really composed by Aniruddhabhatta, but was allowed to be passed off as composed by his patron. The answer depends upon a proper construction of verses 6-9 of the Introduction to the Dānasāgara. Verse 6 bestows high praise on Aniruddha, who was the guru of Ballala, who was like Bṛhaspati, the guru of Indra, who was highly honoured in the land of Varendri (North Bengal ), whose eye in the form of his ever active brilliant and flashing intellect was fixed on brahman in the form of Sarasvati (Goddess of Learning). Verses 7-8 cenvey that he (Ballāla) having learnt with great faith from that guru the essence of all Purāṇas and Smṛtis was desirous of composing a work on Dāna ( gifts ), yet his ardour, being cooled by doubts about the difficult decisions in the matter of Dharma, he began to wait upon brāhmaṇas, who were pleased by his service, and with his incessant association with them his mind became clear and his doubts vanished. King Ballāla benefitting by faith in the instruction imparted by his guru composed, for the good of the
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faithful, this owork called Danasāgara within the limits of his intellect.1056
Ballalasena began the work in 1090 sāke and the Dānasagara was composed in 1091 sake. Therefore Ballālasena’s literary activity must be placed in the third quarter of the 12th century (vide notes 861, 862 above). Vide also IHQ vol. V, p. 133 for the date of Ballālasena.
It appears that Raghunandana believed that the Dānasagara was really the work of Aniruddhabhatta though published in the name of Ballālasena. In the Dānasāgara itself it is distinctly stated that Ballālasena composed it under the directions of his guru
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The verses 6-9 would occupy much space; so only half of the last verse ( 9 ) is quoted here : stage at T T TTI: FTET I Faxafa ETHITTAI araat È II He suggests that the ( sāgara ) ocean is vast, while his prajñū (intellect) is limited and even this limited work he compiled with the help of the instruction imparted by his guru and he had also the benefit of constapt meetinys with learned brābmanas, The present author feels that this is a very straightforward statement of the facts. He says that be owes everything to the vast learning of his guru, but his intellect is limited (and not vast ) and therefore the work he composed is necessarily limited to what his intellect understood from the ocean-like intellect of his guru. If Raghunandana beads that Danasāgara was wholly written by Aniruddha and Ballālasena was only a dummy or a figurehead, the present author thinks that he is wrong. He may have been swayed by some tradition floating in his day about the authorship. On the facts available the work is Ballalasena’s, though the latter derived his knowledge from the teachings of his guru and from the learned brāhmaṇas of his time whom he gather ed together for the purpose of writing the work,
The Dānasāgara is a model of a systematic work. He mentions the works he consulted (mainly Purāṇas, Up& purāṇas, Smṛtis, the two epics and Gopatha-Brābnapa) and sets out the works he did not draw upon and the reasons therefor. He briefly enumerates 1375 danas and the 15 main sections of the work,
He names 13 Purāṇas, 8 Upapurāṇas and 28 Smṛtis and three specified works viz. the two epics and the Gopatha
(Continued on the next page )
- Harihara
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(Aniruddha ).1057 In the colophon he is styled mahārājādhiraja and niḥsanka-sankara.