Brief Note on Dharmasastra Works and Writers
from Kāmarūpa (i, e. Assam )
Raghunandana in his Smstitattva several times mentions * Kamarūpiya-nibandha’. For example, in ( vol. I) Tithitattva 587 p. 86, Prayaścitta p. 555, Malamāsa p. 820; (vol. II ) Ekadasi tattva p. 102. The Tithitattva (p. 76 ) says that the Smstisagara quotes the Matsyasūkta’ and the Prāyaścittatattva (p. 535) says that the Smstisagara is Kāmarūpiya-nibandha. It may be noted that on pp. 530 and 532 of the Prayascittatattva (vol. I) a work entitled Smstisagarasāra is cited and verses of Bṛhad-Angiras are quoted from it. The Nirnayasindhu under the topic of
mahānavami’ (p. 186 of Nir, edition of 1935) mentions Kama rūpa-nibandha and quotes the same verse as is quoted by Raghunandana (in vol. I. p. 86 ) as from Smrtisāgara, a Kama rūpiya nibandha.
On the occasion of the 22nd session of the All-India Ori ental Conference held at Gauhati (Assam ) in January 1965 a
Prāgjyotisa souvenir’ was published by Dr. Maheswara Neog (Local Secretary of that Conference). Among the several papers contained in that souvenir, Pandit Manaranjan Sastri, Principal of the Sanskrit College at Nalbari (Assam ), contributes (on pp. 91-114 ) a very interesting and informative paper on the Kāmarūpa School of Dharmaśāstra. In the brief account that I present here I can refer only to a few salient points.
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The verse E-TT: 19 VE TERIT: T ga ai a9 n ET faṣini #T HET40T I quoted by Raghu (vol. I) Tithitattva, p. 86 and on p. 23 of the स्मृतिसागरसार of महामहोपाध्याय दामोदर com piled ip sake 1308 ( 1386 A. D.).
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One of the early and famous writers from Kāmarūpa is Nilāmbarācārya. He is credited with the authorship of four works viz. (i) Amśaprakāśikā, a Com. on the Viṣṇupurāṇa; (ii) Sraddhaprakāśa or Śrāddhabhāsya; (iii) Kalakaumudi (on the appropriate times for religious acts and rites ) and (iv) Candraprabhā - a digest of Smsti material dealing with sins and prāyaścittas to be performed for the removal of the effects of sins. He tells us little about himself. At the end of the Sraddha prakāsa he tells us that his father was a learned man named Sarkarsana and gave himself up at the confluence of the Ganges with the ocean. He learnt the śāstras from his father. He holds the view that the word māsa means by itself the lunar ( cāndra ) month, while other Kamar ūpa writers held and hold till these days the view that māsa means Saura ( solar ) month. As Sula pāṇi in his Durgotsavaviveka, and Govindananda in the Suddhi kaumudi (p. 275 ) mention him, he must be earlier than about 1375 A. D. and as he mentions the Kalpataru, Jimūtavāhana, Govindarāja, Bhavadevabhatta, he must be later than about 1225 A.D. In his Śrāddhaprakāśa ( when treating of adhimāsas’ intercalary months) he says that he himself has observed about intercalary months, certain irregularities and mentions śake 1199 (i, e. 1277 A. D.) as the year in which the irregularity occurred. So Nilāmbara must have flourished between 1240 and 1300 A. D.
The Kālakaumudi is mentioned several times by Raghu nandana e. g. vol. I, Tithi pp. 73, 129, 141 and (vol. II) in Ekādasitattva p. 51. A work called Smstisagara is quoted several times by Raghunandana e. g. ( in Vol. I) Tithi p. 76 ( three verses are quoted as from Matsyasūktā cited by Smstisāgara ), Tithi p. 86 (Smstisagara is a Kamar ipiyanibandha ), Prāyaścitta-tattva p. 474 ( quoting Devala ), Prayascitta-tattva p. 554 cites Smsti sāgara quoting Yama and Matsyatantra, (vol. I. p. 555 ); Ragu nandana also quotes Smstisagara (vol. I. Prayascittatattva pp. 530, 532 one verse on each page quoted from Bṛhad-Angiras ). It is clear from the above passages that the word ‘Kamarūpiya’
• Kamarūpanibandha’ is pot the name of one work, but that it is a general name for works composed by scholars from Kamarupa.
The Matsyasūkta is frequently quoted by Raghunandana, as in (vol. I) Tithi. p. 86, Malamāsa. p. 814, Saṁskāra p. 886; (in vol. II.) pp. 61, 69,83 ( several verses ), 141 ( when Stridhvani is śubha Ekadasi pp. 61, 69, 83; Udvaha p. 141.
Brife Note on Works from Kamarupa
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Six verses from Svalpamatsyapurāṇa are cited by Raghu nandana in (vol. II) Chandogavssotsargatattva p. 537 (bearing on
the Sraddba of a man’s father.). For some details about this work, vide Journal of Ganganath Jha Research Institute, vol. IX parts 2-4, November 1953. The first five chapters are only a summary of the first six chapters of the Matsya-purāṇa. The interlocators are God incarnated as Matsya and the hearer is sage Manu.
Recently (in December 1964) Dr. P. C. Choudhury (Direc tor of the Department of Historical and Antiquarian Studies, Assam) published a work edited by Pandit Manoranjan Shastri and himself entitled ‘Smstijyotisasāra-saigraha’ containing three Dharmaśāstra works from Kamarūpa viz. I. Smstisagarasāra by Damodaramiśra (composed in śake 1308 i. e. 1386 A, D.) 76 pages; II Grahaṇakaumudi (pp. 79-121 ) by Mahāmahopadhyāya Pitām bara-Siddhāntavāgisabhattācārya, the most famous among Kamarūpa writers on Dharmaśāstra (composed in sake 1530 i. e. 1608 A. D.); III. Jyotirmālā (pp. 125–163 ) on several astro logical matters by Lakṣmipati in sake 1613 ( 1691 A. D.).
It appears from the 2nd Introductory verse of the Smrti. sāgarasāra that it was epitome of a vast work and was condensed as Smstisagarasāra for the benefit of the sons and pupils of Damodaramisra1638 and it was compiled in sake 1308 (i. e. 1386 A. D.). That it is a mere epitome is made clear in various places by the words vidhistu mūle’ p. 43 or Vistarastu mūle (p. 73). It criticizes Nilambara1639 and mentions many works that preceded him, such as Kalpataru (p. 36), Jimūta vāhana, Rajamārtaṇḍa (p. 69), and Bṛhad-Rājamārtaṇda (pp. 63, 65), several Purāṇas etc.
The colophon at the end of Grahana-kaumudi declares that Pitambara was patronized by the king Laksminārāyaṇa of Kamarūpa. He quotes numerous authorities and in the Grahana kaumudi he quotes the Kștyacintāmaṇi several times e. g. pp.
1538 GHET HETÀ A: HITÁTEL II fartea gasiti praeit
yere gamugar: fefta #91 11 Intro. verses of the mid
सागरसार. 1539 यत्तु नीलाम्बरेण सानेनिरग्नेश्चैकविषयत्वमापादितं तत्तावदात्मनोऽनभिज्ञत्वमेव
Fitfoafūfat i p. 34 of FulTETICHE.
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101, 102, 103 and 118). In his Pragjyotisa Souvenir Pandit Manoranjana Sastri points out (on p. 107) that one Pandit
Taranath Goswami of Gauripur mentions 18 works called Kau mudis as composed by Pitambara-Vāgisa, while another Pandit adds ten more Kaumudis, as composed by Pitambara ( in all 28 ) and Pandit ·Manoranjana Sastri gives his own list of 31 Kau mudis of Pitambara (pp. 108-116 of Prāgjyotiṣa Souvenir ). Pandit Manoranjana Sastri postulates that Pitambara lived for about 90 years from about 1525 to 1615 A. D. (Prāgjyotisa Sou venir, p. 111).
The printed Smṛtitattva apparently mentions three works called Smstisāgara, Smstisāgarasāra and Smṛtisārasagara. This last, is quoted only once by Raghunandana (vol. I Tithi p. 181, three verses) and it appears to the present author a copyist’s mistake (for Smstisagarasāra ).
Besides these three, there are other Kamarūpa writers on Dharmaśāstra, such as Vedācārya author of a Dharmaśāstra digest called Smsti-ratnākara (vide Journal of the Assam Research Society, Hemachandra Goswami Commemoration vol. XIV, 1960 pp. 63-77).
There is a large field for work by Kāmarūpa scholars on the Dharmaśāstra works composed in Assam during the last seven or eight centuries.