;

Leykam
2000
 (
,�

The Mok�opaya Project (II):

New manuscripts and the present state of things
Walter Slaje, Halle-Wittenberg

Since I was invited by the editors to contribute to their felicitation volume celebrating
the one hundred and twenty-five years of continuous studies in the field of Indo­
European linguistics at the University of Graz, a few introductory remarks disclosing
my involvement in this Institution for almost twenty years may not be entirely out of
place.

My afiliation with the "Institut fiir Sprachwissenschaft" dates back to the late
Seventies when attracted by the then actual denomination of "Institut fiir
Indogermanistik" even housing an "Abteilung fiir Indo-Iranische Philologie" - which
sounded fascinating - I took to studying the Sanskrit language enrolling myself as a
student of Inda-European linguistics. Having been introduced to grammar and to the
principles of analysing inflected words and sentences by Prof Hermann Mittelberger,
holder of the chair, it was he who, after several terms of intensive reading and inter­
pretations of Indian texts, strongly advised me to move on to Vienna with a view to
continuing my studies there, thus shifting the focus of interest rom the older(Vedic)
language to 'pure' Indian philology with its famous 'Vienna touch' of Indian philo­
sophy. The foundation of this - meanwhile traditional - occupation with Indian phi­
losophy was laid by the late Prof Erich Frauwallner, among whose pupils Prof Her­
mann Mittelberger numbered. During and also after my studies 'abroad in Vienna' I
was always given all necessary support in Graz. So my relation to the "Institut fiir
Sprachwissenschaft" remained an excellent one during the many years to follow,
years when I derived much benefit rom free access to the small but well assorted
Indian library of the Institute, and during which I could gain experience in teaching.
For I had indeed been ofered the position of a lecturer in Sanskrit, when, as I should
add, this position was already taken by my riend Dr Christian Zinko. He, however,
upon realising my own and my family's material circumstances, which at times
appeared unbearable, decided himself - and of his own accord - to renounce his
share for several years in my favour. I consider this a token of friendship not often
met with these days. The present volume, however, provides me with a lucky oppor­
tunity to acknowledge my indebtness to him also publicly. Time passed by and things
tuned slightly 'Persian' in the Eighties, when the rediscovery1 of Uto von Melzer's
literary remains in the University Library of Graz, having lain there forgotten for
more then twenty-five years, favoured a fruitful cooperation with Dr Nosratollah
Rastegar ("Iranische Kommission" of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna).
This cooperation resulted in a long-term editorial project, which, as far as my infor­
mation goes, is still continued as a very successful one.

It should have become obvious by the foregoing ew lines that I do remember the
period spent with the "Institut fiir Sprachwissenschaft" in Graz as nothing but an

1 ASEGR - SE 1987.
r 460

extraordinarily happy one. Common projects, JOmt interdisciplinary classes, the

Walter SLE

distinctive and stimulating book-smell in the Institute's library in the Mozartgasse,

they all remain deeply engraved in my mind - comparable to psychic impressions
( vasanas, salskaras), the existence of which was postulated by philosophers of
ancient India.

This inal remark about vasanas should, by the way, mainly serve as a device for
bridging the gap at last: it was during the concluding period of my activities in Graz
that I began to acquaint myself with the Yogavasi$tha, a text treating mainly the
means to liberating oneself by actively influencing one's latent psychic impressions.
It was here that I started a first campaign to collect manuscripts of this - with a view
to Indian idealistic/illusionistic monism - extraordinarily influential text. The in­
vestigation of the collected manuscripts, which was carried out in Hamburg, resulted
in the discovery of the - from our present standpoint - most ancient version that has
been preserved, namely the Kashmirian Y ogavasi$tha or - according to its self­
designation - the Mok$opaya ( 'means to liberation')2• The development of criteria
for a reliable distinction of manuscripts of the Mok$opaya strand allowed for putting
my plan of a critical edition into practice, since a well-directed search for manu­
scripts had for the first time become possible. Accordingly, a second manuscripts
research-campaign was carried out with a view to critically establishing the text of
the latter half of the work, the so-called Nirval)aprakaral)a.

W hat will follow now is closely linked to the first published report3 about 'The
Mok$opaya Project', which was funded by the Austrian Academy of Sciences,
Vienna, from 1994 to 1995. Hardly anything substantially new can be added to the
general remarks about distinguishing criteria and the plan of the edition made in this
previous paper. The main concen, however, will be some new and important manu­
scripts, only recently discovered or identified. Therefore the 'Appendices' published
in 'The Mok$opaya Project [I]' on pages 217f should be regarded as outdated and
are to be replaced entirely by those of the present report.

It was a third campaign in search of manuscripts, carried out in 1997 and 1998, that
yielded the unexpected results which in my opinion fully justify their publication.
Mention must be made, irst of all, of a private collection of manuscripts rom
Kashir acquired by the Orientabteilung of the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin4• Apart
f�om some other valuable texts5, it brought to light several Mok$opaya-manuscripts
,
(S9-S10, N27-N28) and two manuscripts of Bhaskarakal)!ha's Mok$opaya-Tika (S6,

SE 1994.
SE 1997.
, I should like to express my sincere thanks to r Hatmut-Ortwin Feistel und to r erhard Ehlers for their ready
infonnation about the acquisition of the collction and or their helpful sevices when I consulted it in September
1997 and in Febuay 1998, this scond time assisted by r Jiirgen Hanneder. I should also like to thank rof Alexis
Sanderson for having provided me with his provisional concordance [SDRSON 1997].
I noted e. g. manuscripts of the Samanvayapradlpal-sailketa of Devasarman (Acc. No. Hs.or. 12336) and of the
11088). Both of these texts had already ben published
Gha1akharpara-Gilhadlpika of Ku5alamisra (Acc. No. Hs.or.
(SJE 1992 and 1993 resctively) some yers ago. Though there is no good reason giving cause or the supposition
that the Gilhadipika would be given yet anothr text-critical eatment. the more impotant San1anvaya-texts.
however. cetainly deserve such a one.
 \

r he Mok�opaya Project (II) 461

N17) covering approximately one half of the Sthitiprakaral)a (Sargas 1-33). My

pessimistic remark on the occasion of what I thought would be the final volume of
the 'complete' edition of all the remaining ragments of Bhaskarakal)tha's Tika (MT
1-111), namely that " .. . alles, was ... nach derzeitigem Kenntnisstand erhalten blieb, in
jedermann zuganglicher Weise ans Licht gebracht [sei"6, has now of course to be
revised.

The more so since yet another ragment of Bhaskarakal)!ha's Tika appeared -

miraculously so to say - out of the blue of another still uncatalogued collection. It
was during a stay at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute 7 in Poona in October
1997, when trying to track down the existing Mok�opaya-manuscripts according to
the entries in the BORI's Descriptive Catalogue(N6, N8, N l 5, N l 9-N22), that I also
chanced upon some manuscripts apparently not contained in it8• Among them (N23-
N26), also a ragment of the Tika (N26) explaining substantial parts of the Nirval)a­
prakaral)a. This manuscript tuned out to be the one identified by P.C. Divanji(1938).

I leaned my lesson, however, rom a subsequent visit to the Indira Gandhi National
Centre for the Arts (New Delhi), in that the Centre meanwhile has so many micro­
filmed manuscript collections at its disposal, that all future research could basically
take the Centre as its starting-point. This is true in particular with regard to major
collections with a large number of uncatalogued manuscripts. Since all of them were
microfilmed, authors and titles of even uncatalogued materials can be traced with the
help of a reliable and continuously updated data-base. Tracing the BORI's Tika
(N26) e.g. was a matter of only a few inutes. It is due to the kind help of Pandit
Satkari Mukhopadhyaya's proficient daughter Arafijana that another important manu­
script (S7), purchased by the IGNCA from the private collection of a Kashmirian
refugee, can be found added to the present list9 of valuable Mok�opaya manuscripts.

Yet a considerable number of manuscripts remains completely inaccessible though

they have been identified10 and can be located in the Research and Publication
Department in Srinagar. To date all eforts made for access have been in vain. An
easing of the political tension will certainly favour an investigation one day. Since it
cannot be foreseen when and if this will ever happen, I should like to bring the serial

' Cp. MT (IJ. Vorwot p. 9.

I should like to express my sincere thanks to the present curator. Prof r S. D. addu. for excellent preparation of
research-tools and research-materials as well as for the many good sevices rendered to me by his riendly staf. I feel
also it needs to be repoted that Prof Laddu emerged as the nephew of Prof Tukaram Krishna addu ( 19.02. 1883 -
23. 11.19 19). the irst Indian scholar to receive a Ph.D. degre rom the Matin-Luther-University of Halle­
Wittenberg. his dctoral thesis (Prolegomena zu Trivikras Gammatik. 1912) having been supevised by one of my
precedessors ccupying the Halle chair of Indology. Eugen Hultzsch.
' They could finally be raced in what proved itself nothing more than a printed title-list A Catalogue of the GO\·em­
mellf Collection ofManuscripts deposited in the Deccan College (... XX: Vishambag Collection). yer and place of
publication not given.
9 Which can again be enlarged by ms S1 1 through a kind communication by my riend Prof Rafaele Torella
(Rome). who - on his visit to the IGNCA in 1999 - secured yet another Mok�opaya-ms. containing the
M umuk�uprakaraia.
10
The Research and Publication Depatment. Jmu and Kashmir Govenment. Srinagar (r): A Catalogue of San­
skrit Manuscripts. Srinagar 1989. I have ben provided with a copy of this re catalogue by my riend r Enst Prets
(Austrian Academy of Sciences. V ienna). or which I fel grateul inded.
462 Wlter SLE

numbers of those manuscripts to the reader's notice, which - judging rom the
extremely short catalogue-entries only - appear to be important:

- S. Nos 4787 to 4799 (13 mss) catalogued as Yogavasi$tha but probably the
Mok$opaya, mostly in S arada script, some on birch-bark.
- S. Nos 4827 to 4828 (2 mss) catalogued as Yogavasi$thapka but probably
fragments of Bhaskarakal)tha's Mok$opayatika in Sarada.
- S. Nos 2419 and 4800 (2 mss): an unidentified Mok$opaya- or Yogavasi$tha­
1
Sangraha 1•
- S. Nos 2420 to 2422(3 mss): an unidentified Mok$opaya-Sara.
- S. Nos 4801 to 4820 (20 mss): an unidentified Yogavasi$tha-Sara.
- S. Nos 4821 to 4826(6 mss): Mah:dhara's Yogavasi$tha-Sara.

So far the Sr:nagar collection, inaccessible at present. After years of searching, I do

not really expect any other important finds in major manuscript-collections, though
they might of course happen, above all in individual cases.

This, then, is an updated list of Mok$opaya manuscripts:

Manuscripts of the Kashmirian Yogavasi�!ha (Mok�opaya)

Mok�op.ya (including the Khias) and Bhaskarakal!ha's !ik.

Manuscripts of the Kashmirian Yogavasi$tha(Mok$opaya). Identification based upon

variants characteristic of the Kashmir strand and/or the following formal criteria12:

Vairagya beginning with N/Ed I 2.

Upatti extending to N/Ed IV 18.
Sthiti beginning with N/Ed IV 19.
Nirval)a undivided into Plrva- and Uttarardhas.
Khiias (nanaprasnab) appended to the Nirval)apra karal)a.
Sigla:

SI Complete. Facsimile edition by L. CHANDRA, New Delhi 1984: described m

SLAJE l 994:38f.
S3 Complete. Sri Pratap Singh Library, Srinagar: SLAJE 1994:39f.
S4 Incomplete (fik.: Vairgya). Banaras Hindu University Library, Varanasi.
SLAJE 1994:40 f.
S5 Incomplete (N1rva)a and h1Jas). Bodleian Library, Oxford: SLAJE 1994:41
with further references.

11 r Reinhold Griinendahl was kind enough to provide me with a Sarada copy of a Mok�opayasailgraha peseved in
the Niedersichsische Staats- und Universititsbibliothek Gottingen (Cod. Ms. Sanscr. Yish. 126. 1126 oll.). It totally
difers in size and verse-selction rom all the other abstracts that have ever come to my notice and deends doubt­
lessly on the Kashmirian cension of the Yogavasi�\ha. A thorough investigation of ll the existing Y ogavasi�\ha­
abstracts. of their possible sources, their interdeendence. their contents and their extensions, is one an10ng the urgent
desiderata of Yogavasi�\ha philology.
" Cp. SE 1997 :211.
 he Mok�opaya Project (II) 463

s6 Incomplete (!iki: SthitiN 1-5). Staatsbibliothek Berlin, (Janert collection A

1704).
s1 Incomplete (Upatti). Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, New Delhi.
Uncatalogued, purchased m 1995 from a private collection, No
AR/181.045/MOK.
SS Incomplete (Sthiti IV 21,53 - Upasanti V 12,4). Wellcome Institute for the
History of Medicine (London). Wellcome Ms Indic(beta) 494,'foll 4r-57'.
s9 Incomplete ( Vairagya to Upasanti V 93,65). Staatsbibliothek Berlin Hs.or.
12511(Janert collection KA 1511), foll. 687(legible folio-numbers)+ 23.
s10 Incomplete (Sthiti [starting with IV 19,1]). Staatsbibliothek Berlin Hs.or. 12869
(Janert collection KA 1869).
��I SU Incomplete (Mumuk$uya va hara). Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts,
New Delhi. Uncatalogued, No. RAR 181.045 MUM. [According to R. Torella].

N6 Incomplete ( Mumuk$U). BORI, Poona: SLAJE 1994:33 with further references.

NS Incomplete ( Varagya to Upasanti). BORI, Poona: SLAJE 1994:33 with urther
references.
NlO Incomplete ( Vairagya to Upasanti). National Archives Nepal, Kathmandu/
Orientabteilung der Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin: SLAJE 1994:34.
NU Incomplete (!iki: Varagya). Banaras Hindu University Library, Varanasi.
SLAJE l 994:34f.
N12 Incomplete (!iki: Mumuk$u, Upa tti). Banaras Hindu University Library,
Varanasi. SLAJE 1994:36f.
N13 Incomplete (!iki: Utpatti). Banaras Hindu University Library, Varanasi. SLAJE
1994:38.
N14 Incomplete. National Archives Nepal, Kathmandu/Orientabteilung der Staatsbi­
bliothek zu Berlin (NGMPP - B 72/10 [= A 899/10]). 'Sammelhandschrift' of
very poor scribal quality by three diferent scribes, put together incorrectly.
Only 81 sargs of the Nirval}a (VI 158-239; � N/Ed, VI, uttarardha , 1-81), i.e.
the part of "scribe I", represent the Kashmir version.
N15 Incomplete ( N ir va}a and hilas). BORI, Poona: Descriptive Catatalogue [DC]
of Manuscripts in the Govenment Library, Vol. 2,9. Poona 1955, No 775
(Visrama 11/24).
N16 Incomplete (hilas). IOL: Catalogue of the Sanskrit Manuscripts in the Library
of the India Ofice (London 1894), Pt IV,A,VII, Nr. 2423.
N17 Incomplete (!iki: Sthiti N 1-33). Staatsbibliothek Berlin, (Janert collection
A 221).
N19 Incomplete ( Vairagya). BORI, Poona: DC No 779(Visrama1/217). Same scribe
as N6.
N20 Incomplete ( Upattilll 1,1-57,20; ll 101,28c - SthitilV 11,68a). BORI, Poona:
DC No 776 (Visrama 11/224). Two scribal hands. 1st hand seems to be identical
with N6 (covering ll 1,1-57,20); 2°t hand covers ll 101,28c - IV 11,68a �
N22.
N21 Incomplete (Upatti ll 61,18-64,21; 114,26-115,16; Sthiti IV 19,31-57,1;
Upasant, V 48,3 l c-53,35; 53,77-93,53). BORI, Poona: DC No 773 (Visrama
11/232). Folios 124-127 and 223-225 of the Upa tti erroneously embedded in the
Upasanti(= foll. 108-124; 127-222).
464 Walter SLE

N22 Incomplete ( SthjfjV 22,26-61,8c). BORI, Poona: DC No 777 (Visrama W225).

Seems to belong originally to N20, 2°t hand.
N23 Incomplete (Nirval)a V I 2,49c-98, l a). BORI, Poona: Uncatalogued (Visrama
II/116), 206 foll.
N24 Incomplete (Nrva)a, MS VI 132 [= turyapada vjcao nama sarga;] to h1Jas
XII [= prakta11ajanmapjtrkayam;ayo na ma sarga;]). BORI, Poona: Uncata­
logued (Visrama II/117), numbering of foll: 670 (scribe's hand), 550 (second
hand).
N25 Incomplete (Nrva)a and hilas). BORI, Poona: Uncatalogued (Visrama I/419).
913 foll., dated sa: 1800.
N26 Incomplete (fiki: Nirva)a MS VI 195[=N/Ed VII 38],2 - MS VI 27 l [=N/Ed
V II 144], l ). BORI, Poona: Uncatalogued (Visrama I/623), 208 foll. Kashmir­
DevanagarL [Divanji 1938].
N27 Incomplete (Nirva)a V II 115,43b-215,17 followed by a hifa-pra tisandhi­
sfoka). Staatsbibliothek Berlin: Hs.or. 11354 (Janert collection KA 534), foll.
172-322.
N28 Incomplete (Sthiti V 19, 1-53,Sc). StaBi Berlin Hs.or. 11724 (Janert collection
KA 724).
N(x) Incomplete ( Khifas. Text scattered. Khila-S lokas appear as inserted after Sarga
2,51 of the Nirval.aprakaral.a). National Archives Nepal, Kathmandu/Orient­
abteilung der Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin (NGMPP), Reel No. E 719/2.
 �

< -.- -·---- -

Conspectus I: Mula-text and Khilas

(I.) SI S3 S9 NS NIO Nl9

Vai
(II.) s1 S3 S9 SII N6 NS NlO

Mu
(Ill.) SI S3 S7 S9 NS NIO N20 N21

Utp
(IV.) st S3 SS S9 SIO NS NlO N20 N2l N22 N2S

Sthi
(V.) SI S3 SS S9 NS NIO N21

Upa
(V I.) SI S3 SS Nl4 NIS N23 N24 N2S N27

Nir
Khi S3 ss NIS NI6 N24 N2S N(x)
r Conspectus II: Bhaskarakaitha's Mok�opiya-Tiki

(I.) S4 NI I
Vairagya
(II.) Nl 2
Mumuk�u
(Ill.) N I2 Nl3
Utpatti
(IV.) S6 Nl7
Sthiti
(V.)
Upasanti
(V I.) N 26
Nirva.a

·-.Synopsis of the present state of the editions

Mula-text !iki
(I.) Vairagya Published: MT (I)
(32 Sargas. 1.200 Slokas)
-

(II.) Mumuk�u Published: MT (II)

(20 Sargas. 800 Slokas)
-

(III.) Utpatti Under preparation Published: MT (III)

(*122 Sargas. - 5.000 Slokas) (Dr iirgen Hanneder)
(IV.) Sthiti Under preparation: MT (IV )
(*62 Sargas, - 2.500 Slokas)
(V.) Upasanti
(* 93 Sargas, - 4.200 Slokas)
(V I.) Nirva.a Completed transcript (S I) Under preparation: MT (VI)
(374 Sargas, - 15.00 Slokas)
Khila Completed transcript (S3, SS)
(14 Sargas, - 600 SJokas)

* = According to the vulgate (N/Ed). Extension of S not yet ascertained.

he Mok�opaya Project (II) 467

Bibliography

DIVANJI, P.C.:
1938 MS. No. 623Nisram (1) at the B.O.R.I. Poona. New Indian Antiquay 1,7 (1938),
s. 460-462.
MT (I) Bhaskaraka.thas Mo��opaya-Tika. Ein Kommentar in der Tradition der kaschmiri­
schen Yogavasi$tha-Uberlieferung. 1. (Vairagya)-PrakaraJa. Unter Mit­
arbeit von Jutta V ENT hrsg. von Walter SLJE. [Materialien iit eine kritische
Ausgabe des Mok$opaya. 3.] Graz 1996.
MT (II) Bhaskaraka.thas Mo�$Opaya-Tika. Ein Kommentar in der Tradition der kaschmiri­
schen Yogavasi$tha-Uberlieerung. 2. Prakara'a (Mumuk�uvyavahara).
[Materialien iir eine kritische Ausgabe des Mok$opaya. 1. = Arbeiten aus der Ab­
teilung 'Vergleichende Sprachwissenschat' Graz. 7.] Graz 1993.
MT (ID) Bhaskaraka)thas Mo�$opaya-Tika. Ein Kommentar in der Tradition der kaschmiri­
schen Yogavasi$tha-Uberlieerung. Die Fragmente des 3. (Utpattt)-Pra­
kara'a. [Materialien iir eine kritische Ausgabe des Mok$opaya. 2.] Graz 1995.
N/Ed Yogavas1$/ha Nagari-Version). The Yogavasi$tha of Valmiki. With the co�en­
ty V asi$thamaharamaya)atatparyaprakasha. Ed. by Wasudeva Laxmana SASTRl
P AN S! A R P. 1. 2. Reprint [of the 3. ed.] New Delhi 1984.
RASTEGAR, Nosratollah - SLAJE, Walter:
1987 Uto von Melzer (1881-1961). Werk und NachlaB eines osterreichischen Iranisten.
[OAW. 477 =VIK. 20] Wien 1987.
S Mok$opaya (Ms), Vairagya- to Nirva)aprakaral)a without commentary. Sanskrit
T�xts rom Kashmir. Vols. 8-9 (: Yogavasi$tha). Reproduced by Lokesh CANDRA.
[Sata-Pitaka Series 334.335.] New Delhi 1984.
SANDERSON, Alexis:
1997 An interim guide to the locating of the Kashmirian manuscripts in the Janert
collection acquired but not yet accessioned by the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin
Preussischer Kulturbesitz. Typescript, 23 September 1997.
SLJE, Walter:
1992 Materialien zu einer vergessenen lokalen Tradition der einheimischen indischen
Grammatik: Ku!akas Samanvayadis und die Folgeliteratur (Miscellanea zu den
Wiener Sanskrit-Handschriften.2.). Wiener Zeitschrft fiir die Kunde Siidasiens 36
(1992), S. 105-126.
1993 Sarada. Deskriptiv-synchrone Schriftkunde zur Bearbeitung kaschmirischer
Sanskrit-Manuskripte. Auf der Grundlage von Ku5alas Ghatakharpara-Guclha­
dipika und unter graphischer Mitwirkung von Eva Slaje. [Indische Schriften. l.]
Reinbek 1993.
1994 Yon Mok$opaya-Sastra zum Yog�yasi$tha-Maharamayal)a. Philologische Unter­
suchungen zur Entwicklungs- und Uberliefeungsgeschichte eines indischen Lehr­
werks mit Anspruch auf Heilsrelevanz. [SB. OAW. 609 = V KSKS. 27] Wien 1994.
1997 The Mok$opaya Project [I]. Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Institute 77 (1996)
[published 1997], S. 209-221.