Manuscript 1

Manuscript was found and brought from India by Artur Karp (the emeritus professor in the Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Warsaw). At present it is in private collection of Monika Nowakowska (the assistant professor in the Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Warsaw).

Manuscript contains:
I. BhG text with translation into Marathi (sama-ślokī-gītā);
– there are 275 numbered sheets of paper;
– decorative title page with two yantras in the shape of lotuses resembling South Indian astrological diagrams. In subsequent petals there are written the syllables of the mantras (starting from upper left corner clockwise): namo bhagavate sadā-śīvāyeti (left side), namo bhagavate vāsudevāyeti (right side);
– the whole text begins with the viniyoga-mantra, followed by religious formulas recited before reading the holy texts: BhG verses which are the seed, the power and the pin (bīja, śakti, kīlaka) of the text, the formulas placed on the hands (kara-nyāsa), contemplation of the BhG (dhyāna) in the form of ten verses. Then we find 14-verse introduction to the Marathi translation;
– BhG verses (starting from the 5th sheet) are centered and written with wider margin on left and right. Marathi translations are numbered according to the original. Usually there are two verses with translation per page;
– in red colour are written the names of the speakers (e.g. saṁjaya uvāca – most often abbreviated to: saṁjaya ○), the end of pada and the end of the whole verse (in the form of two daṇḍas) is marked in red,  and the colophons at the end of chapters are also in red;
– some chapters have introduction in Marathi (5th chapter, 9th chapter – 14 pages, 13th chapter – 27 pages). At the end of the last chapter there are 20 pages of conclusion in Marathi;
– two sheets at the end are damaged badly. They contain the colophon with the exact date when the coping was finished, the name of the scribe and the name of a person for whom the manuscript was written. Next is the apology to God (īśvara) for mistakes that could occur in rewritting and table of contents with the number of pages on which chapters begin. The last one is the decorative end page.

II. Appendix of some excerpts of Mbh, Book Twelfth and Thirteenth (Śāṁti-parvan, Anuśāsana-parvan):

  1. Viṣṇu-sahasra-nāma-stotra Mbh 13.135 (Śāṁti-parvan, Dāna-dharma, Bhīṣma-yudhiṣṭhira-saṁvāda); should be 16 numbered sheets, but lacks numbers: 2-4, 7-8, 11-14; with decorative title page and colophon at the end;
  2. Viṣṇu-stava-rāja Mbh 12.47 (Śāṁti-parvan, Rāja-dharma Bhīṣmokta); there are12 numbered sheets and colophon at the end;
  3. Viṣṇu-divya-anusmṛti-stotra Mbh 12.202 (Anuśāsana-parvan, Dāna-dharma); there are 10 numbered sheets and colophon at the end;
  4. Gajeṁdra-mokṣaṇa (Anuśāsana-parvan, Bhīṣma-yudhiṣṭhira-saṁvāda); there are 18 numbered sheets, including the decorative page finishing the whole work, preceded by colophon;

According to all colophons (of BhG and Mbh excerpts) this manuscript comes from the year 1754 of the Śaka era (1832 AD). It was written by Puruṣottama, son of Rāmacaṁdra (Rāmacaṁdra-sūnu) to be given to Bhikājīyaṁta, son of Vāmanrāya (Peḍharakara Upanāmaka Vāmanrāya). Written on both sides of paper so that after turning over the sheet, there is contunuity of the text. Each sheet is numbered on a reverse side on the upper left corner under the abbreviation of the title (e.g. gī.sa.= BhG;   = Viṣṇu-sahasra-nāma-stotra) and on the bottom right (over a hundred the number lacks the hundred). In BhG the number of chapter is written also on a reverse side in the upper right corner. There are many letter errors in Sanskrit text.