91. Candeshvara

Volume I: Part II pp. 763–774

91. Candeshvara

91. Cāṇḍeśvara He was liberal enough to assert that a śūdra¹ can perform Vaiśvadeva and the offering of bali, but he cannot adopt the procedure of Śakala as it includes Vedamantras; he can, however, perform those rites with ‘namah’ as the Mantra and relies on Yāj. I. 12 and Viṣṇupurāṇa in support. The Samayapradīpa of Śrīdatta is quoted by Raghunandana in (vol. I), Mala° p. 839 and (vol. II) in Ekādaśī p. 44.

It appears that there was another Maithila writer called Śrīdattamiśra, son of Nāgeśvaramiśra, who composed the Ekāgnidānapaddhati and one or two other works (Hp. Nepal cat. p. 129). The Nepal Mṣ of the Ekāgnidāna-paddhati was copied in La-Sam 299 (Lakṣmaṇasena era 299, i. e. 1418 A. D.). Vide Hp. Nepal cat. XII, 45 and 129. So this Śrīdatta flourished towards the end of the 14th century in the reign of Devasimha son of Bhavesa. Vide JASB for 1915 pp. 379–381 and 388–390 for Śrīdatta.

91. Cāṇḍeśvara Cāṇḍeśvara is the most prominent figure among Maithila nibandhakāras on Dharmaśāstra. He compiled an extensive digest called Smṛtiratnākara or simply Ratnākara. This digest was divided into seven sections viz. on kṛtya, dāna, vyavahāra, śuddhi, pūjā, vivāda and gṛhastha.² Out of these the Vivāda- ratnākara dealing with dāyabhāga and the other titles of law (vyavahārapradās) has been printed in the B. I. Series and has been translated into English by Mr. G. C. Sarkar and by Mr. Justice Digambara Chatterjee. The Vivādaratnākara of Cāṇḍeśvara and the Vivādacintāmaṇi of Vācaspati are of para- mount authority in matters of Hindu Law in Mithilā (modern Tirhut ) so far as British Indian Courts are concerneḍ³

The Kṛtya-ratnākara deals in 22 taraṅgas with the discussion of Dharma ( its real nature, its rewards, means of knowing it and the occasions for it ), the various vratas and observances in the several months from Caitra, the observances in the intercalary month, various vratas on the several days of the week, the Sun's passage into a new sign, eclipse on the new-moon day etc. This work is referred to in his Dānarainākara, which in its turn is quoted in the Gṛhastha-ratnākara.⁴ The work was printed in the Bibliotheca Indica Series in 1926. He belittles Kalpataru, Kāmadhenu and Pārijāta. This was probably the first of the seven Ratnākaras, since it is mentioned first in the verse quoted below⁵ and since it has a very large number of Introductory verseṣ

The Gṛhastha-ratnākara is a very extensive work in 68 taraṅgas on the duties of householderṣ The work was printed in the Bibliotheca Indica Series in 1928, while the first vol. of H. of Dh. was in the Presṣ It is a large work in 591 pageṣ It has only two Introductory verses, the last quarter of the 2nd saying that this Ratnākara is full of Mīmāṁsā. Verses (3-20) enumerate briefly the topics of the 68 taraṅgas ( waves i. e. chapters ) of this ( Ratnākara which word also means 'sea' ), which are : 91. Cāṇḍeśvara what girls may be chosen or not chosen for marriage; examin- ing the guṇas (qualities) of the proposed bridegroom, proper order of choosing a girl from the several varṇas; the proper ages of girls and bridegrooms; order of persons entitled to give away a girl in marriage; when a girl can choose her own husband; different forms of marriage and their merits and demerits; passing over a wife by marrying another girl; condemnation of a younger brother marrying before an elder one; setting up gṛhya fire and performing the worship of fire; worship of gods and officiating as a priest; āhnika (daily observances from morning onwards such as ācamana, brushing the teeth, morning bath, sandhyā observance, the five daily yajñas, honouring guests, rules about food to be taken or not to be taken; observances for women; the proper observances and actions for brāhmaṇas and for men of the three other varṇas; maintaining oneself in calamities; the observa- nces of snātaka; about Yama and Niyama; impurity on birth and death; what tends to the ruin of families; proper abode or house for a married man; what a house-holder should speak or not utter or what he should not look at : abstaining from adultery; avoiding mixture of castes, paying off debts, listening to Mahābhārata &c., actions proper for Kṣatriyas, Vaiśyas and Śūdras; the obser- vances of a snātaka; yama and niyama; śauca; the observances of brahmacarya; what ruins families; proper abode for a gṛhastha; what a gṛhastha should or should not speak, or should or should not see; things not to be given to śūdras; the avoidance of anger, adultery and intermixture of castes (saṃkara); requiting of debts etc.

The Dānaratnākara contains 29 taraṅgas and deals with the following subjects:—meaning of dāna; what may or may not be gifted; fit objects of charity: the gifts called mahādānas; gifts of a thousand cows and heaps of corn; various gifts, such as those of food, books; gifts appropriate to certain months, nakṣatras and tithis; miscellaneous gifts; dedication of wells and tanks for public use; planting of treeṣ

The Vivādaratnākara is an extensive work (671 pages in print) in 100 taraṅgas on civil and criminal law and deals with the 18 titles of law such as dāyabhāga (on partition and inheri- tance), ṛṇādāna (recovery of debts) and otherṣ It formed the basis of the Vivādacandra of Misarumiśra, the Vivāda-cintāmaṇi of Vācaspati and the Daṇḍaviveka of Vardhamāna. It is mentioned in his Gṛhastharatnākara.⁶ The Vyavahāraratnākara deals with judicial procedure, such as the plaint, the reply, the burden of proof, means of proof, judgment etc. Vide Mitra’s Notices, vol. VI. p. 66, No. 2036. The Śuddhiratnākara is in 34 taraṅgas and deals with impurity on birth and death, persons who who have to observe no āśauca, mean-ing of sapiṇḍa, rites on death up to the end of the period of mourning, purifications of food and various substanceṣ Vide Mitra’s Notices, vol. VII. p. 149, No. 2384 and I. O. Cat. p. 412, No. 1389. For the Pūjāratnākara, vide Mitra’s Notices, vol. III, p. 162, No. 2398. It is desirable to mention in one place the references to the several Ratnākaras in Raghunandana’s Smṛtitattva. Kṛtyaratnākara– (vol. I) Tithi 85, Jyotistattva 688, Mala° 768, Gṛhastha-R. in vol. I, Tithi p.120, Prāyaścitta 509, 520, (vol. II) Udvāha p. 146; Dāna-R. –by Raghu°, vol. I in Prāyaścitta p. 478, Jyotistattva 689, (vol. II, Vyavahāra, p. 214; Vivāda-R. in vol. II, Udvāha p. 39, Śuddhi p. 236; Pūjāratnākara in (vol. I) Tithi 102, 129, Āhnika 397; (vol. II), Mātha pp. 627, 631; Śuddhi-ratnākara; (vol. I) Mala° p. 795, (vol. II) Śuddhi p. 301. Besides this digest Cāṇḍeśvara compiled several other workṣ Kṛtyacintāmaṇi is one of such workṣ It is a question when it was composeḍ In his Gṛhastharatnākara he says that certain architectural and decorative constructions called Śrīvṛkṣa, Vardha-māna and Nandyāvarta have been spoken of by him in the Kṛtyacintāmaṇi.⁷ But the Kṛtyacintāmaṇi says that he has already composed the seven ratnākaras⁸. The Kṛtyacintāmaṇi is divided into sections called prakāśaṣ It deals with astronomical matters in relation to the performance of several religious ceremonies and saṁskāras, such as tārāśuddhi, the intercalary month, garbhādhāna, sīmantonnayana, birth of a child on the Mūla nakṣatra, the rites on the 6th day after birth, nāmakaraṇa, the movements of Saturn, Sun’s passage from one sign into another, the results of eclipses etc. The Kṛtyacintāmni expressly states that it was composed after all the seven Ratnākaraṣ The Kṛtyacintāmaṇi is frequently quoted by Raghu- nandana; vide (vol. I) Tithi pp. 21, 36, 44; Śrāddhah 282, Jyotistattva pp. 583, 594, 606, Saṁskāra 920; (vol. II) Kṛtya pp. 426, 473, Mala p. 616.

Another work of Cāṇḍeśvara, the Rājaṇītiratnākara, was published at Patna (1924) by Mr. K. P. Jayasval with a learned introduction dealing with the personal history of Cāṇḍeśvara, his relations with the Maithila kings and the mediaeval Indian litera- ture on politicṣ It appears that Cāṇḍeśvara did not contemplate the writing of a work on politics when he compiled his great digest. He wrote the work at the commend of the king Bhaveśa or (Bhaveśvara) of Mithila.⁹ The work contains 16 taraṅgas (waves, i. e. chapters) on the following subjects:—definition of a king, different grades of kings, the eighteen vices or calamities for kings, duties of kings; the characteristics and duties of amātyas (councillors ); the characteristics of purohita; the characteristics and duties of a prāḍvivāka (Judge); the members of the hall of justice (sabhyas), their number and qualifications; concerning forts; the time and place and accessories of the settlement of royal policy; concerning the state treasury; the army; the com- mander-in-chief and the discipline of the army; ambassadors, allies, and spies; the general obligations of kings, conflict of Dharmaśāstra and Arthaśāstra, the six guṇas—saṁdhi etc., the maṇḍala of kings; the king’s power of punishment; abdication by king, the heir-apparent, impartibility of the kingdom; the eldest son’s right to succeed, the seven constituent elements of the state; obligation towards the poor, the helpless etc.; the coronation of the heir-apparent or his investiture. There are two more works composed by Cāṇḍeśvara viz., the Dānavākyāvali and the Śivavākyāvali. Vide I. O. Cat. p. 1409, No. 3724 for the latter and Haraprasad Shastri's Cat. (1925) vol. III No. 2393 pp. 465-66 for the Dānavākyāvali. Raghunandana quotes Dānavākyāvali in (vol. II) Udvāha p. 138 (which is most probably this work of Cāṇḍeśvara).

Cāṇḍeśvara names in his works, particularly in the Kṛtyaratnākara and the Vivādaratnākara, a host of writers and workṣ In his great digest he drew largely upon five predecessors and incorporated often without acknowledgment much or almost all that was valuable in theṃ These five predecessors were the Kāmadhenu, the Kalpataru, the Pārijāta, the Prakāśa (i. e. Smṛtimahārṇava) and Halāyudha, all of which he quotes scores of timeṣ At the end of the Vivādaratnākara he boasts that what-ever is of the essence in the above five works and even more is comprehended in his single work the Ratnākara.¹⁰ Dr. Jayasval rightly points out (in Intro. to Rājanītiratnākara p. p.) 'From Lakṣmīdhara's Kalpataru on Vyavahāra Cāṇḍeśvara borrows into his Vivādaratnākara practically the whole book'. The boastful references to himself and highly slighting remarks about Kāmadhenu, Kalpataru and other works which occur in his works are felt by modern readers as very objectionable and offensive, since he appropriates without express acknowledgement the valuable parts of such works as the Kāmadhenu, Kalpataru and otherṣ

In several papers Mr. (now Dr.) Bhabatosh Bhattacharya attempts to show Cāṇḍeśvara's indebtedness to others (vide the following) and also offers some other matters about Cāṇḍeśvara and others: ( 1 ) Cāṇḍeśvara's indebtedness to Ballālasena ' in I. C. vol. XI pp. 141-44; ( 2 ) Cāṇḍeśvara's indebtedness to Śrīdatta in N. I. A. (Poona Vol. V No. 2 pp. 36-38); ( 3 ) The Dānasāgara and Dānaratnākara ' in the Proceedings of the 15th All-India Oriental Conference (Bombay) pp. 281-83; ( 4 ) Supplementary portion of Gṛhastharatnākara in I. C. vol. XIII pp. 79-84; ( 5 ) Cāṇḍeśvara's own account of himself Cāṇḍeśvara and his patron Harisimhadeva in the Proceedings of All-India Oriental Conference at Tirupati (1940) pp. 171–175. I have to protest against a careless remark of the writer on p. 171 ‘Though the Gṛhastharatnākara of Cāṇḍeśvara was published in 1928 he has not utilized the printed edition, but consulted the incomplete Deccan College Mṣ of the same, which has only folios 30, 72–113 and has thus failed to supply the additional information contained in its Introductory verses¹¹.’

Here the writer has done an injustice to me. The first volume of the ‘History of Dharmaśāstra ’ was published at Poona by the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute in August 1930. It contains 760 pages, the first 466 pages being more important than the rest; the remaining pages contain long lists of the works and authors on Dharmaśāstra. In the first part of 1926 was published by the same Institute the Vyavahāramayūkha edited by me (text and exhaustive notes ). That is, the work of writing and seeing through the press the first volume of the H. of Dh. was at the most spread over about four years and a half from 1926. Cāṇḍeśvara’s career and works are dealt with in pp. 366–372. The pages must have been written in the last months of 1927 or the first part of 1928. The press was in Poona and I, who examined three proofs of each form, was in Bombay and this took time. There are several fallacies in Mr. Bhattacharya’s remarkṣ A work in Sans- krit published in Calcutta in 1928 may not be known at all elsewhere for years, unless the publisher sends of his own accord copies or advertisements to different parts of India or unless writers or libraries and learned societies in other provinces place general orders with publishers in Calcutta to send books pub- lished by theṃ The only Library in Bombay in those days that contained a large number of Sanskrit Msṣ or printed Sanskrit works was that of the Asiatic Society; but even that Society had and has limited resources, as it was and is a general library and hardly ever placed general orders for Sanskrit works with publishers in other and distant parts of India. There are thou- sands of authors and works in Sanskrit on Dharmaśāstra ( as pp. 507–760 of the first volume will indicate). I selected only 113 out of them for treatment in 466 pages and relied on printed works and Msṣ available chiefly in Bombay and Poona. I nowhere promised that I would scour all Sanskrit Msṣ or printed works in the whole of India and elsewhere. In this particular instance there is nothing to show that the work was even printed when I wrote the pages on Cāṇḍeśvara or sent them to the Press in Poona.

Among the authors and works mentioned in his seven ratnā- karas, those mentioned below deserve to be noteḍ¹² In I. L. R. 12 Cal. 348 ( at p. 356 ) the learned judges appear to hold that the Pārijāta mentioned in the Vivādacintāmaṇi is the Madanapārijāta. But this is obviously a mistake ( vide pp. 655–56 above on Pārijāta ), Besides these in his Rājaṇītitratnākara he names Kāmandaka, Kullūkabhaṭṭa, Pallava and Pallavakāra, Śrīkara. What is printed as Naṭasūtra in the Vivādaratnākara ( p. 477 ) is really Lāṭa ( i. e. Lāṭyāyana Śrautasūtra ). Cāṇḍeśvara mentions many vernacular words ( e. g. Kṛtyaratnākara pp. 109, 111, 306, 338, 443 ).

We learn a great deal about the family and personal history of Cāṇḍeśvara from his workṣ The Vivādaratnākara in the intro- duction and in the colophon tells us that Cāṇḍeśvara was a mantrin ( a minister ), was entrusted with the office of minister for peace and war, that he conquered Nepal and weighed himself against gold on the banks of the Vāgvatī in śake 1236 ( 1314 A. D. ).¹³ There are more or less similar colophons at the end of 91. Cāṇḍeśvara the Rajanītiratnākara and the other ratnākaraṣ The grand-father of Cāṇḍeśvara was Devāditya,¹⁴ who was minister of Hara-simhadeva of Tirhut and who belonged to the Karṇāṭa family. Two families ruled over Mithilā viz. the Karṇāṭa dynasty from 1097 A. D. to 1324 A. D. followed by the Kāmeśvara dynasty. The first started with Nanyadeva and ended with Harisimha-deva (vide JBORS vol. IX p. 300 ff. and vol. X. p. 37 and JBRS vol. 43 for 1957 pp. 1–6 by Dr. R. C. Majumdar and ‘Karṇāṭa rulers of Mithila’ in the same volume pp. 61–63 by Mr. Kamal Narain Jha). Harisimhadeva had to retire before the Delhi Sultan Ghiasuddin Tughlak and established himself in Nepal which happened in December 1324 A. D. as the note from the Pañjī historian of Mithilā (vide note 1161 below) shows and ruled there for several yearṣ

The correct name of the king was Harisimhadeva, though the printed Kṛtyaratnākara exhibits the name as Harasimhadeva (Intro. verse 4). It would be seen from the genealogy that Vidyāpati, famous for his padas in Maithili, was the son’s son of Jayadatta, a first paternal cousin of Cāṇḍeśvara. Vidyāpati in his Puruṣaparīkṣā, 2nd tale (Subuddhākaṭhā) narrates the story of Harisimhadeva. There is great confusion about the birth-date of Vidyāpati, some saying, that he was born in 1340, while others hold that his birth was in 1380 A. D. or 1390 A. D. Most hold that he died in 1448 A. D. It is unnecessary to give more details about him here. Vide I. A. vol. 14 pp. 182–196 by Dr. Grierson, vol. 28 pp. 57–58; ‘Poems of Vidyāpati’ in Devanāgari by Khagendranath Mitra with a valuable Introduction of 132 pages, reviewed in J. G. J. R. I. Vol. X pp. 175–196. Dr. Jayakant Mishra’s ‘History of Maithilī Literature’ vol. I describes on pp. 130–196 the period 1350–1450 A. D. as the age of Vidyāpati Thakur. Besides his famous lyrical poems in Maithili some Sanskrit works are ascribed to him viz. Varṣakṛtya (which Raghu° in Mala° in vol. I p. 823 mentions as Vidyāpati’s), Gaṅgā-vākyāvalī (Raghu° vol. I. pp. 39, 79 and 259 mentions a work of this name but its author is not named), Dānavākyāvalī (vol. II Udvāha 138, author not named), Durgābhaktitaraṅgiṇī (mentioned in vol. I Tithitattva pp. 81, 83, 96, no author named), Saivasarvasvasāra, Vibhāgasāra, Gayāvākyāvalī and four more (which have hardly any bearing on dharmaśāstra). Of these Gaṅgāvākyāvalī, and Saivasarvasvasāra are attributed to queen Viśvāśadevī and Dānavākyāvalī to queen Dhīramati. Vide new I. A. vol. VII pp. 49-57 by G. C. Basu and Mr. Bhabatosh Bhattacharya’s paper in the Proceedings of All-India Oriental Conference at Benares (in 1943-44) vol. II. pp. 288–297. The grant of the village Bisapi to Vidyāpati (now held by scholars as spurious) is set out by Grierson on p. 191 of his paper in I. A. vol. 14 pp. 182–196 on ‘Vidyāpati and his Contemporaries’ and Grierson in I. A. vol. 28 pp. 57–58 states that the grant is dated in La. Saṁ. 292 i. e. 1400–1 A. D. i. e. he holds that La. Saṁ. started in 1109 A. D. (vide above p. 733 for La. Saṁ.) and he sets out the Kāmeśvara dynasty as followṣ Pañjīkāras mention four rulers after Viśvāśadevī, but as Vidyāpati does not mention them they are omitted here.

KĀMEŚVARA Kāmeśvara ├── Bhogīśvara (died in La. Saṁ. 251) │ └── Gaṇeśvara (ḍ in La. Saṁ. 252) │ └── Kīrtisimha (Kīrtilatā was written by Vidyāpati in his honour) = Queen Viśvāśadevī. └── Bhavasimha or Bhaveśa └── Devasimha died (in La. Saṁ. 293). └── Śivasimha (married several times, one of the queens being Lachima and he took additional title of Rūpanārāyaṇa, and founded a city called Śivasimhapurā, also known as Gajarathapurā.

There is no unanimity about the chronology of the rulers of the Karṇāṭa dynasty.

The last three of the Karṇāṭa Dynasty are stated to have been Rāmasimha, Śaktisimha and Harisimha. But even here there is a difficult probleṃ In the Inscription of Pratāpamalla (I. A. vol. IX pp. 184, 188, 189) a king named Bhūpālasimha is shown as having ruled between Śaktisimha and Harisimha. The present author need not deal with that question here. We know from the Kṛtyaratnākara (2nd Intro. verse quoted in note 1154 ) 91. Cāṇḍeśvara that Devāditya, the grand-father of Cāṇḍeśvara, was the chief minister of the king. After Devāditya his son Vīreśvara became chief minister and Cāṇḍeśvara, the eldest son of Vīreśvara, held several offices such as chief justice, also minister for peace and war and chief minister (vide note from Mitra's Notices vol. VI p. 67). As Cāṇḍeśvara weighed himself against precious metals in śake 1236 (1314 A. D.), it follows that he must have been for at least several years a favourite minister of the king Harisiṃhadeva, to whom the Pāñjī historians of Mithilā assign a reign of 20 years i. e. Harisiṃhadeva began to rule about 1304 A. D. Harisiṃha- deva, being defeated, went to Nepal and the Delhi emperor put in his place Kāmeśvara Rājapaṇḍita.¹⁵ One of the sons of Devāditya was Vīreśvara who was also a minister for peace and war of the same king and is said to have made grants to learned Brāhmaṇas in Rāmapura (i. e. Simraon in Champaran District) and other cities (verse 10 of Kṛtyaratnākara). Mr. Jayasval points out in his introduction to the Rājaṇīti-ratnākara (j) that the correct name of the king was Harisiṃhadeva. Another son of Devāditya was Gaṇeśvara who was younger than Vīre- śvara and who was also a great minister and author of Suga- tisopāna. A copy of this work bears the date La-saṃ (Lakṣmaṇasena era) 224 (i. e. 1343-44 A. D.).¹⁶ In the colophon of this work Devāditya is called 'mahāmāttra' (mahāmātra) and Gaṇeśvara is styled mahārājādhirāja. In the Śrāddhaviveka of Rudradhara the Sugatisopāna is said to be the work of one who was pratihastaka (deputy) of Bhavaśarma¹⁷ Cāṇḍeśvara was the son of Vīreśvara and like his father and grandfather became minister of Harisiṃhadeva. This must have happened about 1310 A. D., as he weighed himself in 1314 A. D. The Kṛtyaratnākara (verse 15) says that he touched the very idol of Paśupati in Nepal and worshipped it after conquering the country. From the Vyavahāraratnākara it appears that Cāṇḍeśvara was Chief Judge as well as Minister for peace and war.¹⁸ Cāṇḍeśvara and his ancestors are highly praised for their liberality¹⁹ In the Danaratnākara (verse 2 at the end) he is said to have rescued the earth submerged in the flood of Mlecchaṣ²⁰ This probably refers to the defeat of some Mahomedan generalṣ Harisimhadeva was routed by Ghiasuddin Tughlak in 1324 and retired from Tirhut into²¹ Nepal. Hence it follows that the seven The genealogy of Can·eśvara is set out below:

Karmāditya | |-- Devāditya | | | |-- Vīreśvara | | |-- Cāṇḍeśvara Jayadatta | | |-- Gaurīpati | | |-- Gaṇapati | | |-- Vidyāpati | | | |-- Dhīreśvara | | |-- Kīrti | | |-- Rāmadatta | | |-- Govindadatta | | | |-- Gaṇeśvara | |-- Jaṭeśvara | |-- Haradatta | |-- Lakṣmīdatt | |-- Śubhadatt | |-- Bhavāditya