Manuscript Material and Plan.
This critical edition of the Rtusamhara is based on six printed texts and one fragmentary Ms. (No. 372 of 1887-91) in the Government Mss. Library at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Poona. This contains the text and the commentary of Amarakirtti Sari. All this material has been indicated as under:-
A=Ms. containing Amarakīrtti Suri's commentary. B= K. R. Godbole's edition. B'Nirnayasagar Press edition. C= Calcutta edition of Jibananda. CPt. Damaru Vallabha Panta's edition. G-Gajendragadkar's edition. L=Leipzig edition of Böhlen. The text has been edited with the complete commentary of Manirama and the fragmentary commentary of Amarakırtti. As Manirama gives an exhaustive gloss on every word of the poem we have generally followed him in editing the text but at several places considerations of sense and context have forced us to adopt other variants. In foot-notes are given all variants as well as references to parallel descriptions in the Ramayana and classical Sanskrit literature. Four useful appendices are given at the end. The first contains a season-wise list of all interpolated verses. The second gives the alphabetically arranged Pada-index of all the verses. And the third is a Word-index of the whole text. In this the grammatical forms have been distinguished by different signs-the noun-forms have a hyphen at the end, the verbal forms are marked with a radical sign and the Live, waxing in thy strength, a hundred autumns, live through a hundred dewy seasons, a hundred springs. That these Rtus must have inspired the poets of the Vedic hymns is obvious from the faint pictures of the seasons drawn by them. Thus Rgveda X, 95, which was later a source of inspiration to Kalidasa for his Vikrmaorvaśiya, preserves an allusion to autumn nights, e.g.
यद्विरूपाचरं मत्यैष्ववसं रात्रीः शुरश्वत॑स्रः । घृतस्य स्तोकं सकृदर्ज आर्चा ताबें तातृपाणा बरामि ॥-RV X35,14
When amid men in altered shape I sojourned and spent four autumnal nights among them, I tasted once a day a drop of butter and even with that am I contented.
The mention of the same five seasons is also found in the Taittiriya Samhita. e.g.
श्रीष्मो हेमन्त उत नौ वसन्तः शरखुर्पाः सुवितो अस्तु । तेषामृतूनां शतशारदानां निवात एषामभये स्याम स्वाहा ॥ V. 7,2,4
Summer, winter and spring for us, Autumn, the Rains be favourable for us May we enjoy the favour and protection of these seasons through a hundred years of an older names of the Atharvaveda which is the repository culture, expressly records for the first time the six seasons, apparently without any order, e.g.
ग्रीष्मस् त भूमे वर्षाणि शरद् घेमन्त शिशिरो वसन्तः ।
ऋतवस् ते बिद्धिता द्वायना [अ] दोरात्रे पृथिवि नो दुहाताम् ॥६॥
-PS. XVII.4.6
Maintain us in well-being Summer, Winter, Dew-time, and Spring, Autumn, and Rainy season. Give us our share of cattle and of children. May we enjoy your unassailed protection.
This difference in enumeration is accounted for by an explanation given in the Aitareya Brahmana, e.g.
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