Varna Ratnakara

The Varna Ratnakara, Maithili: वर्ण रत्नाकर, (IAST: Varṇa Ratnākara), literally "Ocean of description", is the oldest prose work of Maithili language, written in 1324[3] CE by the Maithil scholar, priest and poet Jyotirishwar Thakur.[4][5][6] The author was a part of the court of King Harisimhadeva (r. 1304–1324) of the Karnat dynasty whose capitals were in both Simraungadh (now in Nepal) and Darbhanga (now in Bihar, India).[7]

Varna Ratnakara
वर्ण रत्नाकार
Asiatic Society of Kolkata[1]
Varṇa Ratnākara manuscript, Page 77 (b)
TypeEncyclopedia[2]
Date1324
Place of originMithila
Language(s)Maithili
Author(s)Jyotirishwar Thakur
MaterialPalm leaf
Size12.7 × 5 cm; 77 leaves; 17 missing[1]
Conditionpreserved
ScriptTirhuta
DiscoveredPandit Hara Prasad Shastri (1885-90) in Nepal

This work contains descriptions of various subjects and situations. This work provides valuable information about the life and culture of medieval India.[8] The text is divided into seven Kallolas (waves): Nagara Varṇana, Nāyikā Varṇana, Asthāna Varṇana, Ṛtu Varṇana, Prayāṇa Varṇana, Bhaṭṭādi Varṇana and Śmaśāna Varṇana. An incomplete list of 84 Siddhas is found in the text, which consists only 76 names. A manuscript of this text is preserved in the Asiatic Society, Kolkata[9][10]

The word Abahattha was used for the very first time in this encyclopedic work.[11] Later the Maithili poet Vidyapati wrote his poem Kīrttilatā in Abahatta.[12]

Author

Varṇa Ratnākara was written by Jyotirīśvara Ṭhākura, also spelled Jyotirishwar Thakur. Thakur was born in a Brahmin family. He was son of Rāmeśvara and grandson of Dhīreśvara. He was the court poet of King Harisimhadeva of Karnata dynasty of Mithila.

References
  1. Jyotiśvara. (1998). Varṇa-ratnākara of Jyotiriśvara of Kaviśekharācārya. New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi. pp. ix. ISBN 81-260-0439-8. OCLC 40268712.
  2. Mukherjee, Sujit. (1998). A dictionary of Indian literature. Hyderabad: Orient Longman. p. 153. ISBN 81-250-1453-5. OCLC 42718918.
  3. Chatterji, Suniti Kumar (1966). The People, Language, and Culture of Orissa. Orissa Sahitya Akademi. p. 19.
  4. Sharma, R.K. "International Sanskrit Conference, New Delhi, March 26th-31st, 1972, Volume 2, Part 1". The Ministry, 1972. 2: 141.
  5. Choudhary, Indra Kumar (1988). Some Aspects of Social Life of Medieval Mithila, 1350-1750 A.D.: With a Special Reference to Contemporary Literatures. Kashi Prasad Jayaswal Research Institute. p. 187.
  6. Mukherjee, Ramkrishna (26 February 2019). Understanding social dynamics in South Asia : Essays in memory of Ramkrishna Mukherjee. Singapore. p. 205. ISBN 978-981-13-0387-6. OCLC 1088722592.
  7. Jha, Sureshwar (2005). "Political Thinkers in Mithila". p. 192. Retrieved 7 January 2018.
  8. Majumdar, Ramesh Chandra; Pusalker, A. D.; Majumdar, A. K., eds. (1960). The History and Culture of the Indian People. VI: The Delhi Sultanate. Bombay: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. p. 515. The Varṇa Ratnākara of Jyotirīśvara Ṭhākura ... was written about 1325. This is a work of set descriptions of various subjects and situations, to supply ready-made cliché passages to story-tellers ... [it] is important, not only because it gives us specimens of pure Maithilī prose ... but also because it is a store-house of information, conveyed through words, about the life and culture of early Medieval India in all their aspects.
  9. MS. No. 4834 of Asiatic Society of Bengal
  10. Shastri, Haraprasad Ed (1916). Hajar Bachorer Purano Bangla Bhashay Bouddha Gan O Doha. pp. 35–36.
  11. Jyotiśvara. (1998). Varṇa-ratnākara of Jyotiriśvara of Kaviśekharācārya. New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi. p. 126. ISBN 81-260-0439-8. OCLC 40268712.
  12. Jha, Pankaj (2019). A political history of literature : Vidyapati and the fifteenth century (First ed.). New Delhi. pp. 4–7. ISBN 978-0-19-948955-8. OCLC 1083625313.
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