Chapter II: Survey of the Literature

Following is the review of the earlier scholarly attempts made in the study of the
n mo P āṇa. For over a century, Indologists and art historians have
approached the text with various perspectives and methods.
For the proposed study the first important text is the critical edition of the third
khaṇḍa of the n mo P āṇa by Dr. Priyabala Shah published in the year
1958 by the Oriental Institute, Baroda.1 The critical edition of any part of the
n mo P āṇa had not been released till then. Originally it was her
doctoral thesis submitted in the University of Bombay in 1951, which contained only
1 to 88 chapters of the n mo P āṇa khaṇḍa III. However, the M.S.
University of Baroda accepted her work for publication in the Gaekwad Oriental
Series; after that, she added 89 to 118 chapters into it. For the present research on the
Nṛ śā , Shah's critical edition is considered as a primary source. It is based on
seven MSS, of which the oldest one is from Kashmir and in Śā ā script, the one
2
discovered by Bühler and currently in possession of Bhandarkar Oriental Research
Institute, Pune. Although Kashmir MS held as the basis of the critical edition, which
has maximum chapters, i.e. 3 to 339 amongst all other MSS, Shah completed the
critical edition of the n mo P āṇa khaṇḍa III by analyzing other
available MSS as well. However, she co l n’ secure MSS from Nepal and Dhaka.
But the learned scholar acquired and published the contents of the Nepal MS, which is
vital for the present study in deciding the period of the Nṛ śā . In the introduction
of the critical edition, she has discussed the importance of the n mo
P āṇa khaṇḍa III, its probable dating, and authorship. In 1961, Shah published the
second part of her work containing an introduction, appendixes and indices.3 With
concern to the Nṛ śā ,4 the content of each chapter is listed, and the brief
comparatives are written in footnotes in the light of parallel verses found in the
Nā śā n p n n v ā ī Hemc n Sū ī'
Abhidhān cin ām nī S n ī - nāk Ś ī-H m k āv lī e c. We will be referring

1
Viṣṇudharmottara-P āṇa Third khaṇḍa, Vol.I:Text, Critical Notes etc. (1958) pp.47-124.
2
Detailed Report of the Tour in Search of Sanskrit MSS made in Kashmir, Rajputana and Central
India, 1877.
3
Viṣṇudharmottara-P āṇa Third khaṇḍa, Vol.II: Introduction, Appendixes, Indexes etc. Oriental
Institute, Baroda, 1961.
4
Ibid. pp.35-102.

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to her work in the coming chapters of the thesis; one must admit that it is a significant
work as it provided a better version of the n mo P āṇa khaṇḍa III for
future researches.
In 1969, Tadashi Shimizu attempted to date the third khaṇḍa of the
n mo P āṇa based on the Śān rasa's presence in the text focusing on
the 30th chapter on rasa which occurs in the section of the Nṛ śā .5
There are two PhD theses on the n mo n c the portion of the
Nṛ śā has also been covered. Dr. Meena Jeste submitted her doctoral research to
Pune University in 1973 le ‘ n e P āṇas.’ She has covered portions on
music, dance, architecture, sculpture, painting and literature in the purāṇas l ke ā u,
n Mā k ṇḍe Ln Nā ṣṇu, B ā v B hmavaivarta, Harivaṃś
Matsya, Garuḍa, Bhaviṣya along with the n mo The main focus is on
understanding the nature of art forms in purāṇas. Another essential work concerning
the Nṛ śā eP e o P S ek on e ec ' c lS o
n mo P ān ' presented in the Bangalore University in 1988. Shashirekha
took all three khaṇḍas of the text for her doctoral research and referred to the critical
edition mentioned above along with the Venkateshvara Press publication and other 12
volumes of the n mo P āṇa. Her work covers the following topics:
characteristics of purā s and up -purā s, date of the n mo P āṇa,
alaṅkār s and other literature-based chapters, N śā m c p n n emple
building, image-making, cosmology, other sciences like botany, veterinary sciences,
i.e. the science of horses and elephants, Ᾱyurveda, astronomy, psychiatry, etc., social
beliefs, mythology and ethics. Majorly following Shah's observations on the chapters
on dance, Shashirekha revisited the text by inspecting the Nā śā
A n p n n S n ī r nāk one S oo
In 1990, senior Kathak exponent and scholar Dr. Puru Dadheech published a
Hindi translation of subjected fifteen chapters under the name N ū another
relevant text for our study. He has briefly noted down the comments in the appendix 6
along with a few of his remarks on the Rahasya and the Nṛ śā mudrās. Dadheech
is the first scholar from the field of the performing arts who acknowledged the worth
of the dance material found in the n mo P āṇa khaṇḍa III.

5
The Viṣṇudharmottara P āṇa khaṇḍa III 30 n e Nāṭ śā 6 – A comparative Study, in
the Journal of Indian and Buddhist Studies 18.1, 1969, pp.16-21.
6
Nṛ ū m (1990) pp.137-163.

25
 Dr. Prakash Pandey attempted the practical execution of some of the
Nṛ śā mudrās in his book M āv m ś p l e n 1990 Belon n o e
family of arcaka o o e n vā n tantra practitioner himself, Pandey
could interpret few gestures practically based on the technical details given in the text,
which has helped to understand the visual aspect of the concerned hand gestures.
Apart from the sources mentioned above, two more texts are significant in
appreciating the religious background of the purāṇa literature, which have provided
insights into the proposed research. H z p l e ‘T e tudies in upa-
purā s in 1958. With his scholarly and minute study, Hazra presented the astute
analysis about the complex characteristics of purā as, the role of politics and religion,
their probable creators and period. In e e 2000 on l In en o e on e
'Impe l P ān - Kashmir as V n v en e o e o l ' oc n on e
n mo P āṇa. While discussing about the religiosity of the
n mo P āṇa in the light of the contemporaneous politics in Kashmir
Inden has argued how the text serves the purpose of making Kashmir a Pāñc ā
country. In en’ ok pl e n mpo n ole n forming the hypothesis for this
research.
We would humbly say that the present research stands on the insights gained
from works done by previous scholars. We hope that the proposed research which is
devoted entirely to the Nṛ śā of the n mo P āṇa will reveal some
fresh significant observations given to the all-inclusive inter-disciplinary approach.

26