Vasudevavijaya of Vasudeva (Study)
by Sajitha. A | 2018 | 50,171 words
This page relates ‘Padacandrika—The auto commentary’ of the study on the Vasudevavijaya of Vasudeva from the 11th century A.D. The Vasudevavijayam is an educational poem belonging to the Shastra-Kavya category of technical Sanskrit literature. The Vasudevavijayam depicts in 657 verses the story of Lord Krishna while also elucidates the grammatical rules of the Ashtadhyayi of Panini (teaching the science of grammar). The subject-content of the poem was taken from the tenth Skandha of the Bhagavatapurana.
Padacandrikā—The auto commentary
Padacandrikā is an auto commentary written on Vāsudevavijaya It is a poem in 657 verses divided in seven cantos and seems very difficult to understand without the help of a commentary as it is written to illustrate the grammatical rules of Aṣṭādhyāyī. Hence the author himself composes a commentary on the poem viz. Padacandrikā.
He states in Padacandrikā:—
kāvyaṃ mayā vāsudevavijayamakāri yat |
vyākhyāpi tasya tanvīyaṃ kriyate padacandrikā ||[1]
The verses of VVare poetic even while they elucidate the science of grammar. The poem impresses the scholarly mind as well as the ordinary people. This is done by the help of the Padacandrikā commentary. The commentary is undoubtedly helpful for the students to understand such a difficult poem.
Another important feature of the commentary is there mentions certain grammarians such as Jayāditya, Bhoja, Bopadeva, Kṣīrasvāmin etc.[2] Padacandrikā comprises the opinions of these grammarians somewhere in order justify some derivations. Thus the commentary is helpful to understand the perspectives of other grammarians also. The allusions of such grammarians are explicated in the fifth chapter which brings forth the impact of other disciplines in Vāsudevavijaya.
The commentary is a treasury of quotations from other disciplines which shed light on the proficiency of the author in such areas. These quotations are incorporated to substantiate certain statements provided in the poem. For example in order to justify the worship made by Vasudeva to the sun, it quotes a hemistich ādityasya sadā pūjām | from Smṛti.[3] References from Veda, Vedāṅga, Dharmaśāstra, Darśana etc. can be found in the commentary. The skillfulness of Vāsudevain other disciplines is revealed from the Padacandrikā.
Padacandrikā commentary not only provides help in understanding the grammatical aspects but also makes capable to perceive the other branches of knowledge.
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
ibid, v.1
[3]:
The fifth chapter deals with the impact of other disciplines in Vāsudevavijaya A discussion on this matter is dealt with in this chapter.