Sivasvamin's Kapphinabhyudaya

Hahn, Michael [Hrsg.]:
Śivasvāmin's Kapphiṇābhyudaya / ed. by Michael Hahn with preface in English, Sanskrit text, selected variant readings, index of verses and five appendices. - New Delhi : Aditya Prakashan, 2013. - viii, 464 S.
ISBN 978-81-7742-129-3
Rs. 1600,00
US$ 26,67 (Eastern Book Corp.)
US$ 44,85 (Biblia Impex)
US$ 51,30 (D.K. Agencies)
DDC: 891.21

Beschreibung
Śivasvāmin's epic poem King Kapphiṇa's Triumph composed in Kashmir in the second half of the ninth century, is one of the five extant Mahākāvyas composed during the first millennium CE. Due to the bad state of the edited text and the unavailability of a commentary it has not received the attention it deserves on account of its superior poetic qualities. The discovery of most of the missing folios of the best and oldest manuscript from Nepal and of a second complete manuscript made it possible to prepare a new edition in which most of the gaps and mistakes of the first edition could be removed. This book contains the first Devanagari version of the improved text. The content of the poem based on an old Buddhist legend from the Avadānaśataka, is quite unique. King Kapphiṇa's triumph is in fact a military defeat, because he loses the decisive battle against the Kosala king Prasenajit whose kingdom he had intended to conquer. This happens because Prasenajit is saved by the miraculous power of the Buddha in the very last moment. This impresses King Kapphiṇa and leads to his spiritual awakening and conversion to the doctrine of the Buddha. In the last consequence the Kapphiṇābhyudaya can be called a pacifistic poem. Śivasvāmin's command of Sanskrit and his literary techniques are extraordinary. He refines many of the existing figures of speech and introduces new ones. The bilingual canto xix is unprecedented and without successor, and it will require the united efforts of several generations of scholars until the full range of Śivasvāmin's poetical genius can be duly appreciated. The present edition is meant to contribute to this end. [Vom Buchumschlag].

Aus dem Inhalt
Preface to the Indian Edition
Sanskrit text of the Kapphiṇābhyudaya
Selected variant readings
Index of verses
Appendix I: English translations of cantos viii and xx
Appendix II: Analytic text of cantos vi, xviii, and xix
Appendix III: Postscript to the reprint Delhi 1989
Appendix IV: Gauri Shankar's introduction of 1937
Appendix V: Citrakāvya diagrams

Herausgeber
MICHAEL HAHN (*1941) is professor emeritus of Sanskrit and Tibetan of the Philipps University Marburg, Germany. He has edited and translated many works belonging to the poetic and didactic literature of Indian Buddhism, among them Candragomin's play Lokānanda, Haribhaṭṭa's Jātakamālā, the anonymous Mahājjātaka-mālā, Nāgārjuna's Ratnāvali and several minor works. Gopadatta's Jātakamālā and the oldest recension of Harṣadeva's Nāgānanda are under preparation. Profile page; Homepage.

Quellen: Aditya Prakashan; Biblia Impex; D.K. Agencies; Eastern Book Corp.; Vedams Books; WorldCat; Mitteilung in der Mailing-Liste "Indology", 21. Sept. 2013
Bildquelle: Aditya Prakashan
Bibliographie: [1]

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