Details

Subjects:

Bathing customs.
India.
Siva (Hindu deity).
Lingas (Śaivism).
Devotional literature, Sanskrit.
Hindu pilgrims and pilgrimages -- India.
Hindu pilgrims and pilgrimages.
Bathing customs -- India.
Vārānasi (Uttar Pradesh, India).

Form/Genre:

Prayers.
Poems.
Hymns.
Manuscripts, Sanskrit.
Manuscripts.

Language:

In Sanskrit (Devanāgarī)

Summary:

Collection of two texts dedicated to pilgrimage routes (yātrās) around the sacred Hindu center of Vārāṇasī. The first text (f. 1r-7r) names a large set of liṅgas, the liturgical emblem of the deity Śiva, around the city, prescribing ritual bathing at each of the sacred sites (tīrthas), many of which are along one of the three rivers of Vārāṇasī. It names several well known sites such as Mahākāla, Viśveśvara, Someśvara, and Vigneśvara, among others known in the city. The second text (f. 8r-10v) is taken from a section of the Pañcakrośīmāhātmya of the Brahmavaivartapurāṇa called the Pañcakrośīyātrā or the Pilgrimage route of the city of five krośa (another traditional name for the city of Vārāṇasī). Primary purpose, like the first part, is to highlight centers sacred to the god Śiva and especially in his liṅga form. The manuscript is well worn with many smudges throughout the text through constant use in private or public meditation and prayer, forming a mental pilgrimage (yātrā) of the physical spaces named in the text.

Contents:

(Part 1:) Liṅgayātra
(Part 2:) Pañcakrośīyātrā.

Notes:

Title from title colophon (f. 7r); second title Pañcakrośīyātrā from second colophon (f. 10v).
Written in 11-12 lines per leaf.
10 leaves foliated 1-10, upper left and lower right verso.
Colophon: iti brahmavaivartte paṃcakrāśīmahātme pa[ṃ]cakrośīpātrāsamāptā // śubhabhavatusaṃ[vat] 1798 cairakṛṣṇa 9 śrukre samyak (f. 10v).
Dated saṃvat 1798 cairakṛṣṇa 9 śrukre samyak (Sunday, March 26, 1741) (f. 10v).
Mistakes blacked out; some corrections and additions in margins; double vertical black lines mark margins.
Non-Latin script record.

Cited in:

Listed in H. I. Poleman, Census of Indic Manuscripts in the United States and Canada (New Haven, Conn.: American Oriental Society, 1938), Poleman 1153 and 2994 (UP 2403).

Cited as:

UPenn Ms. Coll. 390, Item 2403

Contains:

Puranas. Brahmavaivartapurāṇa. Pañcakrośīmāhātmya.
Pañcakrośīyātrā.

OCLC:

794179080