स्तवचिन्तामणि- Stavacintamani of Bhattanarayana: Philosophical Hymnal Verses in Adoration of Lord Siva (An Old and Rare Book)

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Stavacintamani is a composition of hymnal verses authored by Bhattanarayana, the great Siva-devotee of Kashmir. The Kashmiri Saivite writer Ksemaraja wrote a commentary on this book bringing out the philosophical, devotional and literary characteristics of the verses. The philosophical thoughts and the concept of devotion permeating within the verses follow in line of monistic Saivism of Kashmir also known as Pratyabhijna or Trik philosophy.

The Stavacintamani is an important composition in the tradition of philosophical hymnal literature. The author has prayed Lord Siva in manifold forms through the 120 invocatory verses of the composition. These verses show an unique merger of the philosophical and devotional or emotional dispositions. They, in fact, present an unparalleled illustration of how the monistic Saivism of Kashmir could be expressed through devotional songs. The invocations emerge from the bottom of mind of the devotee-poet, and admitting the entire universe as Lord Siva inhere all the objects-sentient as well as insentient and then merge where those emerged from. The process of emergence of devotional emotions from the mind, then staying outwardly and ultimately merging in the same mind is fully consistent with the principle Free Will of the monistic Saivism of Kashmir which enunciate that the entire world emerges from the universal mind of Lord Siva, stays on the same base but differently and separately and at the time of dissolution merges again in the same universal mind.

The present book contains the original text of invocation (Stutis), translation of the text into Hindi and English and also the footnotes in order to explain the technical words and expressions used in the text. A comprehensive introduction given in the beginning of the book provides in brief the tradition of hymnal literature, introduction of the author Bhattanarayana and a comprehensive study of Stavacintamani with regards to its philosophical, devotional and literary aspects. As such the book would be very useful for the students of Monistic Saivism of Kashmir.

Birth July, 1937, in the village Chhatauni of Gonda District (U.P.) Education: Primary School Education in Chhatauni and Sisai villages; Junior High School Education in Paraspur Town; High School and Intermediate College Education in the Thompson Inter College in Gonda city; Graduation and Post-Graduation in Sanskrit and Sahityacharya from Lucknow University and Post- Graduation in Hindi from Delhi University. Studied Kashmir Saivism under the able guidance of Prof. K.C. Pandey in Lucknow University.

Teaching: Language Teacher during 1959-1962 in Senior Secondary schools in Delhi.

Central Government Service: Research Assistant in Central Hindi Directorate (M/o Education) from 1962. to 1971; Senior Translator and Translation Officer in Central Translation Bureau (M/o Home Affairs) from 1971 to 1975; Assistant Director (O.L.) and Deputy Director (O.L.) in the Income Tax Department from 1975 till retirement in 1995 and was associated with. the work of implementation of Official Language policy, preparation of help literature for the implementation of official language and administration of staff in the whole of the 1.T. Department.

The Stavacintamani of Bhattanarayana is a composition of philosophical hymnal verses (stotras) in praise of Lord Siva. The stotra literature, the vast literature in Sanskrit written in the form of hymnal verses, remained neglected by the rhetoricians in the past. Fortunately, this literature attracted the attention of modern scholars and rhetoricians resulting in the initiation and undertaking of critical studies of this part of literature on a large scale. The present critical study together with translation of the text of Stavacintamani is an humble attempt in this direction.

The present study of the Stavacintamani is divided in two main parts-the Introduction and the Translation. The translation, the second part of the book, contains the text in Sanskrit followed by its translation in Hindi and English together with footnotes on technical and important expressions, while the Introduction, the first part of the book is further subdivided in two chapters the first chapter gives an account of the tradition of stotra literature followed by a brief description of the parentage and date of Bhattanarayana available on internal and external evidences, while the second chapter deals with the main theme of the Stavacintamani in three sub-chapters dealing respectively with the philosophical thoughts found, the nature of devotion (Bhakti) revealed and the literary excellence shown in the hymnal verses of the author.

काश्मीर शैवमत, जो सामान्यतः प्रत्यभिज्ञा दर्शन या त्रिकदर्शन के नाम से विख्यात है, से अभी तक हमारा परिचय ऐसी परिपक्व दार्शनिक विचारधारा के रूप में है जो कट्टर अद्वयवाद की प्रतिपादक है। सत् और ज्ञान की अखंडता से इतनी घोर प्रतिबद्धता पूरे भारतीय दर्शन की निगम और आगम दोनों परम्पराओं में दुर्लभ है। आगमिक विचारधारा की शिखरमणि के रूप में यह दर्शन जहाँ अपनी कठोर बौद्धिकता से हमें आक्रान्त करता है वहीं अद्वैत भक्ति में इसकी प्रचंड निष्ठा की चेतना अपेक्षाकृत हमें बहुत कम है।

यहाँ जीवन, सत्ता और अनुभव के सूक्ष्म गंभीर विश्लेषण द्वारा जिस परमार्थ तत्त्व का उन्मीलन हुआ है उसकी विभागासहिष्णु समग्रता में ही अद्वय भक्ति के उदय का कारण ढूंढा जा सकता है। जीवन के केन्द्रीय अर्थ, परम सत्य, की खोज में भारतीय मनीषा जिन तीन मार्गों ज्ञान, योग और भक्ति का आश्रय लेकर चली है उनके मूल में मानव-व्यक्तित्व के तीन पक्षों बुद्धि, कर्म और भावना - की क्रमिक सक्रियता साफ देखी जा सकती है। भक्ति और उसकी अद्वयता क्रमशः दो बातों को रेखाङ्कित करती है: एक, भक्ति होने के नाते आध्यात्मिक साधना में भावना पक्ष की उल्बणता या केन्द्रीयता को और दो, बुद्धि, कर्म और भावना फलतः ज्ञान योग, क्रिया योग तथा भक्ति योग की अखण्डान्विति को, जो आध्यात्मिक साधना को परिपूर्णता तथा समग्रता प्रदान करती हैं। यही कारण है कि शिवाद्वयवाद अपना स्वरूपविमर्श 'महाद्वैत' या 'पराद्वैत' की शब्दावली में करता है।