Mṛgendrāgama

Copied from a MS belonging to Jñānaskanda Gurukkal of Perungalur, Pudukkottai. It contains 8 prakaraṇas from the kriyāpāda and one from the caryāpāda. There are four extra pages in the beginning, the first two of which record the title of the text, the third gives the contents of the text and the fourth page records a note, which reads: " mṛgendrāgama

savyākhyā, kriyāpāda et caryāpāda. The original manuscript of Mṛgendrāgama written in the latter and former portion of two half foolscap size notebooks belongs to śrī S. Jñānaskanda śivācārya of Perungalur, Pudukottar. With an overage of twenty-eight lines per page of good but confusing handwriting there are on the whole two hundred and one pages in the original while the transcript covers 622 pages. The work contains kriya and caryāpādas of mṛgendrāgama with a commentary. Unlike other āgamas the subdivisions are named here as prakaraṇas instead of paṭalas. There are eight prakaraṇas in kriyāpāda, where as there is only one prakaraṇa in caryāpāda and that too seems to be incomplete in as much as neither the description of pavitravidhi is found there as proposed in 129th śloka, nor existed there the last of verse of the prakaraṇa, as seen in others in a metre different from anuṣṭubh. Without entering into the ceremonial pomposity of utsava and the like, the works deals in a clear, short and more modern style, with mainly the daily pūjās and matters connected with them. Everything depicted here is done in a masterly way. The commentary is from no mean efficient hand. The commentator Nārāyaṇakaṇṭha, son of Bhaṭṭavidyākaṇṭha, seems to be well versed in the āgamas as profuse quotations are cited there and there from pauṣkara, mataṅga, kiraṇa etc. Written in an attractive manner, the commentary while being short, lucid and unambiguous, is more explicate in cryptic places. Both the text and the commentary are guite free from the grammatical irregularities or archaisms that are rampant in other āgamas. The few errors found here are only writers " devils". Neelakantha Sarma. 01/08/1961 "