आर्यमञ्जुश्रीमूलकल्प: The Aryamanjusrimulakalpa (An old Book) (Set of 3 Volumes)

DETAILS : 

• Publisher: Sri Satguru Publications
  
• Author: M M T Ganapati Sastri
  
• Language: Sanskrit Only
  
• Pages: 722
  
• Cover: HARDCOVER
  
• Weight 1.20 kg
  
• Edition: 1989
  
• ISBN: Vol1-8170301793, Vol-II 8170301807, Vol-III 8170301815

ABOUT THE BOOK

The Aryamanjusrimulakalpa (Set of 3 Volumes), critically edited and introduced by the legendary Mahamahopadhyaya T. Ganapati Sastri, is an irreplaceable textual monument in the fields of Buddhist Studies, Sanskrit philology, and South Asian history. Originally published in the early 20th century as part of the famous Trivandrum Sanskrit Series (Anantasayana Samskrita Granthavali), this extensive Sanskrit text is widely recognized as one of the oldest, largest, and most complex surviving works belonging to the Kriyatantra class of Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhist literature.

The primary objective of this three-volume critical edition is to preserve and present the definitive Sanskrit framework of this ancient text, which had largely been lost in its land of origin and was previously known to international scholars primarily through its medieval Tibetan and Chinese translations. The Aryamanjusrimulakalpa is presented as a magnificent discourse delivered by Gautama Buddha in a celestial assembly, focusing on the cosmic Bodhisattva of wisdom, Manjushri. Structurally, the text operates as an encyclopedic ritual manual, detailing complex Mandalas (sacred geometric charts), Mudras (ritual hand gestures), Mantras, and astrological configurations used to invoke enlightened energies.

Beyond its intense ritualistic and esoteric content, the work is universally celebrated by modern historians for Chapter 53, known as the Rajavyakarana (The Prophecy on Kings). In this section, written in a prophetic, pseudo-predictive grammatical style, the text provides a highly detailed, continuous chronicle of the political history of Northern India, documenting the rise and fall of the Maurya, Gupta, and Gauda dynasties, alongside figures like King Harsha and Sasanka. By meticulously collating rare palm-leaf manuscripts, T. Ganapati Sastri rescued this massive work from obscurity, offering historians and Indologists an invaluable dual resource that serves as both a manual of tantric mysticism and a vital primary source for ancient Indian history.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mahamahopadhyaya T. Ganapati Sastri (1860–1926) was an intellectual titan, an extraordinary Sanskrit scholar, and the pioneering Curator of the Trivandrum Sanskrit Manuscripts Library. He is globally immortalized in literary history for his sensational discovery of the lost plays of Bhasa (including Svapnavasavadatta), a discovery that filled a massive gap in the history of classical Indian theater and earned him an honorary doctorate from the University of Tubingen.

Sastri’s scholarship is characterized by its flawless philological precision, systematic text-criticism, and tireless dedication to manuscript preservation. As the chief architect of the Trivandrum Sanskrit Series, he spent decades recovering, deciphering, and editing hundreds of rare, rotting palm-leaf manuscripts written in ancient scripts like Grantha and Malayalam. His introductions and critical notes are models of traditional Indian scholarship combined with objective, modern analytical standards, ensuring his legacy as one of the greatest textual editors of the modern era.