Dasadhyayi

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Dasadhyayi (Devanāgarī: दशाध्यायी, IAST: Daśādhyāyī) is the famous reputed commentary on the first ten chapters of Varāha Mihira’s Bṛhat Jātaka by Govinda Bhaṭṭathiri (1237 – 1295) of Talakkulam who hailed from Alattur, a village near Thirur in South Malabar, Kerala,^[1][2] and who had also written Muhūrtapadavī.^[3] This text was regularly studied and memorised along with Bṛhat Jātaka^[4] and its interpretation of terms readily accepted.^[5]

Daśādhyāyī was primarily written by Govinda Bhattathiri in simple language and style for the benefit of his own disciples, and is based on experimentation and observation; he has focussed on prediction and profusely quoted sources but he has followed more the views of Sārāvalī on which basis he has also criticized Varāhamihira.^[6]With regard to the value and importance of Daśādhyāyī, which commentary is the foremost amongst the twenty-eight commentaries on Bṛhat Jātaka, Harihara, the author of Praśna Mārga, states that -

Sanskrit: अदृष्ट्वा यो दशाध्यायीं फलमादेष्टुमिच्छति । इच्छत्येव समुद्रस्य तरणं स प्लवं विना ॥३२॥
IAST: adṛṣṭvā yo daśādhyāyīṃ phalamādeṣṭumicchati । icchatyeva samudrasya taraṇaṃ sa plavaṃ vinā ॥32॥

English Translation by Dr. B.V Raman:
“One, who attempts to predict without the Daśādhyāyī, would be like a man trying to cross an ocean without a boat.”

– Praśna Mārga: Importance of Varāhamihira, Śloka 32, Prathamādhyāya - Chapter 1.

According to Dr. B.V Raman, Govinda Bhattathiri has very intelligently tried to read some secret or hidden meanings into Varāhamihira’s writings other than they would ordinarily imply.^[7] However, M.Ramkrishna Bhatt is of the opinion that either the author of Daśādhyāyī was Govinda Bhattathiri and the author of Nauka some other writer who is not yet known, or Govinda Bhattathiri did not write Daśādhyāyī. ^[8]

References