Terminus ad quem for Dates of Nandapandita’s Sraddhakalpalata and Suddhicandriki—Samvat 1660=1603 A.C.

This article investigates the terminus ad quem, or latest possible date of composition, for two works by the Dharmasastra writer Nandapandita, alias Vindyakapandita Dharmadhikarin. Previously, scholars such as P. V. Kane placed Nandapandita's literary activities between 1595 and 1630 A.C. The main argument is that a newly discovered, dated manuscript of the Suddhicandriki pushes the lower limit for the date of composition of both the Suddhicandriki and the Sraddhakalpalata back by at least nineteen years. The evidence for this is a manuscript (Accession No. 7377) held at the Scindia Oriental Institute, Ujjain. This manuscript was purchased in 1945 at a grocer's shop in Lashkar, Gwalior. The manuscript was scribed by Purusottama$arman, likely in Banaras, on Wednesday, the 1st day of the dark fortnight of Sravana in Samvat 1660, which corresponds to July 1603 A.C. Because the Suddhicandriki references the Sraddhakalpalata as an already composed work, the author surmises that both texts were likely composed not later than Samvat 1655, which is 1599 A.C. This date aligns with the year mentioned on a manuscript of the Madbavananda-kavya. The sources discussed include the Kesavavaijayanti, a commentary on the Vispusmrti, which explicitly mentions a date of 1679 or 1623 A.C., and the Madbavananda-kavya, which holds a high probability of being composed in 1655 or 1599 A.C. The article relies heavily on the physical evidence of the Ujjain manuscript, the colophons within the text, and the internal references to the Sraddhakalpalata to establish the new chronological timeline.

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