The story of King Śibi
in the Vahnipurāṇa & the Itihāsasamuccaya
A critical edition & translation of the śiber upākhyāna
Charles Li
This digital edition began as the supplementary material to the article
King Śibi in the Vahnipurāṇa,published in Asian Literature and Translation 10(1) (doi:10.18573/alt.58). That article contained a critical edition and translation of the śiber upākhyāna in the Vahnipurāṇa. However, after discovring that the text was almost identical to the version contained in the Itihāsasamuccaya, this project was enlarged to contain two critical editions, one of each version, as well as a hypertext translation connecting the Vahnipurāṇa, Itihāsasamuccaya, Mahābhārata, Vikramacarita, as well as many of the other texts that share material with these stories. Apart from the critical texts, diplomatic transcriptions of each witness are also included, linked to images of the source material where available.This work is archived by Zenodo:
Li, Charles. 2026.
Digital edition of the śiber upākhyāna in the Vahnipurāṇa & Itihāsasamuccaya.doi:10.5281/zenodo.7446515
Vahnipuraṇa śiber upākhyāna, critical text with apparatus, ed. Li 2023
Vahnipuraṇa śiber upākhyāna, critical text with apparatus, ed. Li 2027 forthcoming
[Itihāsasamuccaya śiber upākhyāna, critical text with apparatus, forthcoming]
Witnesses used in the editions
| Vahnipurāṇa, and quotations thereof | |
| VpBh | Vahnipurāṇa (ed. Bhowmik 2012, 530–537) |
| VpBh-C | manuscript C variants from apparatus |
| VpBh-D | manuscript D variants from apparatus |
| VpA | British Library IO SAN 1425 (manuscript A in Bhowmik 2012) |
| VpAac | ante correctionem |
| VpApc | post correctionem |
| VpB | British Library IO SAN 1001 (manuscript B in Bhowmik 2012) |
| VpBac | ante correctionem |
| VpBpc | post correctionem |
| VpCc | Caturvargacintāmaṇi (ed. Śiromaṇi 1871, 948–949) |
| VpŚ, VpŚ2 | Śabdakalpadruma, quoting the śiber upākhyāna chapter (Rādhākāntadeva)VpŚ2 is only used to indicate readings in the 1886 edition that differ from the older edition. |
bhayabhītaḥ(1838, 2866; 1886, pt. 3, 483) | |
duḥkhī(1857, 962; 1886, pt. 2, 723) | |
‘siddhiḥ(1848, 6151; 1886, pt. 5, 351) | |
| VpŚ(d) | Śabdakalpadruma, quoting the dānāvasthānirṇaya chapterThese quotations are not found in the Bhowmik edition of the dānāvasthānirṇaya. |
śaraṇāgataḥ(1848, 5155; 1886, pt. 5, 28) | |
sādhuḥ(1848, 6081; 1886, pt. 5, 329) | |
| VpV | Vācaspatya (Tarkavachaspati 1962, 5279) |
| VpVp | Vidhānapārijāta (ed. Śāstrī 1951, vol. 3, 423) |
| Itihāsasamuccaya, and quotations thereof | |
| Is | Itihāsasamuccaya (Lakṣmīveṅkaṭesvara Press 1915/1916, 18–23) |
| IsF | BnF Sanscrit 1442.2 |
| IsFac | ante correctionem |
| IsFpc | post correctionem |
| IsVa | Vedāṅkuśa (Paṭṭanasthaśrīhemacandrācāryasabhāyāḥ Sekreṭarī 1918, 5r–5v)Verse 113 in the Vedāṅkuśa does not appear in the edition of the Itihāsasamuccaya. |
| Mahābhārata, and quotations thereofQuotations attributed to the Mahābhārata may not appear in any edition of the Mahābhārata itself. | |
| MbhC | Mahābhārata critical edition (ed. Sukthankar et al. 1942–1966) |
| Āraṇyakaparvan (vol. 3, 427) | |
| Śāntiparvan (vol. 13, 95–96; vol. 15, 957) | |
| Anuśāsanaparvan (vol. 17, 855, 1014, 1315) | |
| MbhC-Ś1 | witness Ś1 (D1, D2, etc.) variants from apparatus |
| MbhS | Mahābhārata southern recension (ed. Śāstrī 1933–1936) |
| Āraṇyakaparvan (vol. 4, 651–653) | |
| Śāntiparvan (vol. 14, 905) | |
| MbhS-ka | witness ka (kha, ga, gha) variants from apparatus |
| MbhA | Aparārka (ed. Āpaṭe 1903, 375) |
| MbhBh | Bhagavantabhāskara — Dānamayūkha (ed. Bhaṭṭa 1909, 250) |
| MbhCc | Caturvargacintāmaṇi (ed. Śiromaṇi 1871, 947) |
| MbhD | Dānasāgara (ed. Bhattacarya 1956, 562) |
| MbhD-A | witness A (or IO) variants from apparatus |
| MbhK | Kṛtyakalpataru — Dānakāṇḍa (ed. Brick 2009, 490) |
| MbhK-J | witness J (Ai, C1, etc.) variants from apparatus |
| MbhSc | Smṛticandrikā (ed. Srinivasacharya 1914, 17)Quotation is attributed to Vyāsa. |
| MbhVp | Vidhānapārijāta (ed. Śāstrī 1951, vol. 3, 423) |
Nandipurāṇa quotationsSee Hazra 1954, 108ff. on a certain Nāndīpurāṇaand its relation to the Vahnipurāṇa. | |
| NpA | Aparārka (ed. Āpaṭe 1903, 375) |
| NpCc | Caturvargacintāmaṇi (ed. Śiromaṇi 1871, 946) |
| NpD | Dānasāgara (ed. Bhattacarya 1956, 563) |
| NpK | Kṛtyakalpataru — Dānakāṇḍa (ed. Brick 2009, 490) |
| NpK-Ai | witness Ai (C1, J, etc.) variants from apparatus |
| Vikramacarita, editions and quotations thereof | |
| VcE | Vikramacarita (ed. Edgerton 1926, 101–102, 115, 297, 302) |
| VcE-M | witness M (N, Nd, etc.) variants from apparatus |
| VcV | Dvātriṃśatputtalikāsiṃhāsana (ed. Vidyāsāgara 1936, 118–121, 130–131) |
| VcK | Saṃskṛtakusumāñjali, abbreviation of story 11 (Śāstrī 1958, 159)The same abbreviated story can be found in the Saṃskṛtamuktāvalī (Candra 1986, 36–37). |
| Hitopadeśa | |
| HpC | Hitopadeśa (ed. Church Mission Press 1847, 11) |
| HpJ | Hitopadeśa (ed. Johnson 1840, 19) |
| HpK | Hitopadeśa (ed. Kale 1886, 14) |
| HpK-i | variant reading in footnote |
| other parallels in narrative literature | |
| Kv | Karuṇāvajrāyudha (ed. Caturavijaya 1916, 23, 38) |
| Nmp | Nāradīyamahāpurāṇa (ed. Kṛṣṇadāsa 1867, 24v) |
| Pt | Pañcatantra (ed. Kosegarten 1848, 69) |
| Pp | Padmapurāṇa (ed. Goviṃdaśāstrī 1894/1895, 92v; ed. Maṇḍalīka 1894, 1735) |
| Ps | Purāṇasāra (ed. Phatak 2000, 406) |
| Pkh | Skandapurāṇa Prabhāsakhaṇḍa (Śrīveṅkaṭeśvara Press 1909/1910, 49v) |
| Bhp | Bhaviṣyapurāṇa (ed. Govindaśāstrī 1897, 170v) |
| Lp | Liṅgapurāṇa (ed. Bhaṭṭācārya 1885, 418) |
| Vdh | Viṣṇudharmottaramahāpurāṇa (1912/1913, 492r) |
| Vms | Viramāheśvarācārasaṃgraha (ed. Mallikārjunaśāstrī 1906, 72, 175) |
| commentarial literature & verse collections | |
| Ac | Adhikaraṇacintāmaṇi commentary on the Adhikaraṇasārāvali (ed. Lakṣmīnṛsiṃhācārya 1940, 638) |
| Dhṭ | Dharmaratnaṭīkā commentary on the Dharmaratnaprakaraṇa (Śrī Jaina Dharma Vidyā Prasāraka Sabhā 1906, 248–249) |
| Rm | Rasamañjarī commentary on the Mālatīmādhava (ed. Mahādevaśāstrī 1953, 408) |
| Rm-p | variant readings from apparatus |
| Lv | Laghuvṛtti commentary on the Puṣpamālā (ed. Buddhasāgaragaṇi 1960, 7v) |
| Śpś | Śatapañcāśatka (ed. Shackleton Bailey 1951, 42, 46, 54, 77, 81, 125) |
| Śpś-A | witness A (B, D, etc.) variants from apparatus |
| Ssṭ | Samyaktvasaptatiṭīkā of Saṅghatilaka (ed. Śrīlalitavijaya 1916, 175v) |
| Svr | Saṃvegaraṅgaśālā of Jinacandrasūri (ed. Munihemendravijaya 1968, 372v–373r) |
| Śp | Śārṅgadharapaddhati (ed. Peterson 1888, 231) |
| Ss | Sārasamuccaya (ed. Vira 1962, 123–124) |
| Ss-a | variant reading in all manuscripts |
| Ss-s | variant reading in some manuscripts |
| Spr | Subhāṣitapadyaratnākara (ed. Viśālavijaya 1934, 22–27) |
| Sn | Subhāṣitasudhānidhi (ed. Krushnamoorthy 1968, 153–154) |
| Sm | Sūktimuktāvalī (ed. Krishnamacharya 1938, 446) |
| Sr | Sūktiratnahāra (ed. Sāmbaśivaśāstrī 1938, 168) |