Daśakumāracarita

This is a Sanskrit poetic work composed by Ḍaṇḍin. The text is divided into two sections, namely the Pūrvapīṭhikā and the Uttarapīṭhikā. The first section contains five ucchāsas and deals with the birth stories of the ten princes; the digvijaya (conquest of the directions); the adventures and marriage of Somadatta; the adventures and romance of Puṣpodbhava; and the romance and marriage of Avantisundarī and Rājavāhana. The second section comprises eight ucchāsas and narrates the adventures of the princes, concluding with the upasaṃhāra of the section. However, this manuscript begins with the end of the third chapter of the first section. It skips the fourth and fifth chapters of the first section and then continues from the first chapter of the second section up to the eighth chapter of the same section. The chapterization is as follows: third chapter (f.11b); second section, first chapter (f.11b–17a); second chapter (f.17b–41a); third chapter (f.41a–53b); fourth chapter (f.53b–64a); fifth chapter (f.64a–71b); sixth chapter (f.71b–86b); seventh chapter (f.86b–95b); and eighth chapter (f.95b–112b). The manuscript is complete, but the text is incomplete. (Written in 9–10 lines per leaf.; 102 leaves foliated 11–112, upper left and lower right verso. Mistakes covered over in yellow or blacked out; some corrections and additions in margins; significant syllables, words, or phrases highlighted in red throughout; vertical margins marked with single black line.)