1904.1 S. C. Mitra— A note on Mahamahataka Candesvara Thakkura. 25 
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A note on Mahamahataka Candesvara Thakkura of Mithila.—By Mr. 
Justice Sarada Charan Mitra. 
[Read 7th December, 1904.] 
Candesvara Thakkura is known to Anglo-Indian lawyers as the 
author of the Vivada-Ratnakara, which and the Vivada-Cintamani 
are the leading authorities of the Mithila school of the Mitaksara 
system of Hindu Law. But to Sanskrit scholars Candesvara is known 
as the author of the Sa'ptci-Tiatna.kara of which the Vivada-Ratnakara 
is only a part. As the name implies, the Ratnakara consists of seven 
parts. The duties and obligations of man in their widest sense are 
divided by the author into seven parts, and those regarding property 
form the subject of the Vivada-Ratnakara. The other parts of the 
Ratnakara are Krtya, Dana, Vyavahara, Skiddhi, Puja and Grhastha. 
Of the seven Ratnakaras, the Vivada only is now accessible in 
translation in English. Babus Golapa Chandra Sankara Sastri, M.A., B.L., 
and Digambara Chattopadhyaya, M.A., B.L., Vakils of the Calcutta 
High Court, published in the year 1899, in Devanagari, the original text 
of the Vivada with a translation in English. The learned gentlemen 
have not been able to give us much information regarding Candesvara 
Thakkura or his family. He was himself a minister of a Raja of 
Mithila named Hara Simh or Hari Simla of the Karnata Ksatriya 
family ; he was a son of Vires vara Thakkura who was also a minister • 
he was living in the year 1314 A.D = 1236 (S'aka Era) when he 
performed the tula ceremony. These are facts which appear from the 
concluding passage of the Ratnakara, in which Candesvara is called the 
Somnath of the North. 
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These were the only facts known about the author of the Sapta- 
Ratna-kara in the year 1899. 
During my recent travels in the Mithila country, I have with 
the help of the Honorable Maharaja Rameswara Singh Bahadur of 
Darbhanga, who is not only the chief of all Mithila Brahmans but 
is also a great patron of Sanskrit learning, been able to collect some 
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