Description:

We have seen various types of writngs of Vasishtha Ganapati Muni in the earlier volumes of his Collected Works. We have seen his poetical compositions in numerous metrical forms, we have seen his writings in sutra form, we have seen his commentaries in prose form. In this volume we see Vasistha Ganapati Muni as a distinguished novelist. This volume is entitled as 'Purna'. This is an imaginary novel in Sanskrit written by Vasistha Ganapati Muni. It is difficult to say in which year he wrote this novel. But we can certainly say that in the beginning of the nineteenth century when writing novel in Sanskrit was very unusual,it was Vasishtha Ganapti Muni who has given us this beautiful novel entitled Purna. The word purna means ‘full’, ‘complete’, ‘finished’, ‘concluded’. But this novel of Vasishtha Ganapati Muni is an incomplete one. The entire text, as it is available, is divided into two parts. The first part has twenty-five chapters and is complete. The second part has twenty-one chapter and is not complete. In the beginning of the novel there are eight introductory verses in which the Muni explains about the techinque he has followed in writing this novel. At the very beginning he invokes the mystic power of lord Indra to guide him in writing the novel by providing him illuminating intuition and charming speech. At the end of these introductory verses the Muni proclaims that no description here is dry and uninteresting and irrelevant. A conscious reader can very well appriceate the speech, style and diction of the Muni. The development of the story through many chapters is amazing. The novel is crowded with many characters. One would often get confused with many names. But the Muni has handled all of them so beautifully that one never gets confused while reading the novel. Indeed, Purna is a unique literary creation of the Muni. Though incomplete or apurna, Purna, because of its unique style, because of the touch of the masterly hand of the Muni, is svayamsampurna or complete by its own strength. [This introduction continues on page 30 of the document]