Description
Book SynopsisThis volume, the outcome of a seminar organized at the International Institute for Asian Studies, Leiden, marks an important advancement in the study of South Indian Sanskrit manuscripts which are predominantly on palm leaf and rarely older than three to four centuries. Nevertheless, they continued a manuscript culture for around two millennia and had a profound impact on traditions of knowledge and culture. After an introductory essay (by J.E.M. Houben and S. Rath) addressing theoretical and historical issues of text transmission in manuscripts and in India’s remarkably strong oral memory culture, it contains twelve contributions dealing with South Indian manuscript collections in India and Europe (mainly of Vedic and Sanskrit texts) and with problems related to the scripts, the dating of manuscripts and India's literary and intellectual history. Contributors include: G. Colas, A.A. Esposito, M. Fujii, C. Galewicz, J.E.M. Houben, H. Moser, P. Perumal, K. Plofker, S. Rath, S.R. Sarma, D. Wujastyk, K.G. Zysk
Table of ContentsPreface List of Contributors 1. Introduction: Manuscript Culture and Its Impact in “India”: Contours and Parameters - Jan Houben and Saraju Rath 2. On the Johan van Manen Collection: Its Origin and Background - Saraju Rath 3. A Cultural Encounter in the Early 18th century: the Collection of South Indian Manuscripts by the French Jesuit Fathers of the Carnatic Mission - Gérard Colas 4. The South Indian Drama Manuscripts - Anna Aurelia Esposito 5. The Jaiminīya Sāmaveda Traditions and Manuscripts in South India - Masato Fujii 6. Texts and Communities: The Manuscripts of the Lost Yāmalāsṭakatantra - Cezary Galewicz 7. From Palmleaves to a Multimedia Databank – a Note on the ‘Bhāsa-project’ - Heike Moser 8. The Sanskrit Manuscripts in Tamilnadu - P. Perumal 9. Indian Exact Sciences in Sanskrit Manuscripts and Their Colophons - Kim Plofker 10. Varieties of Grantha Script: the Date and Place of Origin of Manuscripts - Saraju Rath 11. From my Grandfather’s Chest of Palmleaf Books - Sreeramula Rajeswara Sarma 12. Rāmasubrahmaṇya’s Manuscripts: Intellectual Networks in the Kaveri Delta, 1693-1922 - Dominik Wujastyk 13. The Use of Manuscript Catalogues as Sources of Regional Intellectual History in India’s Early Modern Period - Kenneth G. Zysk Index Plates
