A Collection of Manuscript Fragments of Works by Dharmakīrti with a Postscript by Ernst Steinkellner

Indian Logic, 2015

2015

This thesis is the first attempt to analyze the phenomenon of marginal annotation in North Indian and Nepalese manuscripts from a philological, historical and cultural point of view. A critical edition of selected annotations on texts belonging to different literary genres has been provided (Kālidāsa's Raghuvaṃśa, Abhinavagupta's Īśvarapratyabhijnāvimarśinī), along with a typological classification and a study of their origins and purpose. Also the material aspects of the manuscripts are dealth with. Im Bereich der Forschung der sanskritischen Manuskriptkultur wurde bisher der Erscheinung von Rand- und Interlinearanmerkungen sehr wenig Aufmerksamkeit geschenkt. Die Analyse einiger ausgewahlten annotierten Manuskripte aus Nordindien und Nepal hat einen Einblick in den Prozess ihrer Herstellung und Uberlieferung in sanskritischen Kulturkreisen ermoglicht. Die Arbeit ist in zwei Teile gegliedert. Der erste Teil besteht aus einer Studie der berucksichtigten annotierten Manuskrip...

Indian Historical Review

The key note address by Peter C. Bisschop, '150 years of Sanskrit studies in the Netherlands: The Karnapurāna' explains the growth and development of Sanskrit studies under Hendrik Kern and his contributions. Two major contributions of Kern are the editing and translation of Varāhamihira's Bŗhat sañhitā and the Aryabhaţīya, among others. The article 'The Abominable Yati' by Daniel Balogh discusses metrical anomalies of yati, caesurae in English, in Sanskrit versification. The author explains the technical aspects of yati in the Sanskrit metrics. The author illustrates the caesurae obscured by vowel samdhi and anomalous caesurae with examples. The verses from the pillar inscription of the Mandasor and the Allahabad praśasti had been taken up for further study. The position of caesurae in iambic and trochaic feet is also explained. Employment of obscure word breaks is not a transgression of the caesurae and the distribution of yati across meters is not a random one. Malgorzata Sulich-Cowley examines the significance of the 'adpositions' in Sanskrit with special reference to prati. The semantic value of upasargas (verbal prefix), nipatas (particle), etc. with a specific analysis of prati-its influence over the verbal roots, determination of its meaning and its role as karakas (case determinants)-are demonstrated with relevant quotations. The author concludes that 'regardless of the variety of contexts in which prati appears, there is a common meaning in almost all of them'. The article 'Welcome with Open Arms: Iranian Loanwords in the Purāņic Lexicon' by Martina Palladino traces the connection between the Maga Brahmins and the cultural environment of Iran. Magas came from the land of Śākadvīpa, the Iranian Śākastāna or modern Sistan. The author enlists the presence of Iranian loanwords in the puranic lexicon, specifically in the Sāmba and Bhavişya purāņas. The four classes of Śākadvīpa, the ritual terminology and some proper names, such as Mihira for Mithra, Raśnu for Raja, Saośra for Stosa and Jaraśastra for Zarathuštra, and other terms have been analysed. She connects asura to the Avestan ahura or 'lord'. Varahamihira, the sixth century CE astronomer, who was a sun-worshipper and probably a Maga, she says, describes the calendar of the Maga Brahmins in the first chapter of his Pañcasiddhāntikā, which is based on the Zoroastrian calendar. This article could be very interesting if more proofs were provided for many of her averments. The efforts of Samskrita Bharati, an organisation to promote spoken Sanskrit and communicative language, are narrated by Patrick McCartney who analyses spoken Sanskrit in a socio-linguistic approach. The author examines the studies and the efforts undertaken by a few organisations and scholars. A list of fifteen villages where people speak Sanskrit is given. He visited two villages, Gamiri Gaon in Assam and Jhiri in Madhya Pradesh, and narrates his experiences and findings. A few glimpses of the description of nature from the poem Śrigovindavilāsamahākāvya, Sarga 1, are taken up for scrutiny by Judith Unterdörfler in the article 'Nature and Character Emotions in the "Śrigovindavilāsamahākāvya, Sarga 1"'. Nature's influence, with the emotions of characters and the poet's description of nature, are described

The Catalogue of Texts of the Tibetan Buddhist Canon Kept at the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts, RAS. Vol. 3: Separate Texts and Collections (I) / Ed. by A. Zorin. — St. Petersburg: St. Petersburg Centre for Oriental Studies Publishers, 2020. — 660 p.: il (Orientalia)., 2020

The collection of Tibetan block prints and manuscripts kept at the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts, the Russian Academy of Sciences, is one of the world’s largest collections of old Tibetan texts. Editions of the Tibetan Buddhist Canon and separate editions of some canonical texts comprise a significant part of this collection. Their description is to be presented in the first part of its catalogue. It will consist of four volumes. Volumes 1 and 2 (2017, 2019) included the data on the complete editions of the Tibetan Buddhist Canon (Bka’ ’gyur and Bstan ’gyur) kept at the IOM RAS. Volume 3 contains information on the manuscript copies of certain volumes of the canon, separate editions and manuscript copies of large texts of the Bka’ ’gyur (the data on the texts of this category is presented in two sections) and editions of the Gzungs bsdus and Mdo mang collections (more than 3,800 items in total). The volume is supplied with indices and concordances, and a table of stamps.