Annotated Manuscripts from Northern India and Nepal

In the margins of the text:
Annotated manuscripts from Northern India and Nepal

 A virtually unstudied aspect of variance in Sanskrit manuscripts is the presence, form and content of marginal and/or interlinear annotation to the text copied. Such annotation can in some cases provide us with close-to-direct access to the thought processes of active participants in premodern Sanskritic cultures as they go about the business of producing, studying, and interpreting texts.

This sub-project of the Manuscript Cultures Research Group aims to investigate such marginal and interlinear annotation in Sanskrit manuscripts from Northern India and Nepal of works in a variety of media and a range of genres. The annotations in selected individual manuscripts will be transcribed and studied in detail, classified, and the relationship between this material and commentaries will be investigated. The study of marginal and interlinear annotation will help to clarify various elements of the dynamics of textual transformation.

This project will mainly examine manuscripts of kāvya and of philosophical
śāstra, but will also look at some Śaiva and possibly also Buddhist tantric material.

Staff: Camillo Formigatti