Catalogue of Sanskrit Manuscripts

Catalogue of Sanskrit Manuscripts

Author: Hartmut Buescher

Publisher: Comdc

Published: 2019

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9788776942557

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This new catalogue describes the holdings of the so-called Pandit Collection held at the Royal Library, Copenhagen. A diverse collection of more than 1,200 Sanskrit texts, it comprises codices ranging in length from several hundred folios to a single folio, or a manuscript fragment, often produced by educated (or in other cases by less educated) scribes. The Pandit Collection was purchased in Pune (Maharashtra) in the early 1920s from its now-unknown previous owner by the Danish indologist Poul Tuxen. As its name suggests, it is the Sanskrit manuscript collection of a pandit, a traditionally educated Indian scholar, part of it acquired by earlier generations of his brahmanic family. That makes the collection interesting from cultural-historical and anthropological points of view since it documents the wide range of learning, professional tasks and social functions that were covered by Indian scholars active in the last days of their pre-modern educational and scholarly tradition. Designed especially as an essential source of reference for scholars working in all aspects of manuscript studies, the catalogue includes numerous illustrations (many in colour) that help to identify the texts and give a glimpse of the condition, calligraphic styles and decorative elements of the manuscripts.


A Sanskrit Treasury

A Sanskrit Treasury

Author: Camillo Alessio Formigatti

Publisher:

Published: 2019

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781851245314

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This beautiful collection brings together passages from the renowned stories, poems, dramas and myths of South Asian literature, including the Mahābhārata and the Rāmāyaṇa. Drawing on the translations published by the Clay Sanskrit Library, the book presents episodes from the adventures of young Krishna, the life of Prince Rāma and Hindu foundational myths, the life of the Buddha, as well as Buddhist and Jaina birth stories.Pairing key excerpts from these wonderful Sanskrit texts with exquisite illustrations from the Bodleian Library's rich manuscript collections, the book includes images of birch-bark and palm-leaf manuscripts, vibrant Mughal miniatures, early printed books, sculptures, watercolour paintings and even early photograph albums.Each extract is presented in both English translation and Sanskrit in Devanāgarī script, and is accompanied by a commentary on the literature and related books and artworks. The collection is organised by geographical region and includes sections on the Himalayas, North India, Central and South India, Sri Lanka and South East Asia, Tibet, Inner and East Asia, and the Middle East and Europe.This is the perfect introduction for anyone interested in Sanskrit literature and the manuscript art of South Asia - and beyond.


Indic Manuscript Cultures through the Ages

Indic Manuscript Cultures through the Ages

Author: Vincenzo Vergiani

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2017-12-18

Total Pages: 802

ISBN-13: 3110543109

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This collection of essays explores the history of the book in pre-modern South Asia looking at the production, circulation, fruition and preservation of manuscripts in different areas and across time. Edited by the team of the Cambridge-based Sanskrit Manuscripts Project and including contributions of the researchers who collaborated with it, it covers a wide range of topics related to South Asian manuscript culture: from the material dimension (palaeography, layout, decoration) and the complicated interactions of manuscripts with printing in late medieval Tibet and in modern Tamil Nadu, to reading, writing, editing and educational practices, from manuscripts as sources for the study of religious, literary and intellectual traditions, to the creation of collections in medieval India and Cambodia (one major centre of the so-called Sanskrit cosmopolis), and the formation of the Cambridge collections in the colonial period. The contributions reflect the variety of idioms, literary genres, religious movements, and social actors (intellectuals, scribes, patrons) of ancient South Asia, as well as the variety of approaches, interests and specialisms of the authors, and their impassionate engagement with manuscripts.


The Perfection of Wisdom

The Perfection of Wisdom

Author:

Publisher: New York : Viking Studio

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 112

ISBN-13:

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"At the heart of Buddhism lies the doctrine of the perfection of wisdom. The foremost principles of this teaching are the bodhisattva ideal of the religious life and the essential emptiness of all existence. The sutras known as The Perfection of Wisdom in 8,000 Lines are the oldest version of this important Buddhist text, dating some two thousand years, and are the basis for the present translation." "The message of The Perfection of Wisdom is as applicable to the modern reader as it was to the monks who first studied the text two millennia ago: through an understanding of the perfection of wisdom, it is possible for all of us to detach from the suffering that binds us to the material world, and so move toward enlightenment. This important text is illustrated with extraordinary images taken from the earliest surviving Indian and Nepalese illustrated manuscripts of The Perfection of Wisdom - most of which have never been reproduced before."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved


Shan Manuscripts

Shan Manuscripts

Author: B. J. Terwiel

Publisher: Franz Steiner Verlag

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 262

ISBN-13: 3515079734

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Shan people can be found in a belt stretching from Assam (Northeastern India) over Myanmar (Burma) to the Chinese province Yunnan. In this volume Shan manuscripts from collections in Berlin, Munich and Hamburg are described. In this catalogue a total of 335 manuscripts and inscribed pieces of cloth are introduced. For each document there is mentioned its title, the date, the author, its appearance as well as a summary of the contents. In the introduction many topics are raised, such as a short history of the Shan, the Shan script, famous authors, material writing culture, a typology of written documents, and the principles of prosody. "In compiling this catalogue of Shan manuscript, Terwiel and Chaichuen have done valuable work which will be appreciated by everyone who is doing research on Shan or Tai culture or cultural history and related themes by using original indigenous sources. [�] The completion of this work marks a new milestone in Shan studies and Tai studies as a whole." Tai culture.


Buddhism Illuminated

Buddhism Illuminated

Author: San San May

Publisher: University of Washington Press

Published: 2018-05-01

Total Pages: 352

ISBN-13: 0295744499

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Buddhist temples in Southeast Asia are centers for the preservation of local artistic traditions. Chief among these are manuscripts, a vital source for our understanding of Buddhist ideas and practices in the region. They are also a beautiful art form, too little understood in the West. The British Library has one of the richest collections of Southeast Asian manuscripts, principally from Thailand and Burma, anywhere in the world. It includes finely painted copies of Buddhist scriptures, literary works, historical narratives, and works on traditional medicine, law, cosmology, and fortune-telling. Buddhism Illuminated includes over one hundred examples of Buddhist art from the Library’s collection, relating each manuscript to Theravada tradition and beliefs, and introducing the historical, artistic, and religious contexts of their production. It is the first book in English to showcase the beauty and variety of Buddhist manuscript art and reproduces many works that have never before been photographed.


Receptacle of the Sacred

Receptacle of the Sacred

Author: Jinah Kim

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2013-04-12

Total Pages: 406

ISBN-13: 0520273869

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In considering medieval illustrated Buddhist manuscripts as sacred objects of cultic innovation, Receptacle of the Sacred explores how and why the South Asian Buddhist book-cult has survived for almost two millennia to the present. A book “manuscript” should be understood as a form of sacred space: a temple in microcosm, not only imbued with divine presence but also layered with the memories of many generations of users. Jinah Kim argues that illustrating a manuscript with Buddhist imagery not only empowered it as a three-dimensional sacred object, but also made it a suitable tool for the spiritual transformation of medieval Indian practitioners. Through a detailed historical analysis of Sanskrit colophons on patronage, production, and use of illustrated manuscripts, she suggests that while Buddhism’s disappearance in eastern India was a slow and gradual process, the Buddhist book-cult played an important role in sustaining its identity. In addition, by examining the physical traces left by later Nepalese users and the contemporary ritual use of the book in Nepal, Kim shows how human agency was critical in perpetuating and intensifying the potency of a manuscript as a sacred object throughout time.