Book
Open Access
The Syntax of Colophons
A Comparative Study across Pothi Manuscripts
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Edited by:
Nalini Balbir
Language:
English
Published/Copyright:
2022
About this book
Open Access
This volume is the first to attempt a comprehensive and cross-disciplinary analysis of the manuscript cultures implementing the pothi manuscript form (a loosely bound stack of oblong folios). It is the indigenous form by which manuscripts have been crafted in South Asia and the cultural areas most influenced by it, that is to say Central and South East Asia. The volume focuses particularly on the colophons featured in such manuscripts presenting a series of essays enabling the reader to engage in a historical and comparative investigation of the links connecting the several manuscript cultures examined here. Colophons as paratexts are situated at the intersection between texts and the artefacts that contain them and offer a unique vantage point to attain global appreciation of their manuscript cultures and literary traditions. Colophons are also the product of scribal activities that have moved across regions and epochs alongside the pothi form, providing a common thread binding together the many millions of pothis still today found in libraries in Asia and the world over. These contributions provide a systematic approach to the internal structure of colophons, i.e. their ‘syntax’, and facilitate a vital, comparative approach.
Author / Editor information
Nalini Balbir, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle Paris 3, Paris, France; Giovanni Ciotti, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.
Topics
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Frontmatter
I -
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Contents
V -
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Introduction
1 - Part I: South Asia
- North India
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The Earliest Colophons in the Buddhist Northwest
13 -
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Colophons in Fourteenth-Century Nepalese Manuscripts: Materials for the Study of the Nepalese Renaissance (I)
43 -
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On the Syntax of Colophons in Jain Palm-Leaf and Paper Manuscripts from Western India
119 - South India
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Scribe, Owner, or Both? Some Ambiguities in the Interpretations of Personal Names in Colophons from Tamil Nadu
149 -
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A Modular Framework for the Analysis of the Dates Found in Manuscripts Written in the Tamil and Tamilian Grantha Scripts
171 - Part II: Southeast Asia
- Mainland
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Khom/Mūl Script Manuscripts from Central Thailand and Cambodia: Colophons with a Variable Geometry?
209 -
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The Grammar and Function of Colophons in Lao Manuscripts: The Case of the Vat Maha That Collection, Luang Prabang
229 -
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The Structure, Functions, and Tradition of Siamese Royal Scribal Colophons
261 - Maritime
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Colophons in Palm-Leaf Manuscripts from Bali and Lombok (Indonesia)
281 - Part III: Central Asia
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The Syntax of Tibetan Colophons: An Overview
323 -
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Colophons in Tocharian Manuscripts
347 -
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Central Asian and Iranian Influence in Old Uyghur Buddhist Manuscripts: Book Forms and Donor Colophons
373 -
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Indexes
399
Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
December 31, 2022
eBook ISBN:
9783110795271
Hardcover published on:
December 31, 2022
Hardcover ISBN:
9783110795233
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
Front matter:
6
Main content:
406
Coloured Illustrations:
60
Tables:
24
Audience(s) for this book
Scholars and students of South Asian studies, Central Asian studies, Indology, Tibetology, Manuscript studies
Creative Commons
BY-NC-ND 4.0
Safety & product resources
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Manufacturer information:
Walter de Gruyter GmbH
Genthiner Straße 13
10785 Berlin
productsafety@degruyterbrill.com
