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

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Harunaga Isaacson
• Subject Area: Asian Studies
• Term: from 2008 to 2011
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 49107419

A little-studied aspect of variance in Sanskrit manuscripts is the presence or not, and form and content, if present, of marginal and/or interlinear annotation to the text copied. This annotation can in some cases capture the moment of change from an oral to a written transmission, with a scribe who is simultaneously a student of a text setting down oral explanations of it by a teacher.The aim of this sub-project is to investigate such marginal and interlinear annotation in Sanskrit manuscripts from Northern India and Nepal of works in a range of genres. The annotation in a selection of individual manuscripts will be transcribed and studied in detail, a classification of different types of annotation will be made, and the relationship between this material and commentatorial literature 'proper' will be investigated.The study of marginal and interlinear annotation will help to clarify various elements of the dynamics of text-transformation (for instance the process by which originally marginal material is added into the 'main text' in subsequent copies). It will also shed important light on the 'working methods' of both producers and users of manuscripts in the Sanskritic cultural traditions.

• DFG Programme: Research Units
• Subproject of: FOR 963: Manuscript Cultures in Asia and Africa