Andrey Klebanov

In the present article, I explore the historical development of grammatical arguments pertaining to the formation of what may be termed partitive compounds (ekadeśisamāsa) in Sanskrit. I begin by looking at a specific usage found in the text of Kirātājunīya 4.10. Concentrating on the critical remarks provided by Mallinātha in his commentary on the verse, I explore the line of reasoning put forward in the Kāśikā and developed in a number of later treatises. This line of reasoning is contrasted with an entirely different exegetical strategy proposed in the Mahābhāṣya. The latter was only marginally acknowledged within the Pāṇinian tradition until Nāgeśa’s vigorous reinforcement of Patañjali’s authority, but, on the other hand, exhibited formative influence on some non-Pānṇinian schools of grammatical thought in Sanskrit. In providing a detailed account of various interpretations accepted by individual authors, this survey aims to reinforce the notion of complexity involved in the development of grammatical concepts within the Pāṇ inian school of grammar, a notion that was argued for by a number of scholars.

The present article looks at several potentially rewarding strategies of employing structure analysis to the study of Sanskrit commentaries on mahākāvya-. The introductory section gives an overview of the actual methodology and touches upon general issues pertaining to the composition of the examined literary genre. Drawing upon examples from Sanskrit commentaries on the Kirātārjunīya, the main body of the article considers the practical application of the structure analysis. It discusses its implications for the text-historical enquiry into individual texts, as well as their comparative study.

​The present doctoral dissertation collects materials pertinent for the text-historical evaluation of several unpublished commentaries on the Kirātārjunīya, a classical Epic Poem in Sanskrit. Although the collected data deal primarily with a single poem, their analysis presented in the current thesis can be considered exemplary for the study of other texts belonging to the same genre — namely, the Sanskrit epic poetry. In this way, the current dissertation contributes to the broader field of study of classical Indian literature.

The first chapter of my doctoral dissertation is concerned with general methodological issues. I commence my work by laying out the method of structural analysis of the commentaries on mahākāvya and subsequently deal with several questions pertaining to the composition of these texts. The second chapter comprises an examination of several important unpublished commentaries on the Kirātārjunīya. In dealing with each of these texts, I provide a detailed description of its manuscripts first and, in the following step, survey and evaluate all the relevant historical information pertaining to the author and the composition of the respective work. The third chapter briefly examines various procedures adopted by individual commentators, by means of which the texts of their predecessors were integrated into their own works. The analysis of textual reuse described in this chapter can be applied, on the one hand, in order to examine other similar works and, on the other hand, in order to evaluate the manuscript transmission of individual texts, a problem that is dealt with in the subsequent chapters of my dissertation. In the fourth chapter, I describe the available manuscripts of a single commentary on the Kirātārjunīya, the Laghuṭikā by Prakāśavarṣa. In the fifth chapter, I attempt a detailed analysis of the data about the author's life and works available to us so far. In the sixth chapter, I finally turn to a text-historical analysis of the available versions of the Laghuṭikā. In so doing, I pay particular attention to highlighting various difficulties involved in the attempt to compare these versions with each other. In a short conclusion, I, therefore, propose possible strategies, which could aid in solving the problems thus described.

Original publication is here: https://indianmedicine.nl/article/view/37385

This article presents a detailed introduction to the study of three Nepalese manuscripts of the Suśrutasaṃhitā, one of which happens to be the oldest verifiably dated Sanskrit manuscript preserved in the region. The article consists of three larger sections. The first part provides a thorough critical survey of research that has been done on this material to date. The second section provides a detailed description of the manuscripts, translates and discusses their colophons and deals extensively with various problems involved in their dating. The final section of the article looks at characteristic features of the Nepalese version of the Suśrutasaṃhitā by focusing on its structure, selected structural elements and selected elements of content.

The present doctoral dissertation collects materials pertinent for the text-historical evaluation of several unpublished commentaries on the Kirātārjunīya, a classical Epic Poem in Sanskrit. Although the collected data deal primarily with a single poem, their analysis presented in the current thesis can be considered exemplary for the study of other texts belonging to the same genre — namely, the Sanskrit epic poetry. In this way, the current dissertation contributes to the broader field of study of classical Indian literature. The first chapter of my doctoral dissertation is concerned with general methodological issues. I commence my work by laying out the method of structural analysis of the commentaries on mahākāvya and subsequently deal with several questions pertaining to the composition of these texts. The second chapter comprises an examination of several important unpublished commentaries on the Kirātārjunīya. In dealing with each of these texts, I provide a detailed description of its manuscripts first and, in the following step, survey and evaluate all the relevant historical information pertaining to the author and the composition of the respective work. The third chapter briefly examines various procedures adopted by individual commentators, by means of which the texts of their predecessors were integrated into their own works. The analysis of textual reuse described in this chapter can be applied, on the one hand, in order to examine other similar works and, on the other hand, in order to evaluate the manuscript transmission of individual texts, a problem that is dealt with in the subsequent chapters of my dissertation. In the fourth chapter, I describe the available manuscripts of a single commentary on the Kirātārjunīya, the Laghuṭikā by Prakāśavarṣa. In the fifth chapter, I attempt a detailed analysis of the data about the author's life and works available to us so far. In the sixth chapter, I finally turn to a text-historical analysis of the available versions of the Laghuṭikā. In so doing, I pay particular attention to highlighting various difficulties involved in the attempt to compare these versions with each other. In a short conclusion I, therefore, propose possible strategies, which could aid in solving the problems thus described. Die vorliegende Doktorarbeit umfasst eine Sammlung verschiedener Materialien zur text-geschichtlichen Untersuchung einiger bisher nicht publizierten Kommentare auf das Kirātārjunīya, ein episches Poem in Sanskrit. Obgleich diese Materialien sich hauptsachlich auf das eben genannte einzelne Werk beziehen, soll jedoch die Art ihrer Anwendung beispielhaft auch auf die Analyse anderer Werke desselben Genres ubertragbar sein und somit einen weiterfuhrenden Beitrag zur Forschung der klassischen Literatur Indiens leisten. Das erste Kapitel der vorliegenden Dissertation beschaftigt sich mit allgemeinen methodologischen Fragen. Hierbei wird hauptsachlich die Methode der strukturellen Analyse der Kommentare beschrieben sowie auf einige weiterfuhrende Fragen bezuglich der Komposition der Kommentare eingegangen. Das zweite Kapitel bietet eine umfangreiche Studie einiger wichtiger bisher nicht publizierten Kommentare auf das Kirātārjunīya dar. Hierbei werden zunachst die erhaltenen Textzeugen (vor allem Handschriften) beschrieben und daraufhin die textgeschichtlichen Daten zusammengetragen und evaluiert. Im dritten Kapitel beschaftige ich mich zusammenfassend mit der Art und Weise, wie verschiedene Kommentatoren die Werke ihrer Vorganger in Ihr eigenes Schaffen integriert haben. Die hierbei beschriebenen Vorgehensweisen konnen sowohl zur Analyse anderer ahnlich zusammenhangender Texte als auch zur Untersuchung der handschriftlichen Uberlieferung einzelner Texte mit einbezogen werden. In den nachfolgenden Kapiteln wende ich mich dann dem letzteren Problem zu. Im vierten Kapitel beschreibe ich zunachst die mir zuganglichen Handschriften eines einzelnen Kommentars auf das Kirātārjunīya, der Laghuṭikā von Prakāśavarṣa, und unternehme im funften Kapitel eine detaillierte Untersuchung der anhand verschiedener Quellen erschliesbaren biographischen Details seines Lebens and Werkes. In dem abschliessenden sechsten Kapitel widme ich mich daraufhin einer text-geschichtlichen Untersuchung verschiedener uns zuganglichen Versionen der Laghuṭikā. Hierbei gehe ich insbesondere auf die Schwierigkeiten ein, die sich bei einem Versuch der Gegeneinanderstellung verschiedener Textversionen ergeben und versuche in einem kurzen Fazit mogliche Strategien zur Losung der beschriebenen Probleme anzudeuten.

One of the most salient differences between the Nepalese version and the printed editions of the Suśrutasaṃhitā is the frame story of the narration. The Nepalese version casts Divodāsa, the King of Kāśī, as the first to expound this system of medicine to Suśruta whereas more recent renditions of the text assert that it was the ancient sage Dhanvantari.

This article presents a detailed introduction to the study of three Nepalese manuscripts of the Suśrutasaṃhitā, one of which happens to be the oldest verifiably dated Sanskrit manuscript preserved in the region. The article consists of three larger sections. The first part provides a thorough critical survey of research that has been done on this material to date. The second section provides a detailed description of the manuscripts, translates and discusses their colophons and deals extensively with various problems involved in their dating. The final section of the article looks at characteristic features of the Nepalese version of the Suśrutasaṃhitā by focusing on its structure, selected structural elements and selected elements of content.

The present doctoral dissertation collects materials pertinent for the text-historical evaluation of several unpublished commentaries on the Kirātārjunīya, a classical Epic Poem in Sanskrit. Although the collected data deal primarily with a single poem, their analysis presented in the current thesis can be considered exemplary for the study of other texts belonging to the same genre — namely, the Sanskrit epic poetry. In this way, the current dissertation contributes to the broader field of study of classical Indian literature. The first chapter of my doctoral dissertation is concerned with general methodological issues. I commence my work by laying out the method of structural analysis of the commentaries on mahākāvya and subsequently deal with several questions pertaining to the composition of these texts. The second chapter comprises an examination of several important unpublished commentaries on the Kirātārjunīya. In dealing with each of these texts, I provide a detailed descrip...