The Transmission of the Carakasaṃhitā in Colonial South Asia

Presenter:

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Abstract

This paper will reflect on the history of transmission of the Carakasaṃhitā in colonial South Asia. Several printed books of the Carakasaṃhitā were published in the thirty years or so that followed Gangadhar Ray’s first printed edition from 1868. These printed books reveal important aspects of the 19th century Indian print industry and the wider cultural and political milieu in which it operated. My analy-sis will focus on the constellation of texts through which the Carakasaṃhitā ap-peared in printed books and its physical appearance (layout, text divisions, title pages). Furthermore, by examining a few sample texts in manuscripts and printed editions, I will offer data that allow us to characterize the activities of editors who in 19th century colonial South Asia philologically engaged with ancient Sanskrit texts.