[INDOLOGY] Corrections in Manuscripts

[C.A. Formigatti]

Dear Dr Montelle,

Besides the seminal work by Janetr suggested by Prof. Slaje and the two 
Gujarati works suggested by Dr Patel, it is worth having a look at 
Murthy's Introduction to Manuscriptology. According to Murthy (p. 109), 
"In a context, letter/s or word/s may have to be omitted. [...] 
sometimes, yellow pigment or turmeric is smeared over such portion."

This technique was very widespread, but judging from the manuscripts in 
our Cambridge collection (a fair sample of 1600 mss) I have the 
impression that it was applied more often on paper manuscripts, whereas 
in the case of palm-leaf manuscripts other techniques were more often 
employed -- for instance, expunction, deletion or erasing of the 
relevant aksaras or of an entire passage. Yet we do not have any 
quantitative study.

Another very useful book that you can consult on the topic of 
corrections is of course

Einicke, Katrin:
Korrektur, Differenzierung und Abkürzung in indischen Inschriften und 
Handschriften / Katrin Einicke. - Wiesbaden : Harrassowitz, 2009.

Best wishes,

Camillo Formigatti

> Dear All,
> 
> I have been considering the ways in which scribes made corrections in
> the manuscripts they were copying, specifically in numerical tables.
> Of course, there are a variety of practices that (some are neater than
> others!). One way of interest is the use of what appears to be (in the
> colour copies of manuscripts I have) a yellowish paste or paint (an
> early version of modern day “white-out” or “twink”?) which can
> then written over.
> 
> I attach a couple of examples. (The first example it has been used
> along several successive values in the third row, and in the second an
> entire column as well as individual entries.)
> 
> Does anybody know more about this technique? What was the substance
> used? How widespread is this? Where can I read more about this?
> 
> With best wishes,
> 
> Clemency
> 
> Dr Clemency Montelle
> 
> http://www.math.canterbury.ac.nz/~c.montelle/ [1]
> 
> Department of Mathematics and Statistics
> 
> University of Canterbury | Te Whare Wananga o Waitaha
> 
> Private Bag 4800, Christchurch 8140
> 
> NEW ZEALAND
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> ph +64 3 364 2267
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