[INDOLOGY] On the transmission of the Sanskritic culture in the colonial period -- a panel at ECSAS 2020, Vienna 29th July-1 August 2020

[cristina pecchia]

ECSAS 2020 – Vienna 29th July-1 August 2020: On the transmission of the 
Sanskritic culture in the colonial period


Dear All,

one of the panels at the next 26th European Conference on South Asian 
Studies will be "On the transmission of the Sanskritic culture in the 
colonial period: Philology and print in South Asia".

The panel aims to explore the transmission of texts of the Sanskritic 
culture in colonial South Asia by looking, in particular, at the 
publishers’ entrepreneurship and the philological activity (namely 
editorial and interpretative practices) concerning Sanskrit texts.

I would be happy to receive paper proposals on this topic. Paper 
proposals can be submitted here: 
https://ecsas2020.univie.ac.at/panels/fzjqb/ until November 17, 2019.

Long abstract of the panel:

Sanskrit literature preserved in manuscript (and oral) form was first 
printed in South Asia during the colonial period, when print technology 
was massively adopted in South Asia. The reproduction of Sanskrit works 
in print was the result of printer-publishers’ entrepreneurship and of 
an intense philological activity, based on editorial and interpretative 
practices. The contours of both dimensions, namely publishing production 
and philology, are still quite nebulous. Valuable information can be 
gathered through an investigation of printed books, catalogues, library 
registers etc., and a comparison between the texts or textual corpora in 
manuscripts and printed books. The papers of the panel “On the 
transmission of the Sanskritic culture in the colonial period: Philology 
and print in South Asia” will look at interpretative and editorial 
practices applied to Sanskrit texts, and explore publishing projects of 
printer-publishers. Furthermore, they will reflect on the impact and 
consequences that philological practices and publishers’ 
entrepreneurship exerted on the transmission and diffusion of Sanskrit 
literature and, through it, of indigenous knowledge systems such as (but 
not limited to) philosophy, Yoga, or Ayurveda. Crossing disciplinary 
boundaries is a necessity as well as a challenge in this kind of 
investigation, since we need to explore how the Sanskritic culture 
extends into the colonial period. Also, we need to consider aspects of 
the social and cultural history of manuscripts and printed books, and 
their complex interplay in 19th and 20th century South Asia.

Best regards,

Cristina Pecchia


Institute for the Cultural and Intellectual History of Asia (IKGA)
Austrian Academy of Sciences (OEAW)
Vienna, AUSTRIA
www.ikga.oeaw.ac.at



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