[INDOLOGY] Request for help - materiality of texts and textual production

[Howard Resnick]

Hi McComas,

I will mention a point that is quite tangential to your core interest, but perhaps of some interest. In the Gauḍiya Vaiṣṇava tradition, we find a number of anachronistic descriptions of writing, in relation to ancient times when writing is not attested in South Asia.

One example is the well know līlā from the Bhāgavata-purāṇa, daśama-skanda, in which Princess Rukminī engages a brāhmaṇa to deliver a message to Kṛṣṇa in Dvāraka, begging him to rescue her from an arranged marriage to Śiśupāla. The celebrated Gauḍīya sage Rūpa Gosvāmī depicts Rukminī as sending a written message to Kṛṣṇa. The Bhāgavatam text itself describes an oral message. There are other examples up to the present day where the Gauḍīya tradition, and probably others, describe written communications from events long before any evidence of such writing in South Asia.

So, it seems that anachronistic claims of writing illustrate an ahistorical, contemporizing approach to ancient stories. Another example seems to be the well known story that Gaṇeśa wrote the Mahābhārata as Vyāsa dictated, a story not found in most MBh recensions. Of course, actual writing is a big game-changer, both in stabilizing oral traditions, and also creating a sense of historical dimensions and layers. 

Sorry for the departure from your main interest here.

Best wishes,
Howard

> On Aug 11, 2024, at 6:44 PM, McComas Taylor via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
> 
> Dear colleagues
> 
> What has been written about the materiality of texts and textual production in the realm of Sanskrit literature? I am interested to find out about the ways in which 'books' as physical artefacts and writing as a practical process are addressed in Sanskrit literature.  There is plenty on the history of writing and epigraphy, but I have not yet been able to find much on 'the book' etc - I would be very grateful for any references.
> 
> Thanks in advance,
> 
> McComas
> 
>                
> McComas Taylor, Professor of Sanskrit
> College of Asia and Pacific, Australian National University
> Secretary-General, International Assoc. of Sanskrit Studies
> 
> 
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