Dear Johannes,

although it’s very far from Tibet, it appears that in Kerala a particular letter-numeral systems was used as a ‘cryptographic code’ through which only the initiated in the system were able to reorder the intentionally jumbled folios of a manuscript. On this, see Renou/Filliozat, L’Inde classique, p. 708.

Best wishes,

Marco Franceschini
———————————
Fixed-term Researcher
University of Bologna
Department of History and Cultures
via Zamboni 33 - 40126 Bologna - Italy
marco.franceschini3@unibo.it
---


Il giorno 29/apr/2016, alle ore 18:51, Johannes Bronkhorst <Johannes.Bronkhorst@unil.ch> ha scritto:

Dear friends and colleagues,
A friend asked me to post the following question:

From Amy Heller (tibetologist):  I am currently studying a 408 page
11th-12th century Tibetan Prajnaparamita from Tholing whose page numbering
does not conform to the specifics of W Tibetan manuscripts - there are many
"small" aberrant details , although the numbering is on the whole legible. A
colleague suggested to me that this is a reflection, perhaps,  of an Indian
tradition to conceal accurate numbering from the eyes of infidels,
presumably in vigor in N India, ca 10th-12th c (in Hindu and Buddhist
circles) to conceal from potential Muslim eyes??  I asked an Indian friend
(curator in an art museum) who  did not know of this tradition at all, nor
was I aware of it. Is this spurious or genuine? Feedback would be most
appreciated, thanks!

Johannes Bronkhorst
_______________________________________________
INDOLOGY mailing list
INDOLOGY@list.indology.info
indology-owner@list.indology.info (messages to the list's managing committee)
http://listinfo.indology.info (where you can change your list options or unsubscribe)