Dear colleagues,

Is anyone aware of a publication that addresses the etymology or use of the term puṣpikā/puṣpakā as a closing formula of a text or manuscript? This meaning is not attested in pre-modern North Indian vernaculars, and appears to enter Hindi in the twentieth century via Sanskrit lexicography (i.e. Syamsundardas, author of the Hindī Śabda Sāgara, appears to have copied his entry for puspikā from Monier-Williams's dictionary). I've checked a few sources on codicology that use the term, but they give no information on the term itself.

With thanks,

Tyler Williams

University of Chicago

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