Dear Martin,

just some thoughts from "outside" the box:

depending on the character of your list, you could also consider including compiled works or works that have no single author (you mentioned the Suśruta-Saṃhitā), such as the Mahābhārata or Rāmāyaṇa, or even Vedic works, such as the Ṛgveda-Saṃhitā – if not because of their (often outstanding) contents, then because of the extraordinary achievement of their creators in putting them together.

If it's about significance or popularity, you could also consider much shorter texts – for instance, verses or mantras – such as the Mahāvākyas or the Gāyatrī mantra, the latter (as far as I know) being the first text ever to become a deity itself. But maybe they belong in a category of their own; admittedly, I wouldn't submit them for the Sanskrit-Pulitzer.

Lastly, modern Sanskrit works (single-authored, book-length) could also be considered, but unfortunately I cannot give any justified recommendations here.

Best wishes,
Dominik

Am 2019-09-17 17:37, schrieb Martin Gluckman via INDOLOGY:

Dear Colleagues,

 

I have a lecture to prepare and am conducting a short survey:

 

I would like to know from the Sanskrit scholarly community what those feel are the utmost most excellent works from the entire corpora and a short line about why.

 

Think of it as "if there were to be a Pullitzer or Booker Prize for the notable Sanskrit works", who and what would be the nominees and why.

 

It could be a text that was of exceptional technical value for example Pāṇini's Aṣṭādhyāyī or those that have introduced a novel method in a field of science for example the Suśrutasaṃhitā. Then of course a notable poetic marvel such as Śakuntalā.

 

If there exist some already compiled lists of the same I would most appreciate it.

 

With warmest wishes,

 

Martin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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