Dear colleagues,

 

I am pleased to announce the publication of Bulletin d'études indiennes (BEI) 37, under the auspices of the Association Française pour les études indiennes (AFEI):

Nāgeśa : Paramalaghumañjūṣā. La Très petite corbeille. Introduction, texte, traduction et notes par Edwin Mahaffey Gerow. Révision et avant-propos par Lyne Bansat-Boudon et Sylvain Brocquet. Bulletin d’études indiennes 37. Paris : Association française pour les études indiennes (see the cover in the attached file).

 

The work consists mainly of a monograph by Edwin Gerow which is a richly annotated French translation of the Paramalaghumañjūṣā, the Very Small Basket, by Nāgeśa, accompanied by the Sanskrit text, a scholarly introduction, and a “Summary” in English, which is in fact a masterful synthesis of Nāgeśa’s tātparya.

 

A Francophile and Francophone, Edwin Gerow was all the more keen to publish this work in French as he wished to pay tribute to Louis Renou, the great French Indologist, for whom, at the beginning of his career, he had come to Paris to attend his seminars and benefit from his benevolent guidance in his research work.

Hence, the project of a publication of the Paramalaghumañjūṣā, an important text of grammar, never before translated into a Western language, in the BEI 37. Yet, Edwin Gerow 's sudden death on 24th July 2025 changed the situation dramatically.

The scientific editors of the Bulletin were placed in a very peculiar situation, preventing them from maintaining the editorial dialogue they would have liked with Edwin Gerow, and making them “executors of his will”, with the mission of publishing his opus ultimum, so that this work, remarkable for its erudition and insight into the whole of the Indian grammatical tradition, as expounded by a 18th century grammarian, may be known to the Indianist community.

They have therefore made it their duty to resume the work of revising Edwin Gerow’s text, either by introducing the necessary amendments into the body of his annotated translation, or through editor's notes, while ensuring that they would remain as faithful as possible to the author's original wording.

 

Now accessible, the Paramalaghumañjūṣā is a remarkable example of the virtuosity of Indian reasoning, which demonstrates a level of sophistication almost unmatched in Western thought, and which is part of a long tradition, because tradition prevails, even if, or because, it is open to discussion.

Undoubtedly, this pioneering translation of the Paramalaghumañjūṣā will be the basis for studies and developments of the greatest interest.

 

The book can be ordered from either of the following addresses:

Lyne.bansat-boudon@ephe.sorbonne.fr

sylvain.brocquet@orange.fr

 

With kind regards and  New Year greetings,

 

Lyne

 

Lyne Bansat-Boudon

Directeur d'études pour les Religions de l'Inde

Ecole pratique des hautes études, section des sciences religieuses

Membre senior honoraire de l'Institut universitaire de France

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