Texts Surrounding Texts: Satellite Stanzas, Prefaces and Colophons in South-Indian Manuscripts (collections of the Paris BnF and Hamburg Stabi)

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Eva Wilden
• Subject Area: Asian Studies
• Term: from 2019 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 410989857

• Final Report Year: 2024

Final Report Abstract

Starting point for the project was a 5 year collaboration of an international team (European and Indian) on reviewing and editing early classical Tamil literature and its transmission history. The texts in question go back to the early first millennium and needed, due to climatic and material conditions, to be re-copied every hundred years. Part of that work was the digitization and cataloguing of the remaining (mostly endangered) manuscript witnesses on palm leaf and paper. This resulted in a number of research questions: how does such a long-term transmission under difficult material conditions function? What can the individual manuscripts tell us about the authors, copyists, institutions and social mechanisms which enable the manuscript production? what happens to the objects? When comprehending that that sort of historically pertinent information in India is almost exclusively found "on the margins", namely in the form of para-texts such as colophons, additions, notes, glosses, etc., the need arose for a more refined approach on a broader material basis. Two of the public manuscript collections situated in Europe, Hamburg and Paris, seemed ideal candidates. Firstly, both held material significantly older than that usually found in India. Secondly, they were accessible and willing to co-operate, being home institutions of the two applicants for this Franco-German cooperation. Thirdly, both collections were complementary from the point of view of content: both hail from the South of India and cover roughly the same period, but they originated in quite different cultural contexts, with the Paris collection predominantly covering the South-Indian literary language of Tamil and the Hamburg collections containing mostly texts in the over-regional Sanskrit. The first fundamental goal of TST was to make these two collections difficult of access (because partly only documented in hand lists) available for research. The Hamburg collection could be digitized completely, the Paris collection in significant parts. Thanks to the support of a digital philologist both collections are now (or will be very soon) freely accessible online. Hand in hand with the imaging went the preparation of a detailed descriptive catalogue with a particular emphasis on the mentioned paratextual elements. Thanks to the combined web presentation of image and catalogue now all kinds of quantitative analysis also become possible, as in the case of colophons is already happening in a further project. Also questions of provenance may be addressed on this basis. The main scientific output of the analysis will be published next year in a volume with studies of para-texts and provenance.

Publications

• BnF Indien 765: The Christian Poem Miśihācaritam or Story of the Messiah by the J.E. Hanxleden (1681-1732). TST Online Workshop, 21 septembre 2020. Wilden, Eva. 2019. The Games of Śiva in the Paris Collection. TST Kickoff Workshop, Hamburg, 10 avril 2019
  Vielle, Christophe
  
• Cataloguing of Later Akam Grammatical Treatises, Śaiva Purāṇas, and Folk Ballads. TST Kickoff Workshop, Hamburg, 10 avril 2019
  Rajarethinam, T.
  
• Cataloguing the Indian Manuscripts of Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Hamburg. TST Kickoff Workshop, Hamburg, 9 avril 2019.
  Pasedach, Peter
  
• Native and Non-native Knowledge about Tamil as Evidenced by some Items in the Fonds Indien of the Bnf. TST Kickoff Workshop, Hamburg, 10 avril 2019
  Chevillard, Jean-Luc
  
• Para-textual Portions in Selected Tamil Siddha Medico-Alchemical Manuscripts. TST Kickoff Workshop, Hamburg, 10 avril 2019
  Kędzia, Ilona
  
• Persuading and Informing: Paratexts, Lexicon and Argumentative Structures in Christian Missionary Manuscripts. TST Kickoff Workshop, Hamburg, 8 avril 2019
  Muru, Cristina
  
• Some Aspects of the Modular Structure of Colophons in Manuscripts Written in Tamil and Tamilian Grantha Scripts. TST Kickoff Workshop, Hamburg, 8 avril 2019
  Ciotti, Giovanni & Marco Franceschini
  
• Stanzas, Imprecations, and Syllabics. TST Kickoff Workshop, Hamburg, 10 avril 2019.
  Francis, Emmanuel
  
• Tamil and Manipravalam Vaiṣṇava Manuscripts at the BNF and Stabi collections. TST Kickoff Workshop, Hamburg, 8 avril 2019
  Anandakichenin, Suganya & Erin McCann
  
• The Collection of Palm Leaf Manuscripts in the State and University Library: History and Concepts of Presentation. TST Kickoff Workshop, Hamburg, 9 avril 2019
  Müller, Monika
  
• The Corpus of Tamil Grammars in the BnF. TST Kickoff Workshop, Hamburg, 10 avril 2019
  D.’Avella, Victor
  
• The CSMC Scheme. TST Kickoff Workshop, Hamburg, 9 avril 2019
  Helmholz, Karsten
  
• The Intellectual and Religious Traditions of South Asia as Seen Through the Sanskrit Manuscript Collections of the University Library, Cambridge. TST Kickoff Workshop, Hamburg, 9 avril 2019
  Vergiani, Vincenzo
  
• The Nepalese-German Manuscript Cataloguing Project, TST kickoff Workshop, Hamburg, 9 avril 2019
  Isaacson, Harunaga
  
• The Transmission of the Śivadharma in South India: An Overview. TST Kickoff Workshop, Hamburg, 8 avril 2019
  Simini, Florinda de
  
• TST in the History of the Indian Manuscripts Collection of the BnF. TST Kickoff Workshop, Hamburg, 9 avril 2019
  Petit, Jerôme
  
• Two Groups of Catholic Manuscripts in Tamil. TST Kickoff Workshop, Hamburg, 8 avril 2019.
  Trento, Margherita
  
• A Note on the Irāmānuca Nūṟṟantāti. In Colophons, Prefaces, Satellite Stanzas: Paratextual Elements and Their Role in the Transmission of Indian Texts edited by Eva Wilden & Suganya Anandakichenin, 485-509. Hamburg: Universität Hamburg.
  McCann, Erin
  
• Colophons, Prefaces, Satellite Stanzas: Paratextual Elements and Their Role in the Transmission of Indian Texts. Hamburg: Universität Hamburg (Indian and Tibetan Studies 10). vi-623 p. 45 ill.
  Wilden, Eva & Suganya Anandakichenin
  
• Franceschini, Marco. 2020. Colophons Found in Manuscripts Written in Tamil and/or Grantha Scripts. TST Online Workshop, 21 septembre 2020
  Franceschini, Marco
  
• Orbiting Material in Tamil Grammatical Texts. In Colophons, Prefaces, Satellite Stanzas: Paratextual Elements and Their Role in the Transmission of Indian Texts edited by Eva Wilden & Suganya Anandakichenin, 223-279. Hamburg: Universität Hamburg
  D.’Avella, Victor
  
• Palm-leaf Manuscripts of Tamil Christian Works in the BnF Collection. TST Online Workshop, 21 septembre 2020
  Trento, Margherita
  
• Paratexts of BnF Indien 474 and 475 (Tēmpāvaṇi) and the Life of Jesuit Missionary Saint João de Brito aka Aruḷāṉanta Cuvāmi (BnF Indien 469). TST Online Workshop, 21 septembre 2020
  Trento, Margherita
  
• Standing Between More than Two Languages: Dialectal Variation in Tamil, as Seen through the Prism of the earlier MSS, of the 1679 Printed Copy and of the later MSS Copies of Antam de Proença’s Vocabulario Tamulico com a significaçam Portugueza. Linguistic encounters in Southeastern India: Tamil, Portuguese, and French, Centro de Linguística de Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbonne, 4 décembre 2019. Chevillard, Jean-Luc. 2020. Two manuscripts Illustrating the Great Importance of the Paris BnF Collection: BnF Indien 221 (Vocabulario tamulico-lusitano) and Indien 113 (Śaiva compilation). TST Online Workshop, 21 septembre 2020.
  Chevillard, Jean-Luc
  
• Stanzas on the Tirumurukāṟṟuppaṭai: What for? In Colophons, Prefaces, Satellite Stanzas: Paratextual Elements and Their Role in the Transmission of Indian Texts edited by Eva Wilden & Suganya Anandakichenin, 281-330. Hamburg: Universität Hamburg
  Francis, Emmanuel
  
• The Taṉiyaṉ: Its Role, Evolution and Importance in the Śrīvaiṣṇava Tradition. In Colophons, Prefaces, Satellite Stanzas: Paratextual Elements and Their Role in the Transmission of Indian Texts edited by Eva Wilden & Suganya Anandakichenin, 395-453. Hamburg: Universität Hamburg.
  Anandakichenin, Suganya
  
• “Grammaire Latin Étendu: Two Portuguese Missionary Tamil Arte (17th cent.).” In: Gerda Haßler & Angelika Rüter (Hrg.) Beiträge zur Geschichte der Sprachwissenschaft. Extended Grammars. Themenheft. 30.1
  Muru, Cristina
  
• A Collection Between Libraries: The Hodgson Manuscripts in the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the Bodleian Library, the Royal Asiatic Society, and the British Library. TST Paris Workshop, Aubervilliers, 7-8 octobre 2021
  Formigatti, Camillo
  
• A Survey of Paratexts in Tamil Manuscripts. TST Paris Workshop, Aubervilliers, 7-8 octobre 2021
  Rajeswari, T.V.
  
• DHARMA and TST projects: Work in Progress and Further Steps. 2nd ENDS Meeting, Hamburg, juin 2021
  Francis, Emmanuel
  
• Lumière sur des projets numériques autour des inscriptions et manuscrits en tamoul : catalogage, encodage et édition. Les rendez-vous de la philologie numérique, mai 2021
  Ruscio, Maxime; Lucas Noëmie & Emmanuel Francis
  
• MS Stein Or.d.72, an Old Birch-bark Fragment of the Haravijaya: What Marginal Annotation Can Tell us about the Composition of Kāvya Commentaries. TST Paris Workshop, Aubervilliers, 7-8 octobre 2021
  Pasedach, Peter
  
• Networks and Battlegrounds in the Margins of the Amarakoṣa. TST Paris Workshop, Aubervilliers, 7-8 octobre 2021
  Li, Charles
  
• Of BL-EAP 1294 and paratextual material. TST Paris Workshop, Aubervilliers, 7-8 octobre 2021
  Anandakichenin, Suganya
  
• Opening remarks. TST Paris Workshop, Aubervilliers, 7-8 octobre 2021
  Le Masne de Chermont, Isabelle
  
• Recent Advancements in the Analysis of Colophons. TST Paris Workshop, Aubervilliers, 7-8 octobre 2021
  Ciotti, Giovanni & Marco Franceschini
  
• Svaraprakriyā: Exclusive Text on Accent. TST Paris Workshop, Aubervilliers, 7-8 octobre 2021
  Ajotikar, Anuja
  
• Tables of Content – What For? TST Paris Workshop, Aubervilliers, 7-8 octobre 2021
  Wilden, Eva
  
• Tamil Methods for the representation of Large Numbers, as Attested in Manuscript BnF Indien 203. TST Paris Workshop, Aubervilliers, 7-8 octobre 2021
  Chevillard, Jean-Luc
  
• The Ducler Collection of Manuscripts (BnF). TST Paris Workshop, Aubervilliers, 7-8 octobre 2021
  Francis, Emmanuel
  
• The history of Sanskrit Manuscript Collections as a Testimony to the Collaboration between European and Indian Sanskrit Scholars. TST Paris Workshop, Aubervilliers, 7-8 octobre 2021
  Farkondeh, Iris Iran
  
• The invocatory verses of Nampi’s Tiruviḷaiyāṭaṟ Purāṇam. TST Paris Workshop, Aubervilliers, 7-8 octobre 2021
  Bhaskar, Neela
  
• TST Onward and Upward. TST Paris Workshop, Aubervilliers, 7-8 octobre 2021
  Francis, Emmanuel
  
• "The Foucaux collection at the BnF: forgotten works of a forgotten scholar." Bulletin d'études indiennes 35: 141–160.
  Li, Charles
  
• A Portuguese-Dutch Missionary Grammar of Tamil of the Early 17th Century: Its History, its Connections, and its Main Linguistic Features. TST Final Workshop, Hamburg, 23-25 juin 2022
  Muru, Cristina
  
• Blessings in Tamil Manuscripts. TST Final Workshop, Hamburg, 23-25 juin 2022
  Francis, Emmanuel
  
• Brève présentation concernant quelques projets au long cours autour des collections de manuscrits tamouls de la Bibliothèque Nationale de France (BnF). Séance scientifique du laboratoire HTL (UMR 7597), 1er avril 2022
  Chevillard, Jean-Luc & Margherita Trento
  
• Colophonic Highlights from the Palm-Leaf Manuscript Collection of the SUB. TST Final Workshop, Hamburg, 23-25 juin 2022
  Ciotti, Giovanni & Marco Franceschini
  
• Critical Edition of Tolkāppiyam Collatikāram with Teyvaccilaiyār Commentary: Manuscripts and Print Editions: Some observations. TST Final Workshop, Hamburg, 23-25 juin 2022
  Nachimuthu, K.
  
• Depictions of Citttirakavi in Tamil Manuscripts. TST Final Workshop, Hamburg, 23-25 juin 2022
  D.’Avella, Victor
  
• Dvirūpakośa by Śrīharṣa (35-3326). TST Final Workshop, Hamburg, 23-25 juin 2022
  Ajotikar, Anuja
  
• Fishing for Pearls across the Network of Tamil Dictionaries & co. in the BnF: Navigating the Divides between Native and Non-native, Practical and Poetical Lexicography. TST Final Workshop, Hamburg, 23-25 juin 2022
  Chevillard, Jean-Luc & Margherita Trento.
  
• I commenced to Praise Ampalam’s fame: Authorial Prefaces in Tamil Narrative Literature, 12th-19th c. TST Final Workshop, CSMC, Hamburg, 23-25 juin 2022
  Tschacher, Torsten
  
• Le projet TST. Pour une Europe des Sciences humaines et sociales : Quinze ans de recherche franco-allemande, juin 2022
  Francis, Emmanuel & Charles Li
  
• Manuscripts of the Poruḷatikāram of the Tolkāppiyam in the UVS Library – A Survey. TST Final Workshop, Hamburg, 23-25 juin 2022
  Manuel, Indra
  
• On Some Hyperreal Manuscripts of the 19th Century. TST Final Workshop, Hamburg, 23-25 juin 2022
  Li, Charles
  
• Paratextual Elements in Shaiva Texts with Special Reference to Periyapurāṇam. TST Final Workshop, Hamburg, 23-25 juin 2022
  Rajarethinam, T.
  
• Paratextual Elements in Tolkāppiyam – Collatikāram Manuscripts. TST Final Workshop, Hamburg, 23-25 juin 2022
  Saravanan, S.
  
• Salutations to Hayagrīva!: A Look at the Śrīvaiṣṇava manuscripts of the Stabi collection. TST Final Workshop, Hamburg, 23-25 juin 2022
  Anandakichenin, Suganya
  
• Satellite Stanzas or not: Kuṟaḷ, Nālaṭiyār, and Paḻamoḻi. TST Final Workshop, Hamburg, 23-25 juin 2022
  Wilden, Eva
  
• Selected Tamil BnF Manuscripts on Medicine, Alchemy, and Yoga and their Paratexts. TST Final Workshop, Hamburg, 23-25 juin 2022
  Kędzia, Ilona
  
• Some Colophons of the Charles d’Ochoa Collection. TST Final Workshop, CSMC, Hamburg, 23-25 juin 2022
  Petit, Jerôme
  
• TST and Beyond. TST Final Workshop, Hamburg, juin 2022
  Francis, Emmanuel
  
• TST Final Reports and Prospects. TST Final Workshop, Hamburg, 23-25 juin 2022
  Francis, Emmanuel & Eva Wilden
  
• Writing Tamil Catholicism. BRILL.
  Trento, Margherita
  
• Le projet TST. DataLab BnF, avril 2023
  Francis, Emmanuel & Charles Li
  
• Les manuscrits Vinson de la BnF. Journée d'études tamoules 3 : Julien Vinson (1843-1926), de Karikal à la BNF, INALCO, 11 mai 2023, Paris, France
  Francis, Emmanuel
  
• On the Transmission of Tamil Poetical Vocabularies, with a Special Focus on the Tivākaram and the Cūṭāmaṇi Nikaṇṭu. In Jñānapraśaṃsā. In Praise of Knowledge: Essays in Honour of E. G. Kahrs edited Alastair Gornall, 95-113. Halle : Universitätsverlag Halle-Wittenberg
  Chevillard, Jean-Luc
  
• Strategies for Binding Pothi Manuscripts. Tied and Bound: A Comparative View on Manuscript Binding, 155-190. De Gruyter.
  Ciotti, Giovanni
  
• Using n-akṣaras to model Sanskrit & Sanskrit-adjacent Texts. Perspectives of Digital Humanities in the Field of Buddhist Studies, Hamburg, janvier 2023
  Li, Charles