Completion of the Historical-Critical Edition of the Mokṣopāya with the Printing of the Last Subvolume 7

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Walter Slaje
• Subject Area: Asian Studies
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 562035192

This application concerns a printing cost subsidy for the publication of the seventh and final sub-volume of the Mokṣopāya, the critical text of which has now been established in its entirety. The edition currently comprises 12 physical volumes. The seventh part, for which printing subsidies are being applied for at this time, completes the six volumes of the historical-critical text edition with the last third of the Nirvāṇaprakaraṇa, including Khilas. With the final volume printed, the complete text will comprise 30,038 stanzas distributed across seven physical volumes. The present volume contains seven Ākhyānas, among which the ‘Vipaścitkathā’ is the most extensive, complex, and, at the same time, least studied Ākhyāna of the entire Mokṣopāya. In conclusion, the text corpus of this volume evinces an increasing impression of authorial authenticity with individualistic traits. It may be reasonably assumed that these traits are indicative of the charismatic personality of a philosopher, who was also a master poet, and his audience-appealing appearances in the Kashmir public sphere of the 10th century.

• DFG Programme: Publication Grants