Of Gods and Books: Ritual and Knowledge Transmission in the Manuscript Cultures of Premodern India (Studies in Manuscript Cultures) (Studies in Manuscript Cultures, 8)

India has been the homeland of diverse manuscript traditions that do not cease to impress scholars for their imposing size and complexity. Nevertheless, many topics concerning the study of Indian manuscript cultures still remain to receive systematic examination. __Of Gods and Books__ pays attention to one of these topics - the use of manuscripts as ritualistic tools. Literary sources deal quite extensively with rituals principally focused on manuscripts, whose worship, donation and preservation are duly prescribed. Around these activities, a specific category of ritual gift is created, which finds attestations in pre-tantric, as well as in __smārta__ and tantric, literature, and whose practice is also variously reflected in epigraphical documents. De Simini offers a first systematic study of the textual evidence on the topic of the worship and donation of knowledge. She gives account of possible implications for the relationships between religion and power. The book is indsipensible for a deeper understanding of the cultural aspects of manuscript transmission in medieval India, and beyond. Contents 5 1 Manuscripts, Ritual, and the State in Indian Sources 13 1.1 Indian Manuscripts in Art and Ritual: The Case of Buddhism 14 1.2 Rituals of Power and Knowledge in Brahmanism 35 1.3 The ‘Books of Siva’ 58 2 The Task of Writing and the Art of Giving 95 2.1 The Gift of Knowledge 95 2.1.1 The Introductory Procedures 96 2.1.2 The Manuscripts 98 2.1.3 The Thrones of Worship 104 2.1.4 The Scribes 108 2.1.5 The Copying 114 2.1.6 The Donation 126 2.2 The Corrections 140 2.3 The Abode of Knowledge 152 2.4 On Ritual Readings and Teachers’ Salaries: The Gift of Knowledge and its Social Roots 168 2.5 The Books of Knowledge 209 3 Manuscripts, Ritual and the Medieval Literature on Dharma 239 3.1 Something New, Something Old, Something Borrowed: Law-Digests on the Gift of Manuscripts 259 3.2 ‘Vedam non sunt libri’, or: How to Give What You Cannot Have 302 4 The Throne of Knowledge: Aspects of the Cult of the Book in Saiva and Vai??ava Tantric Traditions 329 4.1 The Cult of the Book in the Context of Obligatory and Occasional Rites 343 4.2 The Installation of the Throne of Knowledge 351 4.3 On the Threshold of Modernity: Ritual and Manuscripts in the Sixteenth-Century South India 364 5 Appendix 1: The ‘Chapter on the Gift of Knowledge’ (Vidyadanadhyaya), being the second chapter of the Sivadharmottara 385 5.1 English Translation 386 5.2 Sanskrit Text 404 6 Appendix 2: Tables of Textual Parallels with Chapters 1, 2 and 12 of the Sivadharmottara 419 7 Table A: Structure of the Chapters on the Gift of Knowledge in the Sanskrit Law-Digests 447 References 455 Indices 483

India has been the homeland of diverse manuscript traditions that do not cease to impress scholars for their imposing size and complexity. Nevertheless, many topics concerning the study of Indian manuscript cultures still remain to receive systematic examination. Of Gods and Books pays attention to one of these topics - the use of manuscripts as ritualistic tools. Literary sources deal quite extensively with rituals principally focused on manuscripts, whose worship, donation and preservation are duly prescribed. Around these activities, a specific category of ritual gift is created, which finds attestations in pre-tantric, as well as in sm?rta and tantric, literature, and whose practice is also variously reflected in epigraphical documents. De Simini offers a first systematic study of the textual evidence on the topic of the worship and donation of knowledge. She gives account of possible implications for the relationships between religion and power. The book is indsipensible for a deeper understanding of the cultural aspects of manuscript transmission in medieval India, and beyond.

India has been the homeland of diverse manuscript traditions that do not cease to impress scholars for their imposing size and complexity. Nevertheless, many topics concerning the study of Indian manuscript cultures still remain to receive systematic examination. Of Gods and Books pays attention to one of these topics-- the use of manuscripts as ritualistic tools. Literary sources deal quite extensively with rituals principally focused on manuscripts, whose worship, donation and preservation are duly prescribed. Around these activities, a specific category of ritual gift is created, which finds attestations in pre-tantric, as well as in smarta and tantric, literature, and whose practice is also variously reflected in epigraphical documents. De Simini offers a first systematic study of the textual evidence on the topic of the worship and donation of knowledge. She gives account of possible implications for the relationships between religion and power. The book is indispensable for a deeper understanding of the cultural aspects of manuscript transmission in medieval India, and beyond The Author Provides A Comprehensive Inquiry Into Pivotal Aspects Of Indian Manuscript Cultures, On The Basis Of A First-hand Analysis Of Textual Sources. The Topic Of The Ritualistic Use Of Manuscripts As Objects Of Worship And Ritual Donation, A Transversal One In Indian Texts, Is Analyzed Through The Lens Of History And Seen In Its Connections With The Ideology Of Power And The Vital Quest For Monarchical Patronage In Early Medieval India.