Manuscript Circulation in Indian Buddhist Monasteries
This talk begins with an examination of colophons found in Sanskrit manuscripts preserved in Tibet. Some of these colophons contain brief notes written in Tibetan, which provide valuable information about a manuscript’s provenance, storage history, and successive ownership. Such details allow us to trace how Sanskrit manuscripts were cared for and transmitted within the Tibetan cultural sphere.
This naturally raises a further question: did Indian Buddhist monasteries maintain comparable systems for owning, safeguarding, and transmitting manuscripts? Although the surviving evidence from India is far less abundant than that available from Tibet, a number of important clues remain.
In this presentation, I offer a preliminary survey of the available traces that illuminate how Sanskrit manuscripts were owned, copied, preserved, and passed down in Indian Buddhist monastic contexts. I will also discuss several, albeit limited, examples of the copying fees charged for manuscript reproduction.
- Organisateurs : Émilie Aussant (USN) et Vincent Eltschinger (EPHE-PSL)
- Invité : Kazuo Kano (Université de Komazawa, Japon)
- Date et horaire : Mercredi 28 janvier 2026 de 12h à 14h
- Lieu et salle : salle Delamarre, D059 (EPHE, Sorbonne, escalier E, 1er étage)