Prosopography, manuscripts, etexts
The PanditProject is a leading prosopographical resource in classical Indian studies. as its method of recording and referrring to information about South Asian intellectual history. The project is headed by Professor Yigal Bronner at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. PanditProject records biographical information about persons, their works and the manuscripts that transmit those works in a network of linked relationships. The PanditProject has been adopted as the principle prosopographical and literary reference resource for the Sushruta Project.
Starting points relevant to this project
Suśrutasaṃhitā
A list of all known manuscripts of the work (still growing). Also, links to information about the earliest commentaries on the work.
The Suśrutapāṭhaśuddhi of Candraṭa
A little-explored early work of textual criticism focussed on the Suśruta text that may have strongly influenced the post-Nepalese transmission.
A possible manuscript of the lost commentary by Jejjaṭa
Jejjaṭa is known for his early commentary on the Carakasaṃhitā, parts of which have survived in south India. It is less well known that he may have authored a commentary on the Suśrutasaṃhitā, although this may be almost completely lost. It was reported by D. C. Bhattacharya (1947) that the edition of the Aṣṭāṅgasaṃgraha by Rudrapāraśara contained citations from this commentary [note]. Recent information has cast more doubt on the survival of this commentary (2021, Madhu K. Paramesvaran, personal communication). However, the 1944 catalogue of the Anup Sanskrit library (p.337) records that this manuscript contains an Uttaratantra.” Since only the Suśrutasaṃhitā has such a section, the identity of the text in this manuscript may indeed be a commentary on the Suśrutasaṃhitā. The issue cannot be settled without inspection of the manuscript. Unfortunately, the owners of the Anup library do not allow manuscripts to be studied by scholars.
The Nyāyacandrikā of Gayadāsa, an important and very early commentary (including a previously unknown MS in Bikaner)
Manuscript discovery and documentation
- The Nepal-German Manuscript Preservation Project (1970-2002; the “NGMPP”; historical sketch by Ehrhard (1991)).
- The Nepal-German Manuscript Cataloguing Project (2002-2014; the “NGMCP”).
- The digital New Catalogus Catalogorum, a survey of works and authors in the Sanskrit and Prakrit languages. Begun at the University of Madras in 1949 by Prof. V. Raghavan and currently nearing completion in 42 published volumes under the direction of Prof. Siniruddha Dash. Now available both in print and digitally.
- Philosophy and Medicine in Early Classical India (the Vienna “Caraka Project”).
- National Institute of Indian Medical Heritage, “AYUSH Manuscripts Advanced Repository” (AMAR, launched in 2021.)
Electronic texts
- Searchable etext of the Suśrutasaṃhitā with Ḍalhaṇa’s commentary at the National Institute of Indian Medical Heritage, Hyderabad;
- Searchable etext of the Carakasaṃhitā with Cakrapāṇis commentary at the NIIMH;
- Searchable etext of several Nighaṇṭus at the NIIMH;
- Searchable etext of the Mādhavanidāna at the NIIMH;
- eGranthaSamuccaya at the NIIMH (includes the above etexts and several others);
- Searchable etext of the Aṣṭāṅgahṛdayasaṃhitā with Aruṇadatta’s commentary at I-AIM (FRLHT);
- Searchable etext of the Aṣṭāṅgasaṅgraha with Indu’s commentary at I-AIM (FRLHT).