The 6th CBC has taken place in Rome, 17–19 September 2015. In case you could not join, you can read the program and download the book of abstracts here. Now that I am back in Vienna, I would like to send my heartfelt thanks:
Post Docs at the University of California
The UC Davis Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Program offers postdoctoral research fellowships and faculty mentoring to outstanding scholars in all fields whose research, teaching, and service will contribute to the diversity and equal opportunity at the University of California. These contributions may include public service addressing the needs of our increasingly diverse society, efforts to advance equitable access to higher education, or research focusing on underserved populations or understanding inequalities related to race, gender, disability or LGBT.
Man vergilt einem Lehrer schlecht, wenn man immer nur der Schüler bleibt. Und warum wollt ihr nicht an meinem Kranze rupfen?
Ihr verehrt mich; aber wie, wenn eure Verehrung eines Tages umfällt? Hütet euch, dass euch nicht eine Bildsäule erschlage!
Ihr sagt, ihr glaubt an Zarathustra? Aber was liegt an Zarathustra! Ihr seid meine Gläubigen: aber was liegt an allen Gläubigen!
Ihr hattet euch noch nicht gesucht: da fandet ihr mich. So thun alle Gläubigen; darum ist es so wenig mit allem Glauben.
Nun heisse ich euch, mich verlieren und euch finden; und erst, wenn ihr mich Alle verleugnet habt, will ich euch wiederkehren.
Wahrlich, mit andern Augen, meine Brüder, werde ich mir dann meine Verlorenen suchen; mit einer anderen Liebe werde ich euch dann lieben.
Perhaps, in other words: If you meet the Buddha, kill him. (逢佛殺佛)
(Friedrich Nietzsche, Also Sprach Zarathustra)
Studying Chinese, Indian, Africana… philosophy as part of the regular curriculum
Eric Schwitzgebel wrote an important article on the L.A. Times stating that we should stop refraining from studying Chinese Philosophy. He has a powerful way to show how there is circularity behind the arguments against it:
Because the dominant academic culture in the U.S. traces back to Europe, the ancient Chinese philosophers were not taught to, and thus not read by, the succeeding generations. Ignorance thus apparently justifies ignorance: Because we don’t know their work, they have little impact on our philosophy. Because they have little impact on our philosophy, we believe we are justified in remaining ignorant about their work.
arthāpatti in Kumārila’s Ślokavārttika, vv. 1–9
arthāpatti is recognised as a separate instrument of knowledge (pramāṇa) almost only by Mīmāṃsakas. Śabara’s discussion of it is interesting, but short, so that Kumārila’s one is really the reference point for all future authors accepting or criticising arthāpatti as a pramāṇa.
Position at the University of Wisconsin – Madison
The University of Wisconsin-Madison, as part of its initiative to re-envision the study of the languages, cultures, and societies of Asia, is seeking to hire a TransAsia / transdisciplinary scholar with expertise in at least one South or Southeast Asian language,
beginning August, 2016. Rank and area of specialization are open. The tenure home will reside in the newly- forming Department of Asian Studies.
Preference will be given to applicants who demonstrate the ability to cross disciplinary and cultural borders in their research and teaching, and who have the vision and skills to build new academic programs. A tenured appointment requires a proven record of excellence in research and teaching at all levels. We are particularly interested in applicants whose work addresses pressing issues of the day, in
areas including but not limited to: digital humanities; literary, media, or cultural studies; qualitative and fieldwork-based social sciences on themes such as poverty, health, migration, human rights, and the environment; or religious studies.
Salary is competitive. Qualified applicants should send a complete dossier (including letter of application, CV, sample publication or thesis chapter) and three letters of reference to:
Chair, Search Committee
Department of East Asian Languages and Literature
1208 Van Hise Hall
1220 Linden Drive
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Madison, WI 53706
To ensure full consideration, applications must be received by October 15, 2015
Finalists cannot be guaranteed confidentially. A criminal background check will be required prior to employment. UW-Madison is an affirmative action, equal opportunity employer and encourages women and minorities to apply.
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New manuscripts of Veṅkaṭanātha’s Seśvaramīmāṃsā
In the last two months, I have been busy deciphering two manuscripts of the Seśvaramīmāṃsā by Veṅkaṭanātha. One of them is in Telegu and the other in Grantha. The first one is a clearly recent one, written on paper in a sort of notebook and dated to 1893 CE. The other one has no colophon at all. Both end abruptly.
Librarian at the Bodleian Library
(I know, it is not Wednesday, but due to the close dead line I thought of posting this ad immediately.)
John Clay Sanskrit Librarian
Bodleian Libraries, Weston Library, Broad Street, Oxford
Grade 7: £30,434 – £37,394 p.a.
We are offering the rare opportunity for someone passionate about Sanskrit literature to work with the Bodleian Libraries’ world-renowned manuscript and printed book collections based in the Weston Library as a Librarian.
You will be enthusiastic about working with scholars to help communicate your knowledge of Sanskrit’s rich literary heritage to a broad audience in accessible and engaging ways. You will also be committed to building the Bodleian’s historic collections for the benefit and enjoyment of future generations. Working under the Head of Oriental Collections you will curate collections, stimulate research in and promote appreciation of Sanskrit literature.
You will have a degree in Sanskrit studies or similar and a professional qualification in librarianship or information science and/or academic library experience in the Sanskrit subject field. You will also have experience of working with Sanskrit manuscripts at a professional level, and of the promotion of library collections through organising outreach sessions, exhibitions or seminars.
This is a full-time, fixed-term post for 1 year.
Due to the nature of this post, candidates will be required to undertake a Disclosure Scotland check as well as a financial background check. The possession of a criminal record or poor financial background will not necessarily prevent an applicant from obtaining this post, as all cases are judged individually according to the nature of the role and information provided.
You will be required to upload a supporting statement as part of your online application. Your supporting statement should list each of the essential and desirable selection criteria, as listed in the further particulars, and explain how you meet each one. CVs will not form part of the selection process.
For further details about the role, including the job description, and to apply please click here or copy and paste the below link into your web browser:
https://www.recruit.ox.ac.uk/pls/hrisliverecruit/erq_jobspec_version_4.jobspec?p_id=119208
Only applications received online before 12.00 midday on Friday 18 September 2015 can be considered. Interviews are expected to take place on Wednesday 30 September 2015.
An Open Access journal on Transcultural Studies
Birgit Kellner recently mentioned on the Indology mailing list the last issue of Transcultural Studies and this prompted me to visit their website. The journal appears to have hosted articles on various topics, ranging from literature to the visual arts, from politics to the history of sciences, across times and countries but with a strong focus on South, South East and East Asia.
Collating manuscripts
As part of my current project, I am collating some South Indian manuscripts. So far, I have been collating a recent Telegu transcript on paper and a Grantha one on palm leaf.
1. At the end of the training phase, I was able to collate one folio per day of the former (written in a modern notebook with 38 lines per page). This means that I will be able to collate it in full in 66 days, almost three working months. Supposing that I just register variants in a file which has already the text I am editing, I will probably save one third of the time, so let me settle for two months but the last pages of the manuscript contain an unpublished text, so that these needed to be collated anyway.
2. I just measured the time I need for the Grantha palm leaf manuscript after the training phase: 90 minutes for each side of a folio. Since the manuscript has 58 folios, this means I will need 174 hours to collate it, which means 43,5 working days (I can only collate for about 4–5 hours a day, since I cannot focus for longer than one hour on collating and I need to do something else in between), which means little more than two months. If I forget about a separate collation and just insert variants, I will probably need less, perhaps one month and ten days.
3. Next I will collate a damaged palm-leaf manuscript in Grantha containing 35 folios, which will take me little more than one month or two and a half weeks.
4. Then, a further palm-leaf manuscript in Grantha counting 153 folios, which amounts to little less than six months or four months.
5. Then, a last palm-leaf manuscript in Grantha counting 22 folios, which amounts to less than one month or two weeks.
6.–7. Last, I have a two transcripts on paper, written in Grantha in a modern notebooks, summing up to 638 pages. This risks to mean that I will have to invest 4 years on them (!). They contain an unpublished text and the collation cannot be avoided in their case.
This being said, collating in full is better than registering variants (since the latter process inclines one to read what one has in the model instead of reading the manuscript afresh) and preparing critical editions is better than accepting published texts uncritically. Still, it is extremely time-demanding (unless one enjoys collating and does it as her hobby). How important must be the text in order for a scholar to engage in a critical edition? How flawed the edition, in case of published texts? How important must be the text in order to engage in the collation of several manuscripts of an unpublished work?
Part of the problem lies also in the fact that some answers are only found while working on the manuscript(s) and the edition(s), so that an a priori answer is impossible. Thus, I test each manuscript by:
- collating some folios at the beginning, middle and end
- collating in any case the maṅgala and the colophon(s)
- preparing a (keyword) description of the manuscript
- comparing it with further manuscripts in order to detect possible transcripts, which can then be left out
- comparing it with the extant editions in order to check whether they have already been used (which makes the possiblity of adding something significant through their collation dependent on the quality of the edition)
What are your strategies? When do you decide that collating is worthwile?