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The Kashika Project: A Critical Edition of the Kāśikāvrtti

Supervisors: Saroja Bhate, Pune University; Pascale Haag-Bernède, École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris; Vincenzo Vergiani, University “La Sapienza”, Rome.

IT supervisor: Marc Csernel INRIA Paris

Project Advisor: Dr. J. D. Smith, Oriental Studies, Cambridge; Professor C. Minkowski, University of Oxford.

The Kāśikāvrtti of Vāmana and Jayāditya (7th Century) is the oldest surviving commentary covering the whole of Pānini's grammar, the Astādhyāyī. In the present phase, this joint project aims at producing the critical edition of the first chapter of this important text while developing IT tools in collaboration with the INRIA, which scholars will be able to use for the edition of other works.

The project involves scholars from the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (Pune), the École française d'Extrême-Orient (Pondicherry/Pune), the École des hautes études en sciences sociales (Paris), the National School for Telecommunication (ENST Brest) the French National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Control (INRIA, Paris), the Mahendra Sanskrit University (Kathmandu) and the University “La Sapienza” (Rome).

The tools which will be developed by the INRIA will allow a computer-based comparison of many versions of the same Sanskrit text with a view to producing a critical edition. Such a tool should make it faster and easier to edit Sanskrit texts that have been transmitted in a large number of manuscripts. The ENST will build phylogenetic trees between manuscripts in order to establish the probable relations between them. The project thus combines the production of a critical edition – a traditional concern in Sanskrit studies – with the study of the history of manuscript transmission and the analysis of Asian texts using IT technologies.

Coordinators

Saroja Bhate is a renowned sp­ecialist in Paninian studies and the author of several monographs and articles on the subject. She has been Head of the Department of Sanskrit at the University of Pune for many years and Secretary of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute from 2003 to 2005.

Pascale Haag has studied Sanskrit in Paris University as well as in India. Her main field of interest is Sanskrit grammar and Indian philosophy. She is assistant professor in the School for Higher Studies in Social Sciences (EHESS, Paris) since 2003.

Vincenzo Vergiani has a PhD in Classical Indian Studies from the University of Rome "La Sapienza", where he is now Lecturer in Indology. His main field of research is Paninian grammar and philosophy of language.

Pune

Anuja Ajotikar has studied Sanskrit in Pune University . Her specialisation is Sanskrit Grammar. She is currently completing her M.Phil studies in Sanskrit grammar and Shaiva Tantra, and she is also learning grammar traditionally in ‘Vedashastrottejak Sabha' in Pune.

Tanuja Ajotikar , Anuja's twin sister, has also studied Sanskrit in Pune University . Her specialisation is Sanskrit Grammar. She is currently completing her M.Phil studies in Sanskrit grammar and Shaiva Tantra, and she is also learning grammar traditionally in ‘Vedashastrottejak Sabha' in Pune.

Bharati Balte has studied Sanskrit Grammar in Pune University . She is studying Indology and also learning grammar traditionally in ‘Vedashastrottejak Sabha' in Pune. Moreover, she is involved as a surveyor in the National Mission for Manuscripts Project.

Sarita Chandramohan Kulkarni has studied Sanskrit in Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth in Pune. After specialising in Mimamsa, she concentrated on manuscript cataloguing. She has catalogued almost 12,000 manuscripts as a surveyor of the National Mission for Manuscripts.

Prasad Joshi has completed his PhD in Sanskrit Grammar in the Deccan College in Pune under the late Prof. G. B. Palsule. He is working at present in the Dictionary Department of the Deccan College for the “Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Sanskrit on Historical Principles”.

Asawari Kedar Gokhale has completed her M.A. in Sanskrit Grammar in Pune University . She is also an expert and coach of ABACUS (Chinese mathematics) and working as a surveyor in the National Mission for Manuscripts Project.

Mukta Keskar has studied Sanskrit in the University of Pune and specialised in Sanskrit Grammar. She has worked on projects such as “Electronic critical edition of Mahabharata” and “Sanskrit E-learning”. She is also related to the National Mission for Manuscripts Project as a surveyor.

Sasmita Khuntia Dash has done her doctoral study on the Critical Edition of the Kashika vrtti (4.1) and studied in Lausanne University for one year. She was the assistant of Dr. H. G.  Ranade in the project “Critical edition and English Translation of Jaiminiya Brahmana ” carried out by the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts in New Delhi. She is also working in the project “Dharmakosh” carried out by the Prajna Pathasala in Wai ( Maharashtra ).

Gayatri Shrinivas Tillu has completed her M.A. in Sanskrit Grammar in Pune University . At present she is teaching Sanskrit in a renowned secondary school. She has been connected with the present project for a long time.

Prachi Sohani has studied Sanskrit in Pune University . Her specialisation is Sanskrit Grammar. She is studying Indology and is also learning Grammar traditionally in ‘Vedashastrottejak Sabha' in Pune. She is involved in the National Mission for Manuscripts Project as a data operator.

K. Venugopalan has been associated with the École française d'Extrême-Orient for more than 20 years. He specialised in Poetics and Indian Philosophy. He has been working in the Dictionary Department of the Deccan College , for the “Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Sanskrit on Historical Principles”.

Pondicherry

Harinarayana Bhat has a Doctorate in Sanskrit Literature from Calicut University. He studied Sanskrit Grammar under (late) K. Govindan Nambiar and Prakrit Grammar in BLI in Delhi. He has 17 years experience of teaching and is working as a researcher in the École française d'Extrême-Orient in Pondicherry since 1989.

Anjaneya Sharma has been trained in Paninian grammar and Vedanta both in traditional Sanskritic institutions and at the University of Andhra at Waltair, where he completed his PhD in Indology. He is Senior Researcher at the École française d'Extrême-Orient in Pondicherry, where he has contributed to several projects on Sanskrit grammar and poetics.

Lalitha Bhat has a Doctorate in Sanskrit from Kerala University and studied Grammar with her father Venkataraja Sharma. She specialised in Sanskrit Grammar. She is working in the École française d'Extrême-Orient in Pondicherry since 1994.

Kathmandu

Madhavsharan Upadyaya studied Sanskrit in the Sampurnananda University in Vanarasi. His specialisation is Sanskrit Grammer. He did his Ph.D on Sukritidatta. Now he is a professor at Mahendra Sanskrit University and is involved in the Nepal-German Manuscript Cataloguing Project.

Bhim Kandel studied Sanskrit in Mahendra Sanskrit University (Nepal) and specialised in Sanskrit Grammer. He is currently working as a lecturer in the Mahendra Sanskrit University and is involved in the Nepal-German Manuscript Cataloguing Project.

Nirajan Kafle is doing a Master in Philosophy from Mahendra Sanskrit University (Nepal). His specialisation is Jaina epistemology and he is associated with the Nepal-German Manuscript Cataloguing Project.

Other associate members

Émilie Aussant has a Doctorate in Indian Studies from University Paris-III (on Sanskrit Grammar). She is currently teaching Sanskrit and Linguistics in Bordeaux University.

Maria Piera Candotti has a Doctorate in Sanskrit from Lausanne University. She is working as free-lance researcher and has published several papers on Sanskrit Grammar.

Corinne Lagarde-Chapdelaine is doing a PhD on Sanskrit Grammar in University Paris-III. She is a fellow-student of the École française d'Extrême-Orient.