Manuscripts and Shifting Geographies

For reconstructing the religious literature of ancient and medieval South Asia, scholars are mostly dependent on manuscripts from the late medieval, Mughal era, or early modern periods. ² The manuscripts, typically on paper or palm leaf, have been transmitted through a broadly systemized process of scribal practice relatively consistent across the subcontinent for many centuries (Sircar 1965; Salomon 1998). ³ The systemized technology of scribal production often functioned as an aid to memorization and recitation. The practice of writing, in this sense, remained a process of interaction—a vehicle between manuscript and performance. Many manuscripts, for instance, bear red accentuation (svara) added across the top of the main text by a reciter (bhaṭṭa) after the scribe has copied the text.