Critical vs Vulgate Editions

[Girijesh Rao]

My regards to all the scholars here,

 

My question is related to ‘Critical Edition’ of ancient texts e.g. Rāmāyaṇa and Mahābhārata by BORI.

 I wish to know very basics of the process and the end result. Being a person who does not know Sanskrit, I request replies on my queries either in Hindi or in English.

 

((1) What is a Vulgate Edition?

 

((2) What is a Critical Edition of a text? Does it represent certain form that was available at some point of antiquity, ascertained from available manuscripts?

 

((3)  If some portions of the presently available editions are omitted from critical edition, does it mean that there was a time when they were not there in the original text altogether?

 

((4) Should those portions be treated as interpolations?

 

((5)  What is the process to reach till critical edition? Are mathematical and statistical tools used in the process?

 

Thanks,

Girijesh Rao

 

[Sivasenani Nori]

Sri Girijesh Rao

My replies are in line.

Regards

N. Siva Senani

On 31 August 2017 at 15:12, Girijesh Rao <girij...@gmail.com> wrote:

My regards to all the scholars here,

 

My question is related to ‘Critical Edition’ of ancient texts e.g. Rāmāyaṇa and Mahābhārata by BORI.

 I wish to know very basics of the process and the end result. Being a person who does not know Sanskrit, I request replies on my queries either in Hindi or in English.

 

((1) What is a Vulgate Edition?

​- A People's Edition, i.e. an edition which is popular among the general public, as opposed to scholars.​

 

 

((2) What is a Critical Edition of a text? Does it represent certain form that was available at some point of antiquity, ascertained from available manuscripts?

​- There seems to be no universally accepted definition, which is understandable given the situation with manuscripts. The attempt is to provide a most likely "standard" edition, while carefully noting all differences in available manuscripts compared to the CE (critical edition). Since scholars work long and hard to arrive at such a Critical Edition of the text, that is usually taken as the standard for further references etc. In India, critical editions of Ramayana and Mahabharata do not seem to have received such wide acceptance.

 

 

((3)  If some portions of the presently available editions are omitted from critical edition, does it mean that there was a time when they were not there in the original text altogether?

​- The considered opinion of the Editor is that the omitted material does not belong. So while side-stepping​ the question of whether it might have been a part of the "original text" or not, the opinion of the Editor is that it is an interpolation. The Editor may not always be able to  say with 100% confidence that the Ur-text (i.e. the earlier text or original text) did not have this material.

 

 

((4) Should those portions be treated as interpolations?

​- Yes, in the view of the Editor based on the evidence available to him or her at the point of publication of the CE.​

 

((5)  What is the process to reach till critical edition? Are mathematical and statistical tools used in the process?

​

- We might or might not. Each successive iteration would be more laborious than the earlier ones and would yield only a fraction of improvement.​ As things stand, preparing a Critical Edition does not seem to use too much mathematics or statistics, but it is possible. For instance, while editing the Mahabharata, instead of counting all available manuscripts, all similar manuscripts are grouped and each group is given a weight. So there might be a hundred manuscripts in Nagari, but these would be classified into, say, two recensions - the one following the commentary of Nilakantha, and the other a Northern recension. As against this, there might be only 3 manuscripts in Sarada script. These three would represent the Kashmiri recension. So, fifty manuscripts are equated to three.

 

Thanks,

Girijesh Rao

 

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[eg]

Thanks a lot Senani ji. I am really grateful. 

[G S S Murthy]

My thanks to Sri Girijesh rao and Senaniji too for their precise questions and answers,

Regards,

Murthy

My web site : http://murthygss.tripod.com/index.htm
and also my Sanskrit blog :

http://simplesanskrit.blogspot.com/

http://gssmurthy.blogspot.com

[Nagaraj Paturi]

Prof. Vasanta Kumar Bhatt-ji , in his book अभिज्ञानशाकुन्तल् का पाठ-परामर्श् provided the all such details of textual criticism such as what is a critical edition, how is it prepared etc., through the medium of Hindi

in the chapter

पाठ सम्पादन की विधाएं और् सिद्धांतों की संदर्भानुसार प्रस्तुति: एक् पुनःपरामर्शन pp 1-12

Nagaraj Paturi

 

Hyderabad, Telangana, INDIA.

BoS, MIT School of Vedic Sciences, Pune, Maharashtra

BoS, Chinmaya Vishwavidyapeeth, Veliyanad, Kerala

Former Senior Professor of Cultural Studies

 

FLAME School of Communication and FLAME School of  Liberal Education,

 

(Pune, Maharashtra, INDIA )