Tattvabodha : Essays from the Lecture Series of the National Mission for Manuscripts, Vol. II Book

Contents: Introduction. 1. Facets of Vedic poetry: Pasya Devasya Kavyam/T.N. Dharmadhikari. 2. Revered word of the Buddha: Tibetan manuscripts in Western Himalayan Buddhist Monasteries/Laxman S. Thakur. 3. Kurma Symbolism in Indian art and myth/Devangana Desai. 4. Evolution of Vaishnavism as found in Manipuri Manuscripts/Manihar Singh. 5. Tradition and spirituality: exploration of the Mantras of Sri Gitagovinda/Subas Pani. 6. The Guru Granth Sahib and its context/J.S. Neki. 7. Between textuality and orality: the Grey Zone of printed folklore/Vijaya Ramaswamy. 8. The Citrasutra and the politics of authenticity/Parul Dave Mukherji. 9. Cataloguing Indian astronomical instruments/S.R. Sarma. 10. Sanskrit and information technology/M.A. Lakshmithathachar. 11. What more can the editors of Sanskrit texts do?/Ashok Aklujkar.

"The National Mission for manuscripts was established in February 2003 by the Ministry of Culture, Government of India with the purpose of locating, documenting, preserving and disseminating the knowledge content of India’s handwritten manuscripts, said to be the largest collection of handwritten knowledge documents in the world. While looking ahead to reconnect with the knowledge of the past, the Mission is in the process of trying to re-contextualize the knowledge contained in manuscripts for the present and the future generations. At present the mission is an integral part of Indira Gandhi National Centre for the arts.

The mission launched a lecture series titled "Tattvabodha" in January 2005. Since then, a monthly lecture series is organised in Delhi and other centres in the country. Tattvabodha has established itself as a forum for intellectual discourse, debate and discussion. Eminent scholars representing different aspects of India’s knowledge systems have addressed and interacted with highly receptive audiences over the course of the past few years." (jacket)