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BY-NC-ND 4.0 license Open Access Published by De Gruyter 2022

A Gateway to the Six Languages: Cambridge, University Library, MS Add.1698

From the book Medieval Multilingual Manuscripts

  • Camillo A. Formigatti

Abstract

This late fourteenth-century palm-leaf manuscript from Nepal bears witness to close scholarly engagement with Sanskrit texts by speakers of the Tibeto-Burmese language Newari. It contains a Newari translation-cumcommentary of Amarasiṃha’s lexicographical masterpiece, the Nāmaliṅgānuśāsana, prepared by the scholar Maṇika. According to the author, the purpose of this Newari commentary is to provide a tool to become proficient in the Six Languages, i.e Sanskrit as well as the Prakrit languages needed to compose dramatic works. It is an example of the vibrant cultural programme that flourished in Nepal under the King Jayasthitimalla.

© 2022 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
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