Ohio University, folio-east-10

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Metadata

DS ID:

DS30477

Shelfmark:

folio-east-10

Title:

Foliophiles Eastern leaf 10: Mahābhārata, India, 19th century

Mahabharata

Place:

India

India TGN

Date:

n.d.

Language:

Sanskrit

Sanskrit WIKIDATA

Material:

Paper (fiber product)

Paper AAT

Physical Description:

Extent: 1 leaf; Paper (fiber product); 17.0 cm x 9.8 cm

Note:

Script: Devanagari
Decoration: Borders (Ornament Areas); Gold Leaf;
Provenance: This leaf is from a portfolio compiled by The Foliophiles Inc. in 1928 and issued as a limited edition under the title "Specimens of Oriental Mss and Printing."
Provenance: The set of leaves belonging to Ohio University is number 13 of 120.
Provenance: The transcribed labels accompanying these leaves were originally written by The Foliophiles, Inc., a now-defunct New York association of rare book dealers that was also known as the Society of Foliophiles.
Provenance: Between 1925 and 1968 The Foliophiles disbound hundreds of historical texts and assembled them into several thematic portfolio sets.
Provenance: These were then issued in “editions” of between 15 and 200 leaves. Universities across America subsequently purchased these portfolios as teaching tools.
Provenance: While a small number of the selected leaves come from other cultures, the vast majority are from European texts. The collecting and marketing practices of The Foliophiles reflect the values of the members of the association and the contemporary American rare book market.
Provenance: Original descriptions, therefore, may contain outdated language, speculation, or inaccurate information.
The following text is based on the original seller's label. FROM A SANSKRIT MANUSCRIPT, probably of the early 19th Century, also written in Devanagari or “town script”
The formation of the characters, as well as the illuminations, show the hand of a Kashmiri scribe
This book contains selections from the Mahabharata and other Indian mythopoeic legends, and may loosely be compared to a Latin Breviary
The Mahabharata is the oldest, and by far the longest, of the Sanskrit epics, and were it strictly an epic poem, could be called the longest in the world
But of its one hundred thousand couplets about four-fifths are of such a didactic nature that “the work has taken the place,” to quote Professor Macdonnel, “of a moral cyclopaedia in Indian literature”
Embedded in this jungle of history, legend and ethical dissertations, however, are the beautiful romances of Nala and Damayanti, and the Bhagavad-gita or “Song of the Adorable One”, both well-known throughout the cultured world
While Hindu calligraphy and illumination never reached the exquisite refinement that characterizes that art in Muhammadan countries, one can readily see that Sanskrit characters possess peculiar dignity and strength, calling for the robust treatment and striking color contrasts exemplified on this page.
Specimens of Eastern Manuscripts and Printing

Keyword:

Manuscripts

Epic poetry

Institutional Record:

http://media.library.ohio.edu/digital/collection/p15808coll19/id/4887

IIIF Manifest:

https://media.library.ohio.edu/iiif/2/p15808coll19:4887/manifest.json

Holding Institution:

Ohio University