A History of Sanskrit Grammatical Literature in Tibet, Volume 1 Transmission of the Canonical Literature (HANDBUCH DER ORIENTALISTIK ZWEITE ABTEILUNG, INDIEN) - Hardcover

'One cannot but praise the way Verhagen has achieved his aim to give a comprehensive survey of the Sanskrit grammatical texts translated into Tibetan. Verhagen's compendium constitutes an excellent reliable basis for any further study of the grammatica traditions in Buddhist India and Tibet.' de Jong, Indo-Iranian Journal. 'With the publication of this impressive and meticulously documented dissertation (Leiden, 1991), the study of Tibet's acquisition of Indic grammatical science is finally placed upon a firm philological foundation. It is an enormously important contribution both to Indology and to Tibetology.' Roy Andrew Miller, Journal of the American Oriental Society. 'Verhagen's study of the Sanskrit grammatical literature in Tibet clearly constitutes a work of considerable importance...it is well-researched, and structured in a way to allow for quick reference...it is the type of book that one would expect to have been written years ago and must, therefore, be warmly welcome.' Ulrich Pagel, Bulletin of the SOAS, 1995.

The first comprehensive survey of the important corpus of Indic literature on Sanskrit grammar, extant in Tibetan translation in the Buddhist canon. Core of the study is the description of the forty-seven Sanskrit grammatical treatises covering some two thousand folios in the canon. The contents of these texts and the historical information regarding their Tibetan translators are examined in detail. Further chapters are devoted to the grammatical analysis in an eighth-century Tibetan handbook for translators, and to data from Tibetan historiography. The book offers the first systematic study of the extent and the historical development of the Tibetan expertise in Sanskrit grammar, a central scholastic discipline in Buddhism. It opens up a section of Tibetan literature essential to the understanding of the Indo-Tibetan indigenous grammatical traditions.