Indische Handschriften. Teil 19. Die Śāradā-Handschriften der Sammlung Janert der Staatsbibliothek - Preußischer Kulturbesitz. Beschrieben von Gerhard Ehlers. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2016. - 145 p. ISBN: 9785-85803-492-6

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The peer-reviewed edition “Indian manuscripts of Janert collection of the State Library - the Prussian Cultural Heritage (then - “Indian manuscripts”), being a part of the wide project “The Catalogue of Oriental Manuscripts in Germany” (Verzeichnis der Orientalischen Handschriften in Deutschland), continues a series of publications of Kaśmīri manuscripts of Klaus-Ludwig Janert collection, kept in the Berlin State Library. This edition is an annotated catalogue of Śaiva manuscripts composed of śāradā and devanāgarī scripts. G. Ehlers, the compiler of the catalogue, in the short Introduction, preceding the publication, describes the principles of compilation of the catalogue, and also explains why the number of manuscripts in Hindī, Bengali, and fragments on birch bark of the K.-L. Janert collection were not included in the present edition. The catalogue presents data of almost four hundred items, each of which has its own catalogue number from 6900 to 7293. The code of each manuscript is listed according to the catalogue system of the Berlin State Library that is very useful in preparing for direct work with manuscripts in the collections of the Library. Thus, any manuscript has a cipher Hs or <ordinal number> SBB-PK, where Hs is ‘Handschriften’, and SBB-PK, respectively, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin-Preußischer Kulturbesitz. Each of the manuscripts, presented in the catalogue, is provided with the necessary and detailed paleographic and archaeographic information. The annotation provides information on the peculiarities of the manuscript: the type of the manuscript’s material (palm leaf, paper, etc.), dating (when it can be dated), the method of binding, and the size of the sheet, the number of lines on the page, the script, and the color of the ink used. Also in the annotation are the colophons of each of the texts. The peer-reviewed catalogue covers a large number of Kaśmīri religious literatures. In addition to the Vedic saṃhitās, this collection includes Purāṇic literature, Epos, Tantra literature, collections of stotras and mantras, manuals on ritual, philosophical treatises of orthodox darśanas, works on grammar, metrics, astronomy and astrology, a fragment of a medicine treatise. It’s necessary to note a representative collection of Vedic texts, Tantra literature, collections of stotras and mantras, and also instructions on ritual. A rich collection of manuscripts in the present catalogue, relating to the tradition of Kaśmīri monistic Śaivism, attracts attention. It is difficult to overestimate the importance of this stream of religious and philosophical thought, in particular its written heritage, on Indian culture. The influence of Kaśmīri Śaivism is felt both in the sphere of the Indian linguistic and philosophical tradition, in religious and cult practice, and in the formation of aesthetic traditions. Besides of the works attributed to Śiva himself, the catalog “Indian manuscripts” contains 25 different works related to the Rudrayāmala-tantra, among them Vijñānabhairava (No. 7109, p. 64) - one of the basic texts of Kaśmīri Śaivism. The manuscript also contains Vijñānabhairavoddyota - a comment of Śivasvāmin (probably so named Śivopadhyāya) on Vijñānabhairava. The catalogue contains the indications of three lists of the so-called Spandasūtra (No. 6975, p. 31, No. 7158, p. 77, No. 7287, p. 107), the authorship of which is attributed to the Kaśmīri philosopher and the ascetic Vasugupta, who is revered as the founder Kaśmīri Śaivism. All three texts are accompanied by a commentary - Śivasūtravimarśinī of Kṣhemarāja - Abhinavagupta’s famous disciple. Probably, text given name - Spandasūtra - is synonymous with Vasugupta’s Śivasūtras - basic text of Kaśmīri Śaivism. A collection of texts in “Indian manuscripts” known as Pratyabhijñāśāstras, in which the philosophy of Kaśmīri Śaivism is expressed, is very representative. Thus, one manuscript contains the Śivadṛṣṭi text (No. 6926.2, p. 18) - the treatise written by Somānanda - Vasugupta’s desciple (in the catalog Somānanda named as Somānandanātha), who is regarded in Śaiva tradition as the founder of the philosophical branch in Kaśmīri Śaivism. In Śivadṛṣṭi Somānanda summed up a serious philosophical base under the views expressed in Vasugupta’s Śivasūtras, refuting the objections of opponents. Another authoritative representative of Kaśmīri Śaivism, whose works are contained in the “Indian manuscripts”, is Abhinavagupta - the outstanding philosopher and mystic. The peer-reviewed catalog contains data on its three fundamental works. First of all, it is necessary to point out Tantrāloka (No. 7040, p. 47) - a work that generalizes ritual and philosophical aspects of all Kaśmīri Śaiva schools. That’s why Tantrāloka is regarded as an encyclopaedia of Śaiva tradition. The treatise Paramārthasāra (No. 7011, p. 40), also written by Abhinavagupta, is a summary of Tantrāloka. In 105 stanzas of Paramārthasāra the stages of the spiritual Śaiva practice are described. The next significant Abhinavagupta’s text, contained in the catalog “Indian manuscripts” - Parātriṁśikāvivaraṇa (No. 6925, p. 18). The value of this text lies in the mantra theory presented in it, where Abhinavagupta describes in detail the sacred meaning of each akṣara of the Sanskrit phonetic system. The peer-reviewed catalogue contains one more text of mentioned above Śivopadhyāya - Kaśmīravarṇana. Śivopadhyāya (18 c.) - the author of the commentary on Vijñānabhairava-tantra - is considered the last in the lineage of Kaśmīri Śaivism philosophers that began of Somānanda (9-10 c.). Besides of the representative list of key sources of Kaśmīri religious tradition, the data of which are presented in the “Indian manuscripts” catalogue, the peerreviewed edition has a number of significant advantages. There are three indicators at the end of this publication. The Index of texts contains a detailed classification of items according to various genres of Indian religious literature (Vedas, epics, tantras, manuals on ritual, etc.). The next index includes all texts’ titles found in the catalogue, which are listed in alphabetical order, indicating their serial number in the Ehlers catalogue. The Names index is a list of authors whose works are given in the peer-reviewed edition. These indexes greatly facilitate the researcher’s work and make this catalogue very useful when working with the Kaśmīri manuscripts collection in the Berlin State Library. Safarali Haybulloevich Shomakhmadov Institute of Oriental Manuscripts, Russian Academy of Sciences