Dear All, Jan Houben's message reminds me that I had meant to write before, to congratulate Lyne Bansat-Boudon and Sylvain Brocquet for bringing this very important scholarly work to print and, as Professor Houben did, posthumously to congratulate Edwin Gerow, as well.
Professor Gerow was such a fantastic scholar, and I am delighted to see his work come to fruition in this way. This is a beautiful book, and I look forward to studying Nāgeśa's text with the aid of Gerow's translation and the editors' notes. The text, by my recollection, is fantastically interesting, sophisticated, and difficult. A number of us read it for a semester with George Cardona back in graduate school in the early 2000s, and from that experience I know that Professor Cardona also had worked for some time on a full translation of the Paramalaghumañjūṣā, this time in English. I hope—and am sure—that this significant publication will draw more of our attention to this text. Again, my thanks and congratulations to the translator and his editors. Sincerely, John ___________________________________________ John Nemec, Ph.D. Professor of Indian Religions and South Asian Studies Department of Religious Studies 323 Gibson Hall, 1540 Jefferson Park Avenue University of Virginia Charlottesville, VA 22904 +1 (434) 924-6716 [email protected] https://virginia.academia.edu/JNemec Take a look at my new book: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/brahmins-and-kings-9780197791998?cc=us&lang=en&; ________________________________ From: INDOLOGY <[email protected]> on behalf of Jan E.M. Houben via INDOLOGY <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, January 5, 2026 4:38 PM To: Lyne Bansat-Boudon <[email protected]> Cc: indology <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [INDOLOGY] New publication Congratulations, posthumously, to Edwin Gerow on this richly annotated translation of the Nāgeśa's Paramalaghumañjūṣā (first translation into a Western language (French)), and congratulations to the editors for editing his work with meticulous attention to all details. The work contains, in addition, a substantial 17-page Summary in English by E. Gerow, which places Nāgeśa's work in a broader context of Indian and Western philosophy of language and universal grammar, the former represented mainly by Bhartrhari and the latter by Aristotle and "James Harris' Hermes, or A philosophical inquiry concerning universal grammar, first published in 1771." With regard to the word rathantara- in the section on compounds, Nāgeśa invokes the maxim rūḍhir yogārtham apaharati, translated by Gerow (p. 250) as « Le sens traditionnel est prioritaire par rapport au sens dérivationnel ». K.K. Raja (Ind. theories of meaning, p. 61) observes in a similar context: « The well-known rule accepted by all Indian writers is that the conventional meaning is more powerful than the etymological meaning, since the former occurs to the mind immediately whereas the latter has to be known through analysis », for which he cites yogād rūḍhir balīyasī śīghravṛttitvāt. Question to the list-members: what could be the source of this last citation? Could it be a Mīmāṁsā-statement, especially the first part before śīghravṛttitvāt ? Best regards, On Sun, 28 Dec 2025 at 17:50, Lyne Bansat-Boudon via INDOLOGY <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: Dear colleagues, I am pleased to announce the publication of Bulletin d'études indiennes (BEI) 37, under the auspices of the Association Française pour les études indiennes (AFEI): Nāgeśa : Paramalaghumañjūṣā. La Très petite corbeille. Introduction, texte, traduction et notes par Edwin Mahaffey Gerow. Révision et avant-propos par Lyne Bansat-Boudon et Sylvain Brocquet. Bulletin d’études indiennes 37. Paris : Association française pour les études indiennes (see the cover in the attached file). The work consists mainly of a monograph by Edwin Gerow which is a richly annotated French translation of the Paramalaghumañjūṣā, the Very Small Basket, by Nāgeśa, accompanied by the Sanskrit text, a scholarly introduction, and a “Summary” in English, which is in fact a masterful synthesis of Nāgeśa’s tātparya. A Francophile and Francophone, Edwin Gerow was all the more keen to publish this work in French as he wished to pay tribute to Louis Renou, the great French Indologist, for whom, at the beginning of his career, he had come to Paris to attend his seminars and benefit from his benevolent guidance in his research work. Hence, the project of a publication of the Paramalaghumañjūṣā, an important text of grammar, never before translated into a Western language, in the BEI 37. Yet, Edwin Gerow 's sudden death on 24th July 2025 changed the situation dramatically. The scientific editors of the Bulletin were placed in a very peculiar situation, preventing them from maintaining the editorial dialogue they would have liked with Edwin Gerow, and making them “executors of his will”, with the mission of publishing his opus ultimum, so that this work, remarkable for its erudition and insight into the whole of the Indian grammatical tradition, as expounded by a 18th century grammarian, may be known to the Indianist community. They have therefore made it their duty to resume the work of revising Edwin Gerow’s text, either by introducing the necessary amendments into the body of his annotated translation, or through editor's notes, while ensuring that they would remain as faithful as possible to the author's original wording. Now accessible, the Paramalaghumañjūṣā is a remarkable example of the virtuosity of Indian reasoning, which demonstrates a level of sophistication almost unmatched in Western thought, and which is part of a long tradition, because tradition prevails, even if, or because, it is open to discussion. Undoubtedly, this pioneering translation of the Paramalaghumañjūṣā will be the basis for studies and developments of the greatest interest. The book can be ordered from either of the following addresses: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> With kind regards and New Year greetings, Lyne Lyne Bansat-Boudon Directeur d'études pour les Religions de l'Inde Ecole pratique des hautes études, section des sciences religieuses Membre senior honoraire de l'Institut universitaire de France _______________________________________________ INDOLOGY mailing list [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> https://list.indology.info/mailman/listinfo/indology -- Jan E.M. Houben Directeur d'Études, Professor of South Asian History and Philology Sources et histoire de la tradition sanskrite École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE, Paris Sciences et Lettres) Sciences historiques et philologiques Groupe de recherches en études indiennes (EA 2120) johannes.houben [at] ephe.psl.eu<mailto:[email protected]> https://ephe-sorbonne.academia.edu/JanEMHouben https://www.classicalindia.info
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