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94-461: Adi Parva traditionally has 19 parts and 236 adhyayas (chapters). The critical edition of Adi Parva has 19 parts and 225 chapters. Adi Parva describes how the epic came to be recited by Ugrasrava Sauti to the assembled rishis at the Naimisha Forest after first having been narrated at the sarpasatra of Janamejaya by Vaishampayana at Taxila . It includes an outline of contents from

188-473: A 21st-century author's work. Historically, scribes who were paid to copy documents may have been literate, but many were simply copyists, mimicking the shapes of letters without necessarily understanding what they meant. This means that unintentional alterations were common when copying manuscripts by hand. Intentional alterations may have been made as well, for example, the censoring of printed work for political, religious or cultural reasons. The objective of

282-478: A Best-text edition essentially a documentary edition. For an example one may refer to Eugene Vinaver's edition of the Winchester Manuscript of Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur . When copy-text editing, the scholar fixes errors in a base text, often with the help of other witnesses. Often, the base text is selected from the oldest manuscript of the text, but in the early days of printing, the copy text

376-468: A branching family tree and uses that assumption to derive relationships between them. This makes it more like an automated approach to stemmatics. However, where there is a difference, the computer does not attempt to decide which reading is closer to the original text, and so does not indicate which branch of the tree is the "root"—which manuscript tradition is closest to the original. Other types of evidence must be used for that purpose. Phylogenetics faces

470-418: A comprehensive exploration of relations among seven early witnesses to Dante's text. The stemmatic method assumes that each witness is derived from one, and only one, predecessor. If a scribe refers to more than one source when creating her or his copy, then the new copy will not clearly fall into a single branch of the family tree. In the stemmatic method, a manuscript that is derived from more than one source

564-420: A computer, which records all the differences between them, or derived from an existing apparatus. The manuscripts are then grouped according to their shared characteristics. The difference between phylogenetics and more traditional forms of statistical analysis is that, rather than simply arranging the manuscripts into rough groupings according to their overall similarity, phylogenetics assumes that they are part of

658-482: A document's transcription history, depending on the number and quality of the text available. On the other hand, the one original text that a scholar theorizes to exist is referred to as the urtext (in the context of Biblical studies ), archetype or autograph ; however, there is not necessarily a single original text for every group of texts. For example, if a story was spread by oral tradition , and then later written down by different people in different locations,

752-516: A few witnesses presumably as being favored by "objective" criteria. The citing of sources used, and alternate readings, and the use of original text and images helps readers and other critics determine to an extent the depth of research of the critic, and to independently verify their work. Stemmatics or stemmatology is a rigorous approach to textual criticism. Karl Lachmann (1793–1851) greatly contributed to making this method famous, even though he did not invent it. The method takes its name from

846-524: A new spirit of critical enquiry was boosted by the attention to textual states, for example in the work of Lorenzo Valla on the purported Donation of Constantine . Many ancient works, such as the Bible and the Greek tragedies , survive in hundreds of copies, and the relationship of each copy to the original may be unclear. Textual scholars have debated for centuries which sources are most closely derived from

940-474: A number of errors in common, it may be presumed that they were derived from a common intermediate source, called a hyparchetype . Relations between the lost intermediates are determined by the same process, placing all extant manuscripts in a family tree or stemma codicum descended from a single archetype . The process of constructing the stemma is called recension , or the Latin recensio . Having completed

1034-718: A practice that was a source of corruption of its text, deletion of verses as well as the addition of extraneous verses over time. Some of these suspect verses have been identified by change in style and integrity of meter in the verses. The structure, prose, meter and style of translations vary within chapters between the translating authors. Debroy, in his 2011 overview of Mahabharata , notes that updated critical edition of Adi Parva , with spurious and corrupted text removed, has 19 parts, 225 adhyayas (chapters) and 7,205 shlokas (verses). Anukramanika Parva, Chapter 1: Time creates all things and time destroys them all. Time burns all creatures and time again extinguishes that fire. Tapa

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1128-512: A restricted set of hypothetical hyparchetypes. The steps of examinatio and emendatio resemble copy-text editing. In fact, the other techniques can be seen as special cases of stemmatics in which a rigorous family history of the text cannot be determined but only approximated. If it seems that one manuscript is by far the best text, then copy text editing is appropriate, and if it seems that a group of manuscripts are good, then eclecticism on that group would be proper. The Hodges–Farstad edition of

1222-504: A scribe is unlikely on his own initiative to have departed from the usual practice. Internal evidence is evidence that comes from the text itself, independent of the physical characteristics of the document. Various considerations can be used to decide which reading is the most likely to be original. Sometimes these considerations can be in conflict. Two common considerations have the Latin names lectio brevior (shorter reading) and lectio difficilior (more difficult reading). The first

1316-453: A selection of readings taken from many sources. An edited text that draws from multiple sources is said to be eclectic . In contrast to this approach, some textual critics prefer to identify the single best surviving text, and not to combine readings from multiple sources. When comparing different documents, or "witnesses", of a single, original text, the observed differences are called variant readings , or simply variants or readings . It

1410-472: A tattletale, he lied, stating that his feelings for Shakuntala were but a joke. For a time, he watched over the ascetics' yajna. Shankuntala soon confessed her feelings for Dushyanta, and the two were married according to gandharva rites. The king left for the capital, and promised his wife that he would send a suitable guard to escort her to his palace. In her solitude, Shakuntala was absorbed in thoughts of her husband, due to which she failed to offer

1504-526: A version of Bengel's rule, "The reading is less likely to be original that shows a disposition to smooth away difficulties." They also argued that "Readings are approved or rejected by reason of the quality, and not the number, of their supporting witnesses", and that "The reading is to be preferred that most fitly explains the existence of the others." Many of these rules, although originally developed for biblical textual criticism, have wide applicability to any text susceptible to errors of transmission. Since

1598-403: Is a cause, certainly acquires the four objects for which we live(namely Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha). Between the two men, one performing sacrifices continually every month for one hundred years and one who does not feel any anger, the man who does not feel any anger is the greater man. Boys and girls, who are incapable of distinguishing between right and wrong, quarrel among one another;

1692-505: Is carried off by an apsara . After a while, the ring that Shakuntala had dropped in a pool of water was discovered by a fisherman inside a fish, which was produced before Dushyanta following accusations of theft. Durvasa's curse was broken upon the king seeing the ring, and his memory of his wife was restored. Helpless and repentant of his actions, Dushyanta dwelt on his childlessness, which caused him to faint. Matali , Indra's charioteer, arrived to Dushyanta's court, seeking his assistance in

1786-419: Is completely in you, One is certainly one's own friend, one can certainly depend on one's own self, Therefore, according to the ordinance(scriptures), you yourself should bestow your own self on others. Sambhava Parva, Chapter 74: No man, even in anger, should ever do anything that is disagreeable to his wife; for happiness, joy, virtue and everything depend on the wife. Wife is the sacred soil in which

1880-1511: Is further subdivided into chapters, for a total of 236 chapters in Adi Parva. The following are the sub-parvas: Adi Parva and other books of Mahabharata are written in Sanskrit . Several translations of the Adi Parva are available in English. To translations whose copyrights have expired and which are in public domain, include those by Kisari Mohan Ganguli and Manmatha Nath Dutt. The translations are not consistent in parts and vary with each translator's interpretations. For example: ययातीक्ष्वाकुवंशश्च राजर्षीणां च सर्शः| सम्भूता बहवो वंशा भूतसर्गाः सविस्तराः||४५|| भूतस्थानानि सर्वाणि रहस्यं त्रिविधं च यत्| वेदयोगं सविज्ञानं धर्मोऽर्थः काम एव च||४६|| धर्मकामार्थशास्त्राणि शास्त्राणि विविधानि च| लोकयात्राविधानं च सम्भूतं दृष्टवानृषिः||४७|| इतिहासाः सवैयाख्या विविधाः श्रुतयोऽपि च| इह सर्वमनुक्रान्तमुक्तं ग्रन्थस्य लक्षणम्||४८||विस्तीर्यैतन्महज्ज्ञानमृषिः सङ्क्षेपमब्रवीत्| इष्टं हि विदुषां लोके समासव्यासधारणम्||४९|| मन्वादि भारतं केचिदास्तीकादि तथापरे| तथोपरिचराद्यन्ये विप्राः सम्यगधीयते||५०|| विविधं संहिताज्ञानं दीपयन्ति मनीषिणः| व्याख्यातुं कुशलाः केचिद्ग्रन्थं धारयितुं परे||५१|| तपसा ब्रह्मचर्येण व्यस्य वेदं सनातनम्| इतिहासमिमं चक्रे पुण्यं सत्यवतीसुतः||५२|| Translation by Manmatha Nath Dutt: The wisdom of this work, like

1974-423: Is necessary when these basic criteria are in conflict. For instance, there will typically be fewer early copies, and a larger number of later copies. The textual critic will attempt to balance these criteria, to determine the original text. There are many other more sophisticated considerations. For example, readings that depart from the known practice of a scribe or a given period may be deemed more reliable, since

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2068-402: Is not a sin, Study is not a sin, Ordinances of Vedas are not sins, Acquisition of wealth by exertion is not a sin, When they are abused, then do they become the sources of evil. Sangraha Parva, Chapter 2: As all the senses are dependent on the wonderful workings of the mind, so all the acts and moral qualities depend on this treatise(Mahabharata). Paushya Parva, Chapter 3: You are

2162-402: Is not always apparent which single variant represents the author's original work. The process of textual criticism seeks to explain how each variant may have entered the text, either by accident (duplication or omission) or intention (harmonization or censorship), as scribes or supervisors transmitted the original author's text by copying it. The textual critic's task, therefore, is to sort through

2256-417: Is right, true. Textual criticism Textual criticism is a branch of textual scholarship , philology , and literary criticism that is concerned with the identification of textual variants, or different versions, of either manuscripts (mss) or of printed books. Such texts may range in dates from the earliest writing in cuneiform, impressed on clay, for example, to multiple unpublished versions of

2350-399: Is said to be contaminated . The method also assumes that scribes only make new errors—they do not attempt to correct the errors of their predecessors. When a text has been improved by the scribe, it is said to be sophisticated , but "sophistication" impairs the method by obscuring a document's relationship to other witnesses, and making it more difficult to place the manuscript correctly in

2444-405: Is the general observation that scribes tended to add words, for clarification or out of habit, more often than they removed them. The second, lectio difficilior potior (the harder reading is stronger), recognizes the tendency for harmonization—resolving apparent inconsistencies in the text. Applying this principle leads to taking the more difficult (unharmonized) reading as being more likely to be

2538-584: The Alexandrian text-type , are the most favored, and the critical text has an Alexandrian disposition. External evidence is evidence of each physical witness, its date, source, and relationship to other known witnesses. Critics will often prefer the readings supported by the oldest witnesses. Since errors tend to accumulate, older manuscripts should have fewer errors. Readings supported by a majority of witnesses are also usually preferred, since these are less likely to reflect accidents or individual biases. For

2632-466: The Comma was known for Tertullian . The stemmatic method's final step is emendatio , also sometimes referred to as "conjectural emendation". But, in fact, the critic employs conjecture at every step of the process. Some of the method's rules that are designed to reduce the exercise of editorial judgment do not necessarily produce the correct result. For example, where there are more than two witnesses at

2726-545: The Greek New Testament . In his commentary, he established the rule Proclivi scriptioni praestat ardua , ("the harder reading is to be preferred"). Johann Jakob Griesbach (1745–1812) published several editions of the New Testament. In his 1796 edition, he established fifteen critical rules. Among them was a variant of Bengel's rule, Lectio difficilior potior , "the harder reading is better." Another

2820-432: The beginnings of two lines are similar. The critic may also examine the other writings of the author to decide what words and grammatical constructions match his style. The evaluation of internal evidence also provides the critic with information that helps him evaluate the reliability of individual manuscripts. Thus, the consideration of internal and external evidence is related. After considering all relevant factors,

2914-463: The Bible, and, for Anglo-American Copy-Text editing, Shakespeare, have been applied to many works, from (near-)contemporary texts to the earliest known written documents. Ranging from ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt to the twentieth century, textual criticism covers a period of about five millennia. The basic problem, as described by Paul Maas , is as follows: We have no autograph [handwritten by

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3008-490: The Greek New Testament attempts to use stemmatics for some portions. Phylogenetics is a technique borrowed from biology , where it was originally named phylogenetic systematics by Willi Hennig . In biology, the technique is used to determine the evolutionary relationships between different species . In its application in textual criticism, the text of a number of different witnesses may be entered into

3102-620: The applicability of the different methods for coping with these problems across both living organisms and textual traditions is a promising area of study. Software developed for use in biology has been applied successfully to textual criticism; for example, it is being used by the Canterbury Tales Project to determine the relationship between the 84 surviving manuscripts and four early printed editions of The Canterbury Tales . Shaw's edition of Dante's Commedia uses phylogenetic and traditional methods alongside each other in

3196-399: The appropriate hospitality to the short-tempered sage, Durvasa . Durvasa cursed her, stating that the man she was thinking of to such an extent that he had been neglected would never remember her. One of Shakuntala's friends, Anasuya , offered an explanation of her friend's absent-mindedness, and sought forgiveness from the sage. Duravasa agreed to offer a concession of the curse, stating that

3290-476: The ashram. Her mother, Menaka , took her to the ashram of Kashyapa . Shakuntala delivered a son. The boy grew brave and fearless, and was able to subdue even the wildest of beasts in the region. Kashyapa, therefore, named him Sarvadamana (all-subduing). After a period of time, when Dushyanta was returning home after visiting Indra , he came across Shakuntala, recognised her, and took her and his son to his palace. This boy grew up to become Bharata. Bharata conquered

3384-449: The ashram. Durvasa, with a reputation for having a fiery temper, took her ignorance of him as a sign of disrespect, and cursed her to be forgotten by the man she was contemplating at that very moment. Shakuntala did not hear this curse being placed upon her. When Kanva returned and learnt of these events, he sent Shakuntala to the palace of Dushyanta. Owing to the curse, Dushyanta did not recognise her. Greatly aggrieved, Shakuntala returned to

3478-418: The author and scribes, or printers, were likely to have done). The collation of all known variants of a text is referred to as a variorum , namely a work of textual criticism whereby all variations and emendations are set side by side so that a reader can track how textual decisions have been made in the preparation of a text for publication. The Bible and the works of William Shakespeare have often been

3572-422: The author must be regarded as equivalent to an autograph manuscript". The lack of autograph manuscripts applies to many cultures other than Greek and Roman. In such a situation, a key objective becomes the identification of the first exemplar before any split in the tradition. That exemplar is known as the archetype . "If we succeed in establishing the text of [the archetype], the constitutio (reconstruction of

3666-528: The book called Santi, the mighty fruit; the book called Aswamedha, the immortal sap; the denominated Asramavasika, the spot where it groweth; and the book called Mausala, is an epitome of the Vedas and held in great respect by the virtuous Brahmanas. The tree of the Bharata, inexhaustible to mankind as the clouds, shall be as a source of livelihood to all distinguished poets." Sauti continued, "I will now speak of

3760-501: The canons of criticism are highly susceptible to interpretation, and at times even contradict each other, they may be employed to justify a result that fits the textual critic's aesthetic or theological agenda. Starting in the 19th century, scholars sought more rigorous methods to guide editorial judgment. Stemmatics and copy-text editing – while both eclectic, in that they permit the editor to select readings from multiple sources – sought to reduce subjectivity by establishing one or

3854-686: The copy-text. Dushyanta Dushyanta ( Sanskrit : दुष्यन्त , IAST : Duṣyanta ) is a king of the Chandravamsha (Lunar) dynasty featured in Hindu literature . He is the husband of Shakuntala and the father of Bharata . He appears in the Mahabharata and in Kalidasa 's play, Abhijnanashakuntalam ( c.  300 CE ). According to the Mahabharata , Dushyanta is

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3948-559: The correct reading. After selectio , the text may still contain errors, since there may be passages where no source preserves the correct reading. The step of examination , or examinatio is applied to find corruptions. Where the editor concludes that the text is corrupt, it is corrected by a process called "emendation", or emendatio (also sometimes called divinatio ). Emendations not supported by any known source are sometimes called conjectural emendations . The process of selectio resembles eclectic textual criticism, but applied to

4042-523: The critic forms opinions about individual witnesses, relying on both external and internal evidence. Since the mid-19th century, eclecticism, in which there is no a priori bias to a single manuscript, has been the dominant method of editing the Greek text of the New Testament (currently, the United Bible Society, 5th ed. and Nestle-Åland, 28th ed.). Even so, the oldest manuscripts, being of

4136-412: The duties of a wife and a daughter-in-law. Upon reaching the king's palace, Dushyanta failed to recognise Shakuntala, and merely expressed his incredulity when the accompanying sages urged him to accept her as his queen. Shakuntala searched for the ring that the king had presented her during their parting, but realised that it had been lost during the journey. While leaving the hall, the anguished Shakuntala

4230-484: The editor used (names of manuscripts, or abbreviations called sigla ); second, the editor's analysis of that evidence (sometimes a simple likelihood rating), ; and third, a record of rejected variants of the text (often in order of preference). Before inexpensive mechanical printing, literature was copied by hand, and many variations were introduced by copyists. The age of printing made the scribal profession effectively redundant. Printed editions, while less susceptible to

4324-620: The eighteen books, along with the book's significance. The history of the Bhāratas and the Bhrigus are described. The main part of the work covers the birth and early life of the princes of the Kuru Kingdom and the persecution of the Pandavas by Dhritarashtra . The Adi Parva consists of 19 upa-parva s or parts (also referred to as little books). Each part is also called a parva and

4418-477: The ever lasting, fruitful and flowery productions of this tree. They are of pleasant and pure taste, and they are to be tasted even by immortals . Translation by Kisari Mohan Ganguli: The wisdom of this work, like unto an instrument of applying collyrium, hath opened the eyes of the inquisitive world blinded by the darkness of ignorance. As the sun dispelleth the darkness, so doth the Bharata by its discourses on religion, profit, pleasure and final release , dispel

4512-399: The evidence of contrasts between witnesses. Eclectic readings also normally give an impression of the number of witnesses to each available reading. Although a reading supported by the majority of witnesses is frequently preferred, this does not follow automatically. For example, a second edition of a Shakespeare play may include an addition alluding to an event known to have happened between

4606-522: The heart desire to attain salvation. Sambhava Parva, Chapter 73: Dushyanta said to Sakuntala: Marry me according to the Gandharva form, for this form of marriage is said to be the best. Sakuntala: O king, my father has gone from the hermitage to collect fruits. Kindly wait for a moment. He will bestow me upon you. Dushyanta: O beautiful lady, O faultless beauty, I desire you yourself should accept me, Know that I exist for you. Know also, my heart

4700-454: The husband is born again, even the Rishis cannot create men without women. What is a greater happiness to a father than what the father feels when his son, running to him, clasps him with his tiny little arms, though his body is full of dust and dirt. Sambhava Parva, Chapter 79: He who subdues his anger, he who does not regard the bad word of others, he who is not angry even when there

4794-483: The ignorance of men. As the full-moon by its mild light expandeth the buds of the water-lily, so this Purana, by exposing the light of the Sruti hath expanded the human intellect. By the lamp of history, which destroyeth the darkness of ignorance, the whole mansion of nature is properly and completely illuminated. This work is a tree, of which the chapter of contents is the seed; the divisions called Pauloma and Astika are

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4888-452: The infinite, you are the course of Nature and intelligent soul that pervades all, I desire to obtain you through knowledge, derived from hearing and meditation. Adivansabatarana Parva, Chapter 62: This ( Mahabharata ) is equal to the Vedas, it is holy and excellent, it is the worthiest of all that should be listened to. It is a Purana, adored by the Rishis, It contains many useful instructions on Artha and Kama. This sacred history makes

4982-507: The king followed it. Upon reaching the ashram, the king saw Shakuntala watering the plants, accompanied by her friends, named Anasuya and Priyamvada. Dushyanta and Shakuntala fell in love with each other. Since the sage Kanva was absent from the ashram, they married according to the gandharva rites , and Shakuntala soon became pregnant. The king presented her with his signet ring, and left for his palace. When Dushyanta left Shakuntala, she grew pensive, and did not realise Durvasa had arrived to

5076-472: The leaves, Karna its beautiful flowers, Sailya their fragrance, Stri and Aishika are its cooling shades, Shanti its great fruit. Ashwamedha is its immortal sap, Asramavasika the place where it grows, and Mausula is the epitome of the Vedas. This tree will be highly respected by all virtuous Brahmans. This tree of Bharata will be as inexhaustible as the clouds and be the means of livelihood of many illustrious poets. Sauti continued: I shall speak to you about

5170-530: The man would remember her upon the presentation of a token of recognition. Shakuntala's companions did not reveal this curse to her, reasoning that it did not matter; Shakuntala did, after all, have such a token of recognition, so her husband would no doubt recall her. Kanva returned to his ashrama, and offered his consent for the marriage. The curse took effect, and Dushyanta lost all memory of Shakuntala. When Shakuntala started to show signs of pregnancy, Kanva decided to send her to her lawful husband, explaining to her

5264-461: The method was not as rigorous or as scientific as its proponents had claimed. Bédier's doubts about the stemmatic method led him to consider whether it could be dropped altogether. As an alternative to stemmatics, Bédier proposed a Best-text editing method, in which a single textual witness, judged to be of a 'good' textual state by the editor, is emended as lightly as possible for manifest transmission mistakes, but left otherwise unchanged. This makes

5358-464: The original author] manuscripts of the Greek and Roman classical writers and no copies which have been collated with the originals; the manuscripts we possess derive from the originals through an unknown number of intermediate copies, and are consequently of questionable trustworthiness. The business of textual criticism is to produce a text as close as possible to the original ( constitutio textus ). Maas comments further that "A dictation revised by

5452-408: The original) is considerably advanced." The textual critic's ultimate objective is the production of a "critical edition". This contains the text that the author has determined most closely approximates the original, and is accompanied by an apparatus criticus or critical apparatus . The critical apparatus presents the author's work in three parts: first, a list or description of the evidence that

5546-556: The original, hence which readings in those sources are correct. Although texts such as Greek plays presumably had one original, the question of whether some biblical books, like the Gospels , ever had just one original has been discussed. Interest in applying textual criticism to the Quran has also developed after the discovery of the Sana'a manuscripts in 1972, which possibly date back to

5640-422: The original. Such cases also include scribes simplifying and smoothing texts they did not fully understand. Another scribal tendency is called homoioteleuton , meaning "similar endings". Homoioteleuton occurs when two words/phrases/lines end with the similar sequence of letters. The scribe, having finished copying the first, skips to the second, omitting all intervening words. Homoioarche refers to eye-skip when

5734-423: The phrase "lower criticism" refers to textual criticism and " higher criticism " to the endeavor to establish the authorship, date, and place of composition of the original text . Textual criticism has been practiced for over two thousand years, as one of the philological arts. Early textual critics, especially the librarians of Hellenistic Alexandria in the last two centuries BC, were concerned with preserving

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5828-520: The possibility that the original author may have revised her or his work, and that the text could have existed at different times in more than one authoritative version. The critic Joseph Bédier (1864–1938), who had worked with stemmatics, launched an attack on that method in 1928. He surveyed editions of medieval French texts that were produced with the stemmatic method, and found that textual critics tended overwhelmingly to produce bifid trees, divided into just two branches. He concluded that this outcome

5922-406: The practice of consulting a wide diversity of witnesses to a particular original. The practice is based on the principle that the more independent transmission histories there are, the less likely they will be to reproduce the same errors. What one omits, the others may retain; what one adds, the others are unlikely to add. Eclecticism allows inferences to be drawn regarding the original text, based on

6016-410: The proliferation of variations likely to arise during manual transmission, are nonetheless not immune to introducing variations from an author's autograph. Instead of a scribe miscopying his source, a compositor or a printing shop may read or typeset a work in a way that differs from the autograph. Since each scribe or printer commits different errors, reconstruction of the lost original is often aided by

6110-416: The root; the part called Sambhava is the trunk; the books called Sabha and Aranya are the roosting perches; the books called Arani is the knitting knots; the books called Virata and Udyoga the pith; the book named Bhishma, the main branch; the book called Drona, the leaves; the book called Karna, the fair flowers; the book named Salya, their sweet smell; the books entitled Stri and Aishika, the refreshing shade;

6204-470: The sage's absence. Upon entering the ashrama, he came across three exquisite girls watering the plants, and became infatuated with Shakuntala, who was one among the trio. After a conversation with the bevy, he learnt that the true parents of Shakuntala were Vishvamitra and Menaka , which made Shakuntala a suitable bride for him due to her warrior parentage. Dushyanta, however, chose not to reveal his identity. The company broke up due to hearing that an elephant

6298-417: The sage, the king came across a boy who was the spitting image of himself, playing with a lion cub. He soon learnt that the boy, Bharata, belonged to the race of Puru , and was the son of Shakuntala. Shakuntala appeared, and the couple soon reconciled. Kashyapa explained the nature of the curse to Dushyanta, and assured him that the loss of his memory of his wife was not his fault. He pronounced his blessings on

6392-483: The same difficulty as textual criticism: the appearance of characteristics in descendants of an ancestor other than by direct copying (or miscopying) of the ancestor, for example where a scribe combines readings from two or more different manuscripts ("contamination"). The same phenomenon is widely present among living organisms, as instances of horizontal gene transfer (or lateral gene transfer) and genetic recombination , particularly among bacteria. Further exploration of

6486-417: The same level of the tree, normally the critic will select the dominant reading. However, it may be no more than fortuitous that more witnesses have survived that present a particular reading. A plausible reading that occurs less often may, nevertheless, be the correct one. Lastly, the stemmatic method assumes that every extant witness is derived, however remotely, from a single source. It does not account for

6580-413: The same reasons, the most geographically diverse witnesses are preferred. Some manuscripts show evidence that particular care was taken in their composition, for example, by including alternative readings in their margins, demonstrating that more than one prior copy (exemplar) was consulted in producing the current one. Other factors being equal, these are the best witnesses. The role of the textual critic

6674-473: The seventh to eighth centuries. In the English language, the works of William Shakespeare have been a particularly fertile ground for textual criticism—both because the texts, as transmitted, contain a considerable amount of variation, and because the effort and expense of producing superior editions of his works have always been widely viewed as worthwhile. The principles of textual criticism, although originally developed and refined for works of antiquity and

6768-416: The son of Ilin and Rathantī, also rendered Ilina and Rathantara, respectively. According to primogeniture , Dushyanta succeeds his father as the king of Hastinapura, because he is the eldest among his siblings Sura, Bhima, Pravashu, and Vasu. The Mahabharata narrates that King Dushyanta was once hunting in the forests, when he struck a fawn with his arrow. The fawn fled to the ashram of Sage Kanva , and

6862-431: The stemma, the critic proceeds to the next step, called selection or selectio , where the text of the archetype is determined by examining variants from the closest hyparchetypes to the archetype and selecting the best ones. If one reading occurs more often than another at the same level of the tree, then the dominant reading is selected. If two competing readings occur equally often, then the editor uses judgment to select

6956-424: The stemma. The stemmatic method requires the textual critic to group manuscripts by commonality of error. It is required, therefore, that the critic can distinguish erroneous readings from correct ones. This assumption has often come under attack. W. W. Greg noted: "That if a scribe makes a mistake he will inevitably produce nonsense is the tacit and wholly unwarranted assumption." Franz Anton Knittel defended

7050-438: The stick used for applying collyrium, has opened the eyes of the world which were covered by the darkness of ignorance. As the sun drives away the darkness, so does this Bharata, by its discourses on Dharma , Artha , Kama and Moksha , drive the ignorance of men. As the full moon with its mild light opens the buds of the water-lily, so does this with the light of Sruti expand the human intellect. The whole house of

7144-732: The subjects of variorum editions, although the same techniques have been applied with less frequency to many other works, such as Walt Whitman 's Leaves of Grass , and the prose writings of Edward Fitzgerald . In practice, citation of manuscript evidence implies any of several methodologies. The ideal, but most costly, method is physical inspection of the manuscript itself; alternatively, published photographs or facsimile editions may be inspected. This method involves paleographical analysis—interpretation of handwriting, incomplete letters and even reconstruction of lacunae . More typically, editions of manuscripts are consulted, which have done this paleographical work already. Eclecticism refers to

7238-410: The summer, King Dushyanta pursued an antelope in the forest, when he was confronted by an ascetic . The ascetic told him that the creature belonged to the ashrama of Kanva, and he was not to violate the sanctity of the land by slaying it. Dushyanta agreed to not kill the antelope, and was encouraged to visit the ashrama. He was told that he would be welcomed by Shakuntala, Kanva's adopted daughter, due to

7332-430: The textual critic seeks the reading that best explains how the other readings would arise. That reading is then the most likely candidate to have been original. Various scholars have developed guidelines, or canons of textual criticism, to guide the exercise of the critic's judgment in determining the best readings of a text. One of the earliest was Johann Albrecht Bengel (1687–1752), who in 1734 produced an edition of

7426-526: The textual critic's work is to provide a better understanding of the creation and historical transmission of the text and its variants. This understanding may lead to the production of a critical edition containing a scholarly curated text. If a scholar has several versions of a manuscript but no known original, then established methods of textual criticism can be used to seek to reconstruct the original text as closely as possible. The same methods can be used to reconstruct intermediate versions, or recensions , of

7520-498: The traditional point of view in theology and was against the modern textual criticism. He defended an authenticity of the Pericopa Adulterae (John 7:53–8:11), Comma Johanneum (1 John 5:7), and Testimonium Flavianum . According to him, Erasmus in his Novum Instrumentum omne did not incorporate the Comma from Codex Montfortianus , because of grammar differences, but used Complutensian Polyglotta . According to him,

7614-429: The two editions. Although nearly all subsequent manuscripts may have included the addition, textual critics may reconstruct the original without the addition. The result of the process is a text with readings drawn from many witnesses. It is not a copy of any particular manuscript, and may deviate from the majority of existing manuscripts. In a purely eclectic approach, no single witness is theoretically favored. Instead,

7708-431: The undying flowery and fruitful productions of this tree, possessed of pure and pleasant taste and not to be destroyed even by the immortals." The total number of original verses depend on which Sanskrit source is used, and these do not equal the totalnumber of translated verses in each chapter, in both Ganguli and Dutt translations. Mahabharata , like many ancient Sanskrit texts, was transmitted across generations verbally,

7802-553: The variants, eliminating those most likely to be un -original, hence establishing a critical text , or critical edition, that is intended to best approximate the original. At the same time, the critical text should document variant readings, so the relation of extant witnesses to the reconstructed original is apparent to a reader of the critical edition. In establishing the critical text, the textual critic considers both "external" evidence (the age, provenance, and affiliation of each witness) and "internal" or "physical" considerations (what

7896-470: The versions can vary greatly. There are many approaches or methods to the practice of textual criticism, notably eclecticism , stemmatics , and copy-text editing . Quantitative techniques are also used to determine the relationships between witnesses to a text, called textual witnesses , with methods from evolutionary biology ( phylogenetics ) appearing to be effective on a range of traditions. In some domains, such as religious and classical text editing,

7990-401: The war of the devas against the asuras . Dushyanta agreed to participate, viewing it as a welcome diversion. Dushyanta was successful in his war, and was honoured by Indra following their triumph. Matali escorted the king back to earth upon his vimana , and the two alighted upon the ashrama of Sage Kashyapa ( Maricha in other accounts) to pay their respects. While the charioteer visited

8084-541: The wise never imitate them. Sambhava Parva, Chapter 133: Drupada said to Drona : Friendship never remains in the world in anyone's heart without being worn out, Time wears it out, anger destroys it. The poor cannot be the friend of the rich, the unlearned cannot be the friend of the learned, the coward cannot be the friend of the brave, how then do you desire the continuance of our old friendship? Viduragamana Parva, Chapter 206: Drona said to Dhritarashtra: Friends summoned for consultation should always speak what

8178-461: The womb of nature is properly and completely lighted by the lamp of history which destroys the darkness of ignorance. This work is a tree, the chapter of contents is its seed, the divisions Paulama and Astika are its roots, the Sambhava is its trunk, the books (Parva) Sava and Aranya are the roosting perches, Arani is the knitting knot. Virata and Udyoga the pith, Bhishma the main branch, Drona

8272-483: The word stemma . The Ancient Greek word στέμματα and its loanword in classical Latin stemmata may refer to " family trees ". This specific meaning shows the relationships of the surviving witnesses (the first known example of such a stemma, albeit without the name, dates from 1827). The family tree is also referred to as a cladogram . The method works from the principle that "community of error implies community of origin". That is, if two witnesses have

8366-658: The works of antiquity , and this continued through the Middle Ages into the early modern period and the invention of the printing press . Textual criticism was an important aspect of the work of many Renaissance humanists , such as Desiderius Erasmus , who edited the Greek New Testament , creating what developed as the Textus Receptus . In Italy, scholars such as Petrarch and Poggio Bracciolini collected and edited many Latin manuscripts, while

8460-454: The world, and acquired three wives, though the sons born of these wives were so cruel that they were slain. Bharata propitiated the devas for a son, and they gave him a boy, whom he named Vitatha, also called Bharadvaja. According to another account, Bharadvaja blessed Bharata with a son named Bhumanyu. Bharata ruled for 27,000 years, and therefore, the kingdom that he inherited and expanded came to be known as Bhārata, named after him. During

8554-461: Was Lectio brevior praeferenda , "the shorter reading is better", based on the idea that scribes were more likely to add than to delete. This rule cannot be applied uncritically, as scribes may omit material inadvertently. Brooke Foss Westcott (1825–1901) and Fenton Hort (1828–1892) published an edition of the New Testament in Greek in 1881 . They proposed nine critical rules, including

8648-409: Was often a manuscript that was at hand. Using the copy-text method, the critic examines the base text and makes corrections (called emendations) in places where the base text appears wrong to the critic. This can be done by looking for places in the base text that do not make sense or by looking at the text of other witnesses for a superior reading. Close-call decisions are usually resolved in favor of

8742-501: Was running amok, and Shakuntala grew enamoured of the visitor. The king directed his general to stop the chaos and instruct his men to stay away from the ashrama. He confessed his feelings to his companion and jester Vidushaka, urging him to think of a pretext to stay in the ashrama without arousing suspicion. Fortunately, a few ascetics approached him soon to request him to safeguard their yajna , which he readily accepted. He sent Vidushaka to his capital, and fearing that his friend would be

8836-488: Was unlikely to have occurred by chance, and that therefore, the method was tending to produce bipartite stemmas regardless of the actual history of the witnesses. He suspected that editors tended to favor trees with two branches, as this would maximize the opportunities for editorial judgment (as there would be no third branch to "break the tie" whenever the witnesses disagreed). He also noted that, for many works, more than one reasonable stemma could be postulated, suggesting that

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