Details

Other Title:

Ratnaparīkṣa.

Subjects:

Science -- India -- History.
Science.
India.
History.
Diamonds -- India.
Diamonds.
Gems -- Folklore.

Form/Genre:

Manuals (instructional materials)
Treatises.
Manuscripts, Sanskrit.
Manuscripts.

Language:

In Sanskrit (Devanāgarī)

Biography/History:

Author dated to 6th century A.D.

Summary:

The Science of testing jewels (the Maṇiparīkṣa) summarizes, through mythic accounts of origin, Indian knowledge of diamonds and other precious gems.

Notes:

Title from colophon (f. 19v); alternate title Ratnaparīkṣa in margin, upper left verso (f. 1-19).
Written in 9-14 lines per leaf.
19 leaves foliated 1-19, upper left and lower right verso.
Colophon: iti maṇiparīkṣāsamāpta // mitībhādrapadaśuddha 1 saṃ[va]t 1855 bhaumavāsare nikhitā // śubhaṃ bhūyāt // (f. 19v).
Dated saṃvat 1855 (1798) (f. 19v).
Mistakes blacked out; some corrections and additions in margins; significant syllables, words, or phrases highlighted in red throughout.
Non-Latin script record.

Cited in:

Listed in H. I. Poleman, Census of Indic Manuscripts in the United States and Canada (New Haven, Conn.: American Oriental Society, 1938), Poleman 4246 (UP 801).
Included in Harlow, G. E., ed. The Nature of Diamonds. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press in association with the American Museum of Natural History, 1998.

Cited as:

UPenn Ms. Coll. 390, Item 801

OCLC:

779548152