ИСТИНА

Based on ongoing survey work conducted since 2009 as well as on available textual evidence, the presentation will explore the patterns and practices of production, circulation, and collecting of Buddhist manuscripts in Burma. In particular, a discussion will touch upon production and later movements of royal sets of the Buddhist canon, the influence of multiple notions of canon and of continuous re-editing of Buddhist texts under royal patronage on manuscript production and circulation, priorities and criteria for collecting traceable in the making of manuscript collections of monastic dignitaries and of rural monasteries until the 1920s, as well as upon contemporary collecting practices of institutional and private collectors of Buddhist manuscripts. An attempt at discussing Burmese evidence in a broader Southeast Asian context would also be made.