The Karmapañjikā is a manual for the domestic rituals of the Paippalāda tradition. Claiming to follow a Sūtra of Paiṭhīnasi, the text was composed by an otherwise unknown Śrīdhara in Orissa in the 16th century CE. His work is a precious late-medieval witness to the Atharvavedic tradition, preserving archaic features dating from the Vedic period, but also showing much influence from various non-Vedic traditions that have been prevalent in this part of eastern India. The critical edition, which will be complete in three volumes, is based on six palm-leaf manuscripts written in Oriya script. This first volume contains an extensive introduction followed by the first nine chapters of text that describe the general paradigms of domestic ritual.

The authors:
Arlo Griffiths received his PhD in Sanskrit from Leiden University in 2004. After holding a position as lecturer in Indian Religions at the University of Groningen (2004–05), and holding the chair of Sanskrit at Leiden University (2005–08), he joined the EFEO in 2008 as Professor of Southeast Asian History. He was posted at the EFEO’s Jakarta Centre from 2009 through 2014, and now teaches in Paris and Lyon.

Shilpa Sumant received her PhD in Sanskrit from Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth (Pune) in 2007. Since 2009, she is sub-editor in the Sanskrit Dictionary Project of the Deccan College Post Graduate and Research Institute, Pune. Since 2014, she is a member of the Regulating Council of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute and is one of the editors of its Annals.

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