Arts Digital Lab Seminar
Unrolling a Sanskrit Scroll
Sahana Cidambi, Aditya Jha, Clemency Montelle
One of the more unusual, and thus noteworthy, acquisitions of the University of Canterbury library in their South Asian collections is an 18th century Sanskrit astrological scroll that is between 6 and 7 meters long. This scroll is part of the Albert William Andrews collection and came into his possession through some as of yet unascertained way. The scroll contains written passages, astrological diagrams, pictures, and numerical tables. It is a heavily decorated, colourful piece with inks in hues of greens and yellows filling in rosettes, highlighting thick boarders, and delimiting passages of text. As a technical document, is of considerable interest to Historians of Science.
Indeed, given the length and detail of this particular document, it appears to be a rare and special artifact, and one that captures the eye of both the specialist and more general audiences. We will explore some of the issues surrounding using digital tools and platforms to migrate this physical artifact online, and consider some of the opportunities and challenges.
Friday 18 September 2-4 pm
Logie 401