Manuscript fields

In Pandit, the Manuscript entity type represents a manuscript (on palm leaves or paper) or any fragment or piece.

Assumptions and decisions

  • A manuscript can be stored in an institution.
  • An institution is located on a site. However, the manuscript is not necessarily located on the storing institution's site (it happens when the institution has several branches in different sites).
  • A manuscript can be collected in a collection.
  • If the collection is current, the manuscript entity should refer to the site entity where the collection is stored.

Identifiers and names

An identifier of a manuscript contains the information required to identify it. The identifier is either computed by the system or, in special cases, entered manually.

1. Computed identifier [BETA]

The identifier is computed using the formula:
MS [Site short name] [Institution short name] [Collection short name] [Position]

The system computes the identifier if, and only if, values are entered to ALL the following manuscript fields:

  1. Located in (site)
  2. Stored in (institution)
  3. Either Shelfmark or Accession number or Running number or Other number

Make an effort to fill all the three fields in bold, so that the system can indeed compute the identifier of the manuscript. If you don't, the system enforces you to supply a manual identifier value.

Notes:

  • The [Position] part is only one value, the first that is entered, in this order: Shelfmark, Accession number, Running number, Other number.
  • If you enter a value in a position field (Shelfmark, Accession number, Running number, Other number) then both "Located in (site)" and "Stored in (institution)" must also be filled.
  • Entering a value in "Currently collected in" field is optional and is added to the computed identifier if given.
  • The prefix "MS" is added to the identifier, either for a computed identifier or to a manual one.
  • As always, before editing or adding a manuscript entity, you should make sure that all the needed entities that you would like to refer to already exist. The recommended order is : State, Site, Institution, Collection.

2. Manual identifier

If you do not supply values for all 3 fields, then you must supply a value in the "Manual identifier" field. Please use this field only if you have no other choice. If you are sure that the automatically-computed identifier is wrong, you may also supply a manual identifier - this will bypass the computing. (BETA note: if you think that the system actually SHOULD compute the identifier by the values you supply, please contact the managers so we can revise our computing rules).
Note: This field should be used only for the current identifier.

Other identifiers and names

  • Former identifier - This field is used in cases where the manuscript previously consisted a part of another collection, or, if it previously belonged to a collection that is not the one set in the "Currently collected in" field.
  • Alternative name - This field is used when you want to add a widely known name of a manuscript that is not a former identifier.

Type relationship

Here is a diagram with relationships among the entity types mentioned above (it is just a part of the complete relationship diagram). It may help you understand the identifier's computing logic and the structure of manuscript storage. This diagram shows each entity type inside and its fields (its properties, below the line).

Class diagram manuscript storage and naming

(Diagram is built with yuml.me).

Extract kinds

  • Namaskāra phrase - Typically at the beginning of a manuscript.
  • Maṅgala passage - An auspicious verse, usually in praise of a deity.
  • Incipit - The beginning of the manuscript; use when not a namaskāra phrase or maṅgala passage.
  • Explicit - The final section of a text before the colophon; ; use when not a Colophon phrase or Post-colophon.
  • Colophon phrase - The phrase that signals the end of a division or of the text, often mentions the title and author (e.g., "thus ends the Campūrāmāyaṇa composed by Bhoja").
  • Post-colophon - The section following the colophon that usually contains the name of the scribe, the date, and the site where the manuscript was copied out.
  • Other - Any selection of text that might be prosopographically relevant but doesn't fit into the other kinds.

(Advanced) TEI - Exporting identifier to <msIdentifier> [Planned]

When time arrives, here is how we currently plan to export the data to conform with the TEI Manuscript identifier structure.

The word in bold (on the left) represents the TEI element. The wording following each element indicate where we take the data from, starting from the manuscript entity.

IF (Stored in (institution)->State has parent)
THEN
<country> = Located in (site)->State->Parent State->Name
<region> = Located in (site)->State->Name
ELSE
<country> = Located in (site)->State->Name
(no region in this case)
END IF

<settlement> = Located in (site)->Name

<repository> = Stored in (institution)->Name

IF (Stored in (institution) has parent)
THEN
<institution> = Stored in (institution)->Parent institution->Name
ELSE
<institution> = Stored in (institution)->Name (same value as repository)
END IF

<collection> = Collected in (collection)->Name

<idno> = Identifier
<altIdentifier> = Former identifier (plural)
<msName> = Alternative name (plural)