Manava-Kalpa-Sutra. Being a portion of this ancient work on Vaidik rites, together with the commentary of Kumarila-Swamin. A Fac-simile of the MS. No. 17 in the Library of Her Majesty's Home Government for India.

London: N. Trubner and Co., 1861. The first edition in Sanskrit and first edition in English. Oblong folio (12 3/4 x 10 3/4 inches) printed in the landscape manner (the spine is actually the top of the book). xi, [1], 268 pp. preface by Theodor Golsdstucker with text printed in two columns plus the 121-page facsimile of the original Sutra at rear. Publisher's ribbed brown cloth with blind-stamped borders, nicely rebacked a great while ago retaining almost all of the original spine, spine with gilt lettering and a gilt Ganesh device, pale yellow endpapers, Smallish call letters in orange at base of spine, library accession stamp and two previous owner's signatures on front pastedown and endpaper, tips bumped. The major part of the sutra is unopened. Overall, a very good copy of quite a scarce title.Kalpa means "proper, fit" and is one of the six disciplines of the Ved nga, or ancillary science connected with the Vedas – the scriptures of Hinduism. This field of study is focused on the procedures and ceremonies associated with Vedic ritual practice. Kalpa is a Sanskrit word that means "proper, fit, competent, sacred precept", and also refers to one of the six Vedanga fields of study. The Manava Sutra is classed as a being in the Yajurveda discipline and concerns ritual instructions and formula. This particular texts deals with the sacred geometry of altars. Manava would have not have been a mathematician in the sense that we would understand it today. Nor was he a scribe who simply copied manuscripts like Ahmes. He would certainly have been a man of very considerable learning but probably not interested in mathematics for its own sake, merely interested in using it for religious purposes. Theodor Goldstücker was a German Sanskrit scholar, professor of Sanskrit in University College London and founder of the Sanskrit Text Society. He dedicated the book to the great German physician Rudolf Virchow.abaa-ny-2022