Jamey Walters
To the surprise of no one who works with #manuscripts, #colophons can be such a rich source of all kinds of information. Take this manuscript--APSTCH AYMA 00014 (which I posted a picture from yesterday)--for example. This image is the final page, with the colophon on the right surrounded by a decorative border. There are a few interesting things about this colophon that I will thread here below.
Aug 16, 2023 at 3:00pmWeb
Show threadJamey WaltersAug 16, 2023
First, we learn where the manuscript was copied, which turned into a bit of an interesting research rabbit trail to follow. The opening lines say that this manuscript was completed "in the country of India, in the region of Malabar, in the 8th district, in the church of Mar Thoma the apostle, which is in the village of ܟܘܬܟܐܪܟܪܝ." I left the village name in native script for now because that's the part that turned out to be difficult.
Show threadJamey WaltersAug 16, 2023

Simply transliterating the #Syriac spelling (which is itself a transliteration of a #Malayalam place name), we would get something like "Kutkarkari". So, my first step was to start googling all variations of that spelling that I could (changing the vowels, changing /t/ to /th/ but also trying /t/->/d/ or /dh/ because I've seen that in Malayalam/Syriac transliteration too, etc.).

Ultimately, I had to give up this google search because none of my spelling variations were turning up any likely places. So, I emailed Istvan Perzcel, an expert in Syriac Indian Christianity, and he kindly responded and said that this likely corresponds to the village of Kottarakkara in Kerala.

Show threadJamey WaltersAug 16, 2023
The next step was to figure out whether there was a corresponding church named for Thomas the apostle, and sure enough, there it was. So, now I'm reasonably confident--with the help of a colleague--that I have identified the correct church/village where the manuscript was produced.
Show threadJamey WaltersAug 16, 2023

The next interesting bit of information we learn from this manuscript is about the #scribe. It was copied by ܫܟܪ ܐܠܠܗ ܒܪ ܬܐܘܡܐ, whom I've posted about on here before because he created some really cool artistic borders and decorations. But this particular manuscript adds an interesting detail. As part of his name, he calls himself ܐܟܣܢܝܐ "foreigner" (specifically ܐܟܣܢܝ ܐܬܪܐ ܐܡܝܕܝܡܬܐ - "foreigner of the Amid/Amida region").

I knew from other versions of his name that this scribe was an Amidaya--from Amid--but I had assumed he remained there and that several of his manuscripts had simply been sent to India. But because this colophon is so clear about where the manuscript was completed--and because he explicitly says he is a foreigner--I now know that this scribe, Shukrallah bar Thoma, traveled from Amid to India, where he copied several manuscripts for the Syriac Orthodox Indian churches there.

Show threadHeleen van den BergAug 16, 2023
@jedwardwalters Thanks, Jamey, for this great thread!
Show threadThomas A. CarlsonAug 16, 2023
@jedwardwalters
If I read that correctly, that's a surprising number of hierarchs to name. It also interests me that the date is only given in AD, not AG. But I know very little about 18th C Indian Syriac Christians...
Show threadJamey WaltersAug 17, 2023
@MedievalMideast I haven't thought much about the use of dating systems in the Indian collections, but now that you mention it I think AG dates are pretty rare there (unless the mss were transported from the middle east of course). And yes, some of these colophons are a bit over the top with how many people they name 😂