mmmm...books

The last days have been characterized by the acquisition of books. I'd already gotten a few


which as you can see I keep with my kitestring, dental floss, and flashcards on top of my desk. I've cracked at least half of these, I swear.
But there are two or three great Sanskrit outlets here in Delhi, including the Chowkamba Sanskrit Series office which is down a backlane, through a maze of branch alleys, past some dangerously pointy-horned bovanimals [and their at least as dangerous POOP], up a narrow staircase and through an open courtyard. I feel like Aurel Stein or Rahul Sankrityayana.
Except that Sachin from CSS delivers, by bicycle, and a good thing too:
The CSS is actually just the larger box on the bottom, which weighed more than Caitlin. The 8 black volumes are the always helpful History of Dharmasastra by PV Kane, and then there's a bunch of other stuff--basically the greatest hits of Sanskrit. For perspective, both in terms of size and familial importance,

here are B & C, and I swear that they had just gotten done saying, in unison, 'We are so proud of you, beloved Father; won't you please acquire more archaic Indological materials for us to inherit some day?'

Here is a shot of them with the full range (well, almost) of books I've bought since I got here:


Ben is so obviously overwhelmed with excitement that he is about to experience the onset of environmentally induced narcolepsy.

One more bit of perspective--here are most of the materials that we've purchased in the last four months that Ms. H and I have reviewed together, albeit without the children (their library is, I say shamefacedly, even more extensive)

That bottom one, Dead Man, is a Jim Jarmusch film that everyone should see if only to rattle the foundations. Not featured here: The Rookie/Miracle set that SMH got me for Festivus. I hated Syriana. Slapshot is an homage to the Dish Boy Posse.

Today we forage the CIHTS publication unit for obscure information on manuscript materials pertaining to Vinaya, especially Gunaprabha, and the Triskandhaka (of which I have now actually a full, if late, unpublished manuscript and, as of two days ago, confirmation of its source. Go go gadget CaReer!