Rivista di studi sudasiatici, 4 ∙ 2010, 169–172. Śāstrārambha. Inquiries into the Preamble in Sanskrit. Ed. by Walter Slaje, preface by Edwin Gerow. (Abhandlungen für die Kunde des Morgenlandes 62). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2008. xv + 255 pages. isbn 978-3-447056-45-8. T his volume edited by Walter Slaje contains ten papers that were pre- sented at the 13th World Sanskrit Conference, held in Edinburgh in 2006. he book is introduced by E. Gerow’s En archêi ên ho logos. With vi- vacity of style and sharpness of observation the author provides the reader an overview of the variety of topics and ancient Indian texts that are treated in the book. hese are all related to the notion of beginning, ārambha, espe- cially as applied to philosophical or scientiic treatises, śāstra. he volume is appended with a useful index by A. Pohlus. It is notable that three papers concern themselves with the beginning of a work in the sense of paratext (though none of the authors use this term), deined according to G. Genette (1991: 261f.) as a threshold that is the “privi- leged site of a pragmatics and of a strategy, of an action on the public in the service […] of a better reception of the text”. A common characteristic in the Indian tradition of composing and transmitting written works is the fact that, in the hand of commentators as well as ancient editors, this open- ing portion of a work has oten shited from the status of paratext to that of text (see, for instance, the case mentioned by P. Balcerowicz, p. 35, n. 25). In the irst paper of the volume, Why Should We Read the Maṅgala Verses? , Ch. Minkowski ofers a ine outline of the nature, role and histo- ry of maṅgala verses, and also presents some of the theoretical relections that developed about them. Minkowski distinguishes between the difer- ent types of auspicious opening phrases found in manuscripts or printed editions based on the respective responsible person, i.e., the author of the THE ART OF BEGINNING Cristina Pecchia