The word “colophon” is used since classical European antiquity to describe the formula at the end of a text or a manuscript. There is no exact equivalent to this term in ancient India with the exception of the Buddhist term nigamana. The relevant terms are discussed in a brief introduction. The history of colophons in ancient India begins already during the time of the oral text transmission in early Buddhist texts. Next, the earliest written colophons are found in inscriptions. As soon as the first manuscripts survive from ancient India, some colophons, which are mostly as fragmentary as the manuscripts themselves, come to light. Colophons are missing in the vast majority of fragmentary manuscripts, because the first and last folios of manuscripts are usually lost first. A rare example of a complete colophon from Kuṣāṇa times found a Vinaya manuscript recovered from Merv (Bairam Ali) is, consequently, of particular interest. After discussing this colophon together with certain features of the structure of the Vinaya manual to which it is attached, some colophons extant in the Gilgit Manuscript are investigated, particularly those of the Saṃghāṭasūtra and the Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra. Finally the development of the Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra colophons is traced beginning in 7th century Gilgit in various selected Nepalese manuscripts right into the 19th century. In an appendix the colophon to the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka manuscript Add. 1683 from Cambridge University Library is re-edited.
