Romanization when?

Richard P. Hayes CXEV at CA.MCGILL.MUSICA
Fri Oct 25 10:54:55 UTC 1991


Dominik's invitation to discuss the merits of using available
computer software to generate devanagarii output has generated some
good discussion. I would like to pose a question to Dominik or to
others who now routinely print in devanagarii. Now that good facilities
exist for printing devanagarii with relative ease, I see less and less
reason to print extended passages of Sanskrit in any script other than
devanagarii---pace Silk, I would even use devanagarii for Sanskrit and
(irrational though it might seem) Pali. But where I begin to have more
uncertainty is what constitutes an extended passage. If one is writing
in English and quotes a single "sloka or one sentence or just a phrase,
should one romanize or devanagarize (pardon my mlecchisms)? What if one
is citing a single word? In other words, is there ever an occasion for
using romanized Sanskrit? I am interested in hearing what habits others
have developed in this area.
Richard Hayes






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