Sanskrit mangalas in Indonesian texts

[l.m.fosse at easteur-orient.uio.no]

C. Minkowski wrote:

>Friends on the list who work on Sanskrit in Indonesian texts:
>        A student of music here has brought me a text about Gamelan music
>based on a palm leaf manuscript in Indonesian which has an unmistakeably
>Sanskritic beginning.  It reads: om awighnam astu nama siddham.  A few
>lines later it reads:  "om sidhingastu nama ciwaya."  I know nothing about
>Sanskrit in Indonesia.  avighnam astu is clear enough.  The question is:
>what is this "Nama Siddham ?"  nama for namaH is clear, but what of siddham
>? nama ciwaya suggests that dative with namaH is still possible, although
>siddhiM astu suggests that case endings have in general lost some of their
>distinctions.
>        Any immediate reactions ?  Any reference works to turn to ?

Here are some bibliographic references to Sanskrit in Indonesian:

Jan Gonda (1971). The influence of Indian languages. Current Trends in
Linguistics 8, Linguistics in Oceania. The Hague, Mouton.  Current Trends
in Linguistics 8, Linguistics in Oceania. 955-968 955-968. 955-968.

Jan Gonda (1973). Sanskrit in Indonesia. New Delhi, International Academy
of Indian Culture. Sata-pi aka Series; Indo-Asian Literatures. 2 ed.. Vol.
99.

Harry Spitzhardt (1973). "The Lexical and Morphological Impact of Sanskrit
on Moden Indonesia." Asian and African Studies,  9: 97-113.

M. Ensink and J. A. B. van Buitenen (1964). "Glossary of Sanskrit from
Indonesia." Vak,  6: viii + 219.


Russel Jones (1984). Loan-Words in Contemporary Indonesian. Towards a
Description of Contemporary Indonesian: Preliminary Studies, Part II, NUSA.
Jakarta, Badan Penyelenggara Seri NUSA.  Towards a Description of
Contemporary Indonesian: Preliminary Studies, Part II, NUSA. Vol. 19. 1-38
1-38. 1-38.

Of these works, Gonda's is the most thorough.


Remember that the knowledge of Sanskrit in Indonesian deteriorated at the
end of the middle ages, and that Sanskrit inscriptions in Indonesian
sometimes are erronous and may not always make sense.

The text "om sidhingastu nama ciwaya" may perhaps = om siddhir astu nama.h
/siv-aya = "om may there be success, hail to Shiva". But don't quote me. I
have no experience reading inscriptions in Indonesian Sanskrit.

Best regards,

Lars Martin Fosse



Lars Martin Fosse
Research Fellow
Department of East European
and Oriental Studies
P. O. Box 1030, Blindern
N-0315 OSLO Norway

Tel: +47 22 85 68 48
Fax: +47 22 85 41 40

E-mail: l.m.fosse at easteur-orient.uio.no