Sanskrit mangalas in Indonesian texts

[Madhav Deshpande]

On 'Om namaH Siddham'.
	Last year I was editing a text in which this phrase occurs in the 
beginning and I had some occasion to think over it.  The evidence 
suggests that this may have originated in the Jain traditions of Western 
India.  Then it was adopted by grammatical traditions like that of the 
Kaatantra, which was widely studied by the Jains.  From the Jain 
traditions, it was generalized to common Indian tradition, and Hinduized 
at some point.  In Western India, many alphabets begin with a 
vernacularized form of this phrase:  'onaamaasiidham'.  This was commonly 
used in Maharashtra to begin formal teaching of writing to a boy.  
Similarly it was generalized to mark all beginnings.  In Marathi, we 
say:  He did the 'onaamaa' of something or the other.
	Madhav

On Wed, 3 May 1995, Christopher 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 ?
> Thanks,
> C. Minkowski,  Cornell
> 
>  
>