Vikram Seth - II

[g.v.simson at easteur-orient.uio.no]

>According to Peter D Banos:
>>
>> I would guess, based on the way maps are generally oriented, that it
>> means the upper left...
>>
>
>This is one of the possibilities we've been thinking of. Or could it have
>some astrological connotations?
>
>Here is the original text:
>
>"The fourth corner, the northwest corner, could contain two
>golden numerals indicating the age of the recipient." (Vikram Seth,
>A Suitable Boy, p. 38)

According to the (Northern) Indian tradition, right (sanskrit dakSiNa) is =
south (because you are looking to the east which is in front of you). The
northwest corner would then be the lower left corner of the post-card. But
I am not competent to decide whether Seth followed this logic or not.

Professor Georg von Simson
University of Oslo
Department of East European and Oriental Studies
Box 1030, Blindern
0315 Oslo, Norway