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[Richard Salomon]

Since "-&" put me up to this, I'll just throw in my 2 cents worth on 
chronograms:

-Some other good lists of words used in chronograms are D.C. Sircar's 
Indian Epigraphy, ppl.230-3; Bu:hler's Indian Paleography, pp. 84-86 
(of the first English edition, in Indian Antiquary 33); and P.V. Kane's 
History of Dharmasastra vol. V, pt.1, pp. 701-3.

-Chronograms are normally read in reverse order (ankaanaam vaamato 
gati.h), but there are occasional cases in which they have to be read in 
normal sequence; see e.g. Epigraphia Indica 34, p.178.

-Just as a curiosity, in Java I saw an example of a visual chronogram at 
the Sultan's palace in Jogjakarta, which gave the date of construction 
(in Saka era) in the form of a scultured ornament of a snake, etc., with 
implied numerical values (I don't remember the details offhand).  I think 
that this visual rendition of chronograms may have been a common practice in 
Indonesia, but I don't know of any Indian examples.

-RS


On Tue, 20 Feb 1996, Anand Venkt Raman wrote:

> Amita Sarin writes:
> 
> >ronograms that commemorated important dates were traditionally composed in
> >the Islamic world.  The numerical values of the consonants in the sentence
> >added up to the date of the event.
> >What is the relnship, if any, between Islamic chronograms and numerical
> >values of Devanagiri consonants?  Which came first?  Did they develop
> >independantly?  Are chronograms also composed in Hindi?
> 
> I'm afraid I can't comment on the above.  Richard Salomon once pointed
> me to a good reference on South Indian Chronograms in
> 
> Epigraphia Indica 3, p.38, ll.40-41; 4, pp.203-4; 34, pp.205-6.
> 
> Perhaps he could pen a short note on this.
> 
> - &
> 
>