Use of avagraha

[John Smith]

On Sun, 7 Feb 1999, harry spier wrote:

> Some western editions of Sanskrit texts occasionally use avagraha (or
> double avagraha where appropriate) to indicate the assimilation of a
> final a or A into a preceeding a or A.  In examining nine western
> editions of the Bhagavad Geeta, it was seen that eight of them did this,
> but none were self-consistent (the same word combinations sometimes
> having an avagraha inserted and sometimes not).  Is this a modern or
> western edition use of avagraha?  Is it more correct not to use avagraha
> in this manner?
>
> Any guidelines from professional Sanskritists would be greatly
> appreciated.

Avagraha to indicate vowel-sandhi is not favoured in modern scholarly
practice, which restricts it to indicating loss of initial "a" (with
double avagraha for the much rarer case of loss of initial long "A"). This
is equally true of Indian and western editions.

John Smith

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