Potala/Sriparvata

[Bh.Krishnamurti]

At 05:12 27/02/99 -0800, you wrote:
> I have been following the discussion of Potala/Sriparvata and I am
>outraged at
> the obscurantist behavior of Sarma in this discussion.
>
> Hiding relevant information or presenting misleading information
>seems to be
> the forte of Sarma. In a post on Fri, 22 Jan 1999, he said,
>
> "The "nallamala" range of hills in the telugu country extend right from
> ahObilaM-tirumala to zrizailaM-nAgArjunakoMDa. In dravidian "nalla"
> stands for good and "mala" stands for mountain. The word nalla has
> been sanskritised as "zrI" which can mean auspicious, mejastic or
> lovely. Thus the words "nallamala", "tirumala", "zrIzaila", "zrIgiri"
> "zrIparvata" are synonyms."
>
> Sarma pulled a fast one here. Conveniently, he resorted to a non-Telugu
> meaning of "nalla". In Telugu, "nalla" means "black/dark" and not
>"good". To
> Telugus, "nallamala" means "black/dark mountain" and not "good
>mountain".
> Since Sarma could not explain how a Telugu word meaning "black/dark"
>can be
> Sanskritized as "zrI", he had manufactured a non-existent meaning.
>
> On 2/24/99  Sarma says,

> Sarma has fraudulently succeeded in transmuting a "black/dark"
>mountain into a
> "bright" mountain. What a contrast!
>
> Earlier, when Chris Fernandez criticized Sarma's illogical and
>prejudiced
> statements, Bijoy Misra said that Sarma "can't be as bad as is
>depicted". Now,
> we see Sarma's full capabilities for committing intellectual fraud!

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I am not interested in identifying the original location of potala(ka). But
the accusations made against Sarma show lack of civility. Corresponding to
PDr. *nal 'good', Old Telugu has naluwu 'beauty, etc.' (see DEDR 3610). A
Telugu Dictionary in 7 volumes called Suuryaraaya-aandhranighaNTuwu in vol.
4 gives nalla-wo as an exclamatory form meaning 'good, then'; -wo is -poo
used as a clitic. The forms meaning 'good' are obsolete in Modern Telugu.
But in early (pre-Classical) Telugu it is perfectly possible for nalla- to
occur as an adj. meaning 'good'. The word nalla meaning 'black' occurs also
in old as well as modern literature/language (derived from *na.l 'dark'DEDR
3621, although they listed it in 3613). nalupu (n.): nalla- adj. :: naluwu
(n.): nalla- adj. Retroflex /.l/ merged with alveolar lateral /l/ as early
as the 8th cent. AD. This homonomy could have been the basis for nalla-
'good' going out of use. But its existence is attested (see supra). I do not
think Sarma deserves Keith's virulent personal attack by name. Why would
Sarma mislead? What will he get out of it? It would be graceful if Keith
Williams tendered him an apology. Regards.
Krishnamurti
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Bhadriraju Krishnamurti
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