pustaka

[N. Ganesan]

The Pali "potthaka" is usually explained by Tamilists
from the following root words. Online Tamil Lexicon:

I) pottu 1. covering, stopping, closing up; 2. mending,
botching, closing a hole; 3. rent or puncture;

II) pottu-tal 01 1. to bury; 2. to cover, close, as the mouth,
eyes or ears, with the fingers or otherwise; 3. to close the
fingers together; 4. to mend, patch,botch, as baskets or bags;
5. to stitch; 6. to hide, conceal; 7. to beat, flog; 8. to
light, as a fire; 9. to tie, string together, as a wreath;
10. to invent, imagine; 11. to mix,unite; 12. to be filled

You can see all the meanings of the pustakam, a sanskritzed
form of 'pottakam' is contained in the root verb 'pottu-tal'.
"nuval" has been used in Old Tamil to mean various meanings such as
'to utter, to say, to sing, to sing the praise'. "nUl"
formed from "nuval" also means pustakam and thread.
Note that 'prabandham' and 'grantam' also refer to books
written on leaves tied together by thread.

Steve Farmer's theory of IVC being an oral society,
which used very little writing has relevence to tamil
'nUl' which in earlier times meant 'to say, recite' etc.
and ultimately having one meaning 'book'. The IE folks
went to many regions in the world, however the oral
preservation of the oldest IE texts tookplace *only* in
the IVC by the acculturated Aryans, and not anywhere else.

Earliest inscriptions are written by the shramana sects.
For example, Asokan inscriptions. Earliest Tamil inscriptions
are have many gifts to Jain monks. There are claims by Sri Lankan
archaeologists for writing to have started arond 600 BC. The earliest
coins found in Sri Lanka contain unique Tamil names found
in Sangam texts and these coins are dated to 3rd
century BC by I. Mahadevan. From David McMahan, Orality,
writing and authority in south asian buddhism: visionary
literature and the struggle for legitimacy in the mahayana,
History of Religions, 1998, 37, 3, p. 249-274,
I understand that earlier Hinayana sects emphasized
aural text transmission in the sangha was modeled after
brahminical vedic recitation, but mahayana gave
the shift from aural to visual media. This involves
writing. Mahayana flourished in Lanka in early times
and later got purged. The Mahayana origins not just
in the Northwest but South India in places like
Sriparvatam, Potalaka(tam. Potiyil) and Ceylon also need
to be taken into consideration for constructing
the roots of  pustaka(skt)/potthaka(pali)/pottakam(tamil).

Regards,
N. Ganesan

Dr. Palaniappan's mail in Indology,
"Pavananti anticipates H.Scharfe by about 7-8 centuries"
http://listserv.liv.ac.uk/cgi-shl/WA.EXE?A2=ind9702&L=indology&P=R12027
sUtra and sUta:
http://listserv.liv.ac.uk/cgi-shl/WA.EXE?A2=ind9702&L=indology&P=R2607
Sanskrit "nAvayati":
http://listserv.liv.ac.uk/cgi-shl/WA.EXE?A2=ind9703&L=indology&P=R2210
etc. (Search for nUl in Indology archives).

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Vishal Agarwal wrote in IndianCivilization egroup:
<<<
Etymology of Pustaka

I am reproducing below a section of a journal article, and
invite members to comment. Note that the supposed Iranian origin
of the word 'Pustak' is sometimes taken as a proof that Indians
learnt the art of writing from Iranians, It is also sometimes
taken as a 'proof' that Indians learnt writing (not taking the
IVC script into account) pretty  late.

Vishal
________________

"Pusta and Pustaka are accepted as words borrowed from Middle Iranian
post- 'skin', although skin and leather had never been used as
writing material in India, at least when the word is supposed to have
been  borrowed. 'pustaka' occurs much later than its immediate source
from  'pusta' which is attested in a 6th century copperplate
inscription from North Bengal (Paharpur). There is the mention of one
chief  (pradhana) and seven mere pustapalas. From the context it
appears that a pustapala (literally a guard of pusta) was a dignitary
that  excercised jurisdiction over settlement and transfer of landed
property, assessment of revenue and maintenance of state records. The
precise meaning of pusta is unknown to us but we know that the
materials of a pusta work were from the following verse cited by
Sarvananda in his Tikasarvasva:

Mrdaa vaa daaruna vvatha vastrenaapyatha carmanaa|
Loharatnaih krtam va'pi pustam ityavidhiiyate ||

'It is called Pusta and is made of clay, wood, cloth, leather, iron
(and metals) or valuable stones'.

This indicates that leather was not the only material and it is a
sufficient argument for the rejection for an Iranian source of
pustaka.

Pusta is a sanskritized form of MIA pottha which is attested in Pali
potthaka (or 'hempen cloth') and Ardhamagadhi potthya potthaga
'coarse  cloth'. The source of MIA pottha is OIA pavasta ('covering')
which is attested in one occurrence in RV: (dve pavaste 10.27.7a).
The word goes back to Indi-Iranaina, as OP pavasta 'envelope' shows.
Iranian post and Iranian pottha are therefore cognates.

It appears, therefore that pustaka meant primarily a bundle or bunch
of written sheets kept under a cover, and later in it came to mean
manuscript of a book placed between wooden covers and with an overall
covering of coarse cloth, as it has been done till recently.

OIA pravista developed a double meaning in MIA: (i) covering,
covering tablet (kilamudra of the Niya documents), and (ii) coarse
cloth (used in covering). Both the meanings are there in 'pustaka'
and the second meaning obtains in MIA pottha and in NIA (Bengali)
pota 'coarse cloth used as covering'. It has also given rise to a
verb 'pota' 'to put underground, to plant'. There is a ghost word
'prothita' used frequently in Bengali Sadhubhasha. There is no such
root in Sanskrit.  There are however two homophonic roots in OIA,
pruth and proth; pruth (to plant, neigh, snort) occurs in Rigveda;
proth* (to match for, withstand, overpower, destroy) oconfined to the
dhatupathas. These toots have nothing to do with the pseudo-Sanskrit
prothita.

In Middle Bengali literature the word 'pota majhi' occurs in the
sense of prison warder. The real meaning is the headman (majhi) of
the  covered or underground rooms, i.e., prison cells."

Reference: Sen, Sukukmar; "Three Etymologies"; pg. 55-59 in 'Our
Heritage' vol V.1 (January-June 1957); Calcutta
>>>
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