English translation of Siddhanta Kaumudi

[Robert A. Hueckstedt]

Harry Spier, Peter Wyzlic, Dominik Wujastyk, and Indological colleagues:
Peter Wyzlic is correct that the S.C. Vasu translation is the only
"complete" one of the Siddhanta Kaumudi. One must treat it with some
caution, however. While working on my little book on a history of the
interpretations of Astadhyayi 6.1.77 iko ya.n aci, I discovered the
following about S.C. Vasu's translation of the SK.

1. He had previously written a translation of the Astadhyayi, accompanying
each rule with a translation of at least part of the gloss of the
Kaa"sikaa. That appeared in Allahabad in 1891.

2. S.C. Vasu's translation of the SK, appearing first in 1906 in
Allahabad, merely repeats the previous translation (ie, of the Kaa"sikaa),
at least for the few rules I happened to pay close attention to. It's only
his notes to the translation in which, also, just for the rules I
investigated, he used the vrtti of the SK. For iko ya.n aci, this leads to
a logical inconsistency, because the Kaa"sikaa interprets iko ya.n aci
with yathaasa"nkhya (respective correlation), while Bha.t.toji Diik.sita
uses aantaryam (nearness). S.C. Vasu did not attempt to reconcile the
difference or even point it out.

For details, see my Nearness and Respective Correlation, pp 130--131.

Bob Hueckstedt
Professor of Sanskrit and Hindi
University of Virginia