jaya = 108?

[Frits Staal]

Rather, in kaTapayaadi, ka, Ta, pa ya all stand for "1", kha, pha, etc. for 
"2" etc.  After the nasals come ca, ta, Sa for "6" and this takes one to 
ja, da, ha for "8".

Zero, of course, cannot be ignored. The expressions are decimal, with the 
units placed on the left. This implies that "jaya" stands for "81" since we 
write our units on the right. It does not support Frederic's theory.

At 03:31 PM 2/25/03 +0100, you wrote:
>Dear Indologists,
>without revealing his source Louis Frederic claims in his book "Borobudur" 
>(p. 75 of the German version published by Hirmer Verlag, München in 1995; 
>the French original is from 1994) that "jaya" stands for the number "108", 
>because the Sanskrit letters "ja" and "ya" denote respectively "1" and 
>"8", and the "zero inbetween can be ignored".
>Is this explanation for "108" found elsewhere?
>What is the source for this (to me new) equation of "ja" and "ya" with "1" 
>and "8"?
>
>
>With many thanks and regards,
>                                     Alexander v. Rospatt

Frits Staal
http://philosophy.berkeley.edu/staal/