jaya = 108?

[Frits Staal]

Just received my own E-mail. I apologize for introducing more confusion by 
typing "81" for "18"...

Please read my last two sentences as follows:

The expressions are decimal, with the units placed on the left. This 
implies that "jaya" stands for "18" since we write our units on the right. 
It does not support Frederic's theory.

At 10:55 AM 2/25/03 -0800, you wrote:
>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/

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