Question regarding sorting order & Visarga

[Ashok Aklujkar]

If I may quote from the introduction to the "Sanskrit-English Glossary"
section of my _Sanskrit: an Easy Introduction to an Enchanting Language-":

When a consonant follows, vowels followed by an invariable [or genuine]
anusvara [= a nasal different from a para-savar.na or class nasal] or by a
visarga take precedence over the vowels which are not followed by either of
these 'appendage' sounds. That is, the alphabetical order for listing the
following sound sequences is as indicated by "(a)," "(b1)," "(b2)," and
"(c)":

(a) vowel followed by a vowel or by nothing [a rare situation in Skt
glossaries]

(b1) 'vowel + anusvaara' followed by a consonant,

(b2) 'vowel + visarga' followed by a consonant,

(c) vowel follwed by a consonant.



The indices prepared by Wilhelm Rau for his Vaakyapadiiya edition serve as a
good model in this respect (and so does Vishva Bandhu's
Vaidika-padaanukrama-ko;sa as far as I can recall).

ashok aklujkar




> From: "Deshpande, Madhav" <mmdesh at UMICH.EDU>
> Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2007 18:13:37 -0400

>      Harry Spier asked me the following question:  "where does visarga come in
> the sorting order of
> Sanskrit letters?"  Is there a standard placement for the Visarga in the
> sorting order  that is generally followed these days?
> 
> Madhav M. Deshpande