on the use of devanaagarii script in Southern context

[Christophe Vielle]

On the use of devanaagarii script in Southern context,

I came accross this interesting fact:

in Hendrik Adriaan Van Reede tot Drakenstein (1636-1691)' s famous 12 
vols of Hortus Malabaricus, of which a partial digital copy (vol. 1-6 
+ 12) made by the the University Louis Pasteur in Strasbourg is 
available at 
http://num-scd-ulp.u-strasbg.fr:8080/view/authors/Van_Reede_Tot_Drakestein,_Hendrik_Adriaan.html

(there is now also a complete English translation published by the 
University of Kerala in Thiruvananthapuram)

In the beginning of volume 1 (1678)
There are, in the successive prefaces,
passages in Malayalam scripts and languages (lingua Malabarica) by
Manoel Carneiro (Traductor, who translated Malayalam in Portuguese, 
itself translated in Latin)
and Itti Achudem (Doctor Malabaricus),
but also a passage in Devanaagarii script and Sanskrit language 
(lingua Bramanum) introducing the self-presentation by "Ranga Botto, 
Vinaique Pandito & Apu Botto, omnes tres de Natione & Religione 
Bramanas & Gymnosophistae antiqui"

That seems to me worth of noticing,

Christophe Vielle


>Devanaagarii mss. from Orissa are not unknown: cf. e.g. the two 
>'Aa:ngirasakalpa' mss. from BORI (discussed by Bahulkar in ABORI 
>1987: the Oriya numbering and occasional Oriya marginalia, that 
>confirm Orissa as these manuscripts' provenance, is not noticed 
>there). Of course your notes would interest me, Michael.
>
>