avagraha in Malayalam manuscripts

[Asko Parpola]

I have come across the avagraha sign at least once in Malayalam manuscripts. 
The NellikkaaTTu Mana manuscript of Bhavatraata's Jaiminiiya-S'rautasuutra-
BhaaSya, which is a very large-sized and brittle old manuscript, has the 
avagraha (rather similar to the devanagari avagraha, i.e. like S but angular 
with two bends) on the reverse of folio 38, line 7, corresponding to page 
84, end of line 3 in Premnidhi Shastri's edition (1966):  athavaaSstotra.... 
The avagraha which I have marked here with capital S clarifies the a 
privativum in sandhi: atha vaa astotra....

Asko Parpola
Institute for Asian and African Studies
POB 59 (Unioninkatu 38 B)
FIN-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland



Quoting Kengo Harimoto <kengo.harimoto at UNI-HAMBURG.DE>:

> Since I seem to be the only person who has seen anything like  
> avagraha in Malayalam MSS, the burden of proof is on me.
> 
> To clarify, the two Malayalam MSS of the  
> P?tañjalayoga??stravivara?a I used most of the time do not have  
> avagraha, but there were a few (three times?) occasions where a sign  
> that is not like anything else was at a position where avagraha was  
> most appropriate.  It was very anomalous.  This is why I remember.
> 
> I am on the road; it will be after I come back to Hamburg in late  
> September when I will have access to all my material.  I hope then I  
> can find and post the scans of those anomalies.
> 
> Speaking of Indoskript, I and some other Mac/Linux folks would very  
> much appreciate if it becomes an online application.  Is there any  
> such plan?
> 
> -- 
> kengo harimoto
> 
> On Sep 1, 2007, at 20:23 , Harry Falk wrote:
> 
> > Try IndoSkript, looking for avagraha = (straight) single quote.
> > Avagraha starts occurring in the late 8th century - with NO result  
> > when limiting the query to "Malayalam".
> > Harry Falk