cha

[alessandro graheli]

Dear collegue, I have seen the use of the cha-like filler in some  
Devanagari mss of the Bhaktirasaam.rtasindhu (1541 CE) by Ruupa  
Gosvaaamin. I have a specimen dated 1711 CE, in which it is  
alternated with the character ;srii and in which it is written both  
with the horizontal bar and without it.  I am still wondering about  
the significance  of the character. I expect the character to have a  
propitatory meaning, as in the case of ;srii, but do not know of any  
such significance of cha in Sanskrit. In this 1711 ms the group stha  
is written as scha (this is a feature common to many Devanagari  
documents of the same period), and in one Devanagari ms I have seen  
dha written as cha. Is it possible that this apparent cha stands for  
a tha or a dha (which unlike cha have some known "auspicious"  
significance)?

Alessandro Graheli


Il giorno 21/mag/08, alle ore 04:31, Peter M. Scharf ha scritto:

Dear Colleagues,
	I would like to request your help in answering a question regarding  
how to name or categorize a certain character in the Unicode  
Standard.  Many Indic manuscripts use a decorative character that  
looks like a devanagari cha without the horizontal bar to fill space  
between dandas or double dandas at the end of manuscripts or between  
chapters of a manuscript.  (flower shapes are often used similarly.)   
Have any of you seen the "cha" pu.spikA in manuscripts or  
publications of Buddhist, Jain, or other clearly non-Vedic (in the  
broadest sense of the term) textual traditions?  If so, could you  
provide a reference and or a digital image?
	Thanks.
	Peter



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Peter M. Scharf                           (401) 863-2720 office
Department of Classics             (401) 863-2123 dept.
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