Left and right

[Stefan Baums]

Dear Stella,

> Latin sinistra seems to have the same connotations.

yes, and so does the other Latin word for ‘left’: laevus (but
apparently in augury it means ‘favorable’). Multiple layers of
taboo replacement – further to French gauche, Spanish izquierdo,
but Italian still sinistro.

To complement Peter’s reference to Gonda on dakṣiṇa, here is one
on vāma:

   Manfred Mayrhofer, 1968. Zu altindisch vāma‐ ‚link‘. Die
   Sprache 14: 160.

Incidentally, in the Gāndhārī commentary that I am editing, vāma
is contrasted with anuloma (and thus apparently equivalent to
pratiloma):

   aṇulomo paḍicasamupado · vamo pusujaṇapakṣo

All best,
Stefan

-- 
Stefan Baums
Asian Languages and Literature
University of Washington