"da ṇḍa", "halanta", "vir āma", "pūr ṇa-virāma" and "ardha-virāma"

[Dipak Bhattacharya]

The confusion is partly caused by the transfer of connotation from spoken things to written things.
Virāma pertains to speech, a position is still valid for Sanskrit. The daṇda is a written sign indicating where the virāma will occur; in modern usage virāma primarily means the written sign. But I have seen also the use of the compound virāmacihna.
Halanta means a consonant ending unit. The ् sign, say in अयात्, indicates that the final sound is lone and not a syllable as in अयात- . In Hindi halant may mean this sign. As far as my knowledge goes "pūrṇa-virāma" and "ardha-virāma" are later terms used for the Sanskrit virāma and yati in connection with writing. 
Best
DB


--- On Thu, 1/4/10, Mrinal Kaul <mrinalkaul81 at GMAIL.COM> wrote:


From: Mrinal Kaul <mrinalkaul81 at GMAIL.COM>
Subject: "daṇḍa", "halanta", "vir āma", "pūrṇa-virāma" and "ardha-virāma"
To: INDOLOGY at liverpool.ac.uk
Date: Thursday, 1 April, 2010, 4:35 AM


Dear Colleagues,

Can someone make the distinction among the following terms clear with some more historical elucidations in the context of Sanskrit language? What has been the practice as far as Sanskrit (and not Hindi) is concerned and how it it different from Hindi construction? Is "virāma" also used in Hindi language as synonymous to "daṇḍa" ? And as far as Sanskrit language is concerned if "virāma" or "daṇḍa" (?) is synonymous to "halanta" then why do we use "daṇḍa" after putting the "halanta" to the last consonant of the word in a sentence? I think I am in a real confusion. I would really appreciate if someone could make a distinction amongst the following terms;

"daṇḍa", "halanta", "virāma", "pūrṇa-virāma" and "ardha-virāma" 


Thank you very much in advance.

Yours sincerely,

Mrinal Kaul


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