Anusv āra versus bindu?

[Deshpande, Madhav]

Dear Indologists,

     I recite the Gaṇeśaa Atharvaśīrṣa everyday since my childhood, but I had not previously thought about some of the lines in it:  gakāraḥ pūrvarūpam / akāro madhyamarūpam / anusvāraś cāntyarūpam / bindur uttararūpam / nādaḥ sandhānam / saṃhitā sandhiḥ /.  While the anusvāra is considered to be antya, the bindu is considered to be uttara.  Is there any (tāntric?) explanation to split the anusvāra and the bindu.  I always thought that bindu is simply a graphic representation for the anusvāra, as is seen in some grammars of Skt:  upariṣṭād bindur anusvāraḥ.  How would one distinguish antya from uttara in these lines?  Any suggestions?

Madhav

Madhav M. Deshpande
Professor of Sanskrit and Linguistics
Department of Asian Languages and Cultures
202 South Thayer Street, Suite 6111
The University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104-1608, USA