[INDOLOGY] query [regarding the correct version of a defectively cited verse]

[Ashok Aklujkar]

यावच्चन्द्रप्रभाकरौ should be avoided: (a) If an existing reading makes a contextually probable sense, it should not be changed. (b) A corruption of रौ to र: is not transcriptionally probable. (c) The other two syntactically similar clauses of the verse have an action or a state associated with a person or personified entity — Indra rules in svarga and Rāma’s story exists in the world. If an action (‘being a maker of prabhā, spreading light’) is not associated with Candra, which would be the case if prabhākara is taken in the sense of ’the Sun,’ the second quarter would be out of step with the other two. It is very unusual for a Skt composer not to have a sense of symmetry. 

a.a.




> On May 16, 2015, at 11:16 PM, Martin Gansten <martin.gansten at pbhome.se> wrote:

> 
> Yes, I considered that too but didn't want to emend too much; I'm glad to have my suspicions confirmed by Ashok. For completeness, then, let me add that while यावच्चन्द्रः प्रभाकरः is certainly possible both metrically and with regard to meaning, यावच्चन्द्रप्रभाकरौ strikes me as a very plausible alternative.