[INDOLOGY] Northern and southern Devanagari

[jacob at fabularasa.dk]

Hi Martin and Tyler,

Here's a detail from a snakes-and-ladders chart dated samvat 1818 
(though I suspect it may be perhaps even a good deal later). It may not 
be exactly what you are looking for, but it does an interesting job of 
combinining devanagari and Gujarati script. The 'k's and 'l's are 
clearly Gujarati script, while the 'd's and the connecting line at the 
top is clearly devanagari. I guess it might just be a regional adoption 
of Gujarati graphemes into a predominantly devanagari-writing area, but 
I have only seen very few examples of it elsewhere.

Best,
Jacob

Tyler Williams via INDOLOGY skrev den 2017-10-23 18:58:
> Dear Martin,
> 
> It's a very interesting question. Vernacular manuscripts from the
> Gangetic plain, Rajasthan, and Gujarat, from the late sixteenth
> through the eighteenth centuries, also exhibit inconsistencies in the
> use of graphemes like these (more so in the latter two regions). In
> those cases, I've wondered if it was due to itinerant scribes (known
> to work in the region) with little familiarity or investment in the
> texts, but in the end I don't think this sufficiently explains the
> phenomenon. I have not been able to discern any consistent
> orthographic logic in the instances that I have seen. Am curious to
> hear what others have to say.
> 
> Best,
> Tyler
> 
> On Sun, Oct 22, 2017 at 10:15 PM, Martin Gansten via INDOLOGY
> <indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
> 
>> Apologies for what is perhaps a very basic question:
>> 
>> I have always unreflectingly accepted the common distinction between
>> northern ('Calcutta-style') and southern ('Bombay-style')
>> Devanagari. Recently, though, I noticed that some manuscripts mix
>> the two -- for instance, using a 'northern' _ṇa _but a 'southern'
>> _a_, or even alternating between the two kinds of _ṇa _(in the
>> same copyist's hand). Is there any special significance to this --
>> for example, particular regions and/or historical periods in which
>> the two styles were less distinct? Or should it just be seen as a
>> personal quirk of the scribe (perhaps an itinerant one)?
>> 
>> Thanks in advance for any light on this,
>> Martin Gansten
>> 
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