[INDOLOGY] Query

[Stefan Baums]

Dear Patrick,

> Is the number 96 significant in any Sanskrit tradition?
> Whitney Cox has found this in Tamil sources as the number
> of pāṣaṇḍa sects.

this is the standard number of pāṣaṇḍas in Buddhist texts,
e.g., Spk II 401 chanavutipāsaṇḍino in Pali, and NirdL2
13·52 ṣaṇavadi [r]paṣaḍa

   https://gandhari.org/a_manuscript.php?catid=CKM0015

in Gāndhārī.

I wonder what Whitney’s Tamil sources are.

All best,
Stefan

-- 
Stefan Baums, Ph.D.
Institut für Indologie und Tibetologie
Ludwig‐Maximilians‐Universität München