[INDOLOGY] Non-standard sandhi

Wed Mar 20 18:12:09 UTC 2019

Clarification:

When I wrote "Incidentally, the avagrahaḥ in the copper plate inscription is an instance, in Whitney’s terminology, of a hyphen. The text reads: vā’numodeta.”, I meant that the avagrahaḥ may serve as a device linking anumodeta as part of the previous phrase. Whitney expressly limits elision to -e + a- and -o + a-. If this interpretation has any merit, we may question that Buehler meant that vā'numodeta is an instance of elision. Whitney considers ā from a + a, ā + a, etc,. as coalescence rather than elision: "126. Two simple vowels, short or long, coalesce and form the corresponding long vowel….” (Sanskrit Grammar, page 43).

Strictly speaking, Buehler did not identify vā’numodeta as an example of elision. He noted only that the sign first appeared in the inscription, but did not say it marked an elision in the inscription: “Die moderne Bezeichnung der Elision eines A, der sogenannte avagraha, kommt zuerst auf der Kupferplatte des Rāṣṭrkūta-Koenigs Dhruva von 834/5 p. Chr. vor.” (The modern sign for the elision of an initial A, the so-called Avagraha, has been traced first on the Barodā copper-plate of the Rāṣṭrakūṭa king Dhruva, dated A.D. 834-35.” (English translation, page 111).

Elliot

> On Mar 19, 2019, at 8:48 PM, Elliot Stern <emstern1948 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Dear Philipp and Krishnapad,
> 
> Whitney remarks on page 9 of his Sanskrit Grammar:
> 
> 16.a. A sign called the avagraha (separator) — namely — is occasionally used in the manuscripts, sometimes in the manner of a hyphen, sometimes as a mark of hiatus, sometimes to mark the elision of initial अ a after final ए e or ओ o (135). In printed texts, especially European, it is ordinarily applied to the use last mentioned, and to that alone:thus तेऽब्रुवन् te’bruvan सोऽब्रवीत् so’bravīt for ते अब्रुवन्  te abruvan सो अब्रवीत् so abravīt.
> 
> So even Whitney acknowledges that the manuscripts do not use avagrahaḥ regularly. Incidentally, the avagrahaḥ in the copper plate inscription is an instance, in Whitney’s terminology, of a hyphen. The text reads: vā’numodeta.
> 
> My own somewhat limited experience in reading manuscripts is that avagrahaḥ rarely appears. I have seen it in devanāgarī and proto-mathilī or proto-bāṅgla manuscripts. I wonder if there are any studies about the use of avagrahaḥ in manuscripts other than padapāṭhaḥ manuscripts. I have a sense that sometimes avagrahaḥ is introduced into a manuscript copying tradition as a reader’s aid to interpretation.s
> 
> Elliot
> 
> 
>> On Mar 19, 2019, at 7:56 AM, Krishnaprasad G via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info <mailto:indology at list.indology.info>> wrote
>> 
>> Dear Dr. Philipp A. Maas 
>> I was unaware of this. Thanks for the information.
>> KP
>>  
>> 
>> On Tue, Mar 19, 2019 at 4:41 PM Philipp Maas via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info <mailto:indology at list.indology.info>> wrote:
>> Dear Krishnaprasad,
>> It would be interesting to know the first attestation for the use of avagraha in manuscripts and inscriptions. According to G. Bühler, the oldest attestation of an avagraha used for the elision of a can be found of a copper plate inscription of the Rāṣṭrakūta king Dhruva from 834/5 CE (Indische Palaeographie <https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.340669/page/n3>, p. 86). This reference may, of course, not represent the latest state of research.
>>  
>> Best,
>>  
>> Philipp
>> __________________________
>> 
>> Dr. Philipp A. Maas
>> Research Associate
>> Institut für Indologie und Zentralasienwissenschaften
>> Universität Leipzig
>> ___________________________
>> 
>> https://spp1448.academia.edu/PhilippMaas <https://spp1448.academia.edu/PhilippMaas>
>> 
>> 
>> Am Di., 19. März 2019 um 01:31 Uhr schrieb Krishnaprasad G via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info <mailto:indology at list.indology.info>>:
>> This avagrahava is very very modern. 
>> In Mahabhasya Patanjali writes for भ्यसो भ्यम् as किमयं भ्यंशब्दः अहोस्विद् अभ्यम् शब्दः 
>> कुतः सन्देहः ? समानो निर्देशः।
>> And even in the time of Bhattoji Dikshita was not used.
>> For समुदाङ्भ्यो यमोग्रन्थे  he comments, अग्रन्थे इतिच्छेदः। 
>> And there is a commentary on Bhagavatam by Satyadharmatirtha he is 250 years back. Even he writes such. 
>> So no difference in pronunciation.
>> KP
>> 
>> On Tue 19 Mar, 2019, 3:12 AM Madhav Deshpande via INDOLOGY, <indology at list.indology.info <mailto:indology at list.indology.info>> wrote:
>> Dear Harry,
>> 
>>      You have raised an interesting question.  The term avagraha is used in older texts like the Prātiśākhyas and Śikṣās to refer to a pause between members of compounds in the Padapāṭha, and some texts like the Śaunakīya-Caturādhyāyikā (3.3.35: ऋगर्धर्चपदान्तावग्रहविवृत्तिषु मात्राकाल: काल:) assign the duration of a mātrā to this type of avagraha.  The written sign of avagraha (ऽ) in later times got extended to cases like ततोऽपि and एतेऽपि, and yet I have not seen evidence for this extension in any of the phonetic texts, and to my knowledge there is no actual pause in recitation in these cases.  Such a pause would create difficulties with the meters.  How, when and why the term avagraha and the written sign (ऽ) got extended to such uses needs to be investigated.  But it has no phonetic value as far as I know.
>> 
>> Madhav
>> 
>> Madhav M. Deshpande
>> Professor Emeritus
>> Sanskrit and Linguistics
>> University of Michigan
>> [Residence: Campbell, California]
>> 
>> 
>> On Mon, Mar 18, 2019 at 12:25 PM Harry Spier via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info <mailto:indology at list.indology.info>> wrote:
>> How are avagrahas considered in metrical verses?  
>> Is --- sahite 'sya --- pronounced as if it was --- sahite sya --- or is there a slight pause for the avagraha?
>> 
>> Harry Spier
>> 
>> On Mon, Mar 18, 2019 at 3:43 AM Martin Gansten via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info <mailto:indology at list.indology.info>> wrote:
>> Thanks to Madhav Deshpande, Andrey Klebanov and Harry Spier for their (off-list) replies to my question, confirming that the sandhi e + a > a a is indeed non-standard. Madhav wrote:
>> 
>>> I have not seen another example exactly like this, and have not come across a traditional rule to deal with this.  I wonder how hybrid this text is, or whether there are manuscript variants for this particular passage.  One thing I noticed is that if we keep the presumed pre-sandhi reading of "sahite asya," the meter does not work, and neither does it work with the regular sandhi "sahite 'sya."  The meter does seem to work with "sahita asya".  The last syllable of "sahita" needs to be metrically light.  So I suppose some sort of metrical compulsion may have resulted in this irregularity.  Just a thought.
>> 
>> The work in question is a largish one (~550 stanzas) and written in perfectly grammatical, sometimes even elegant Sanskrit in a variety of metres, with no particular suggestion of being hybrid, and the witnesses I have seen (two of the work itself, and half a dozen of another work quoting the verse in question) all agree on the reading of this passage.
>> 
>> Harry raised the same point about the metre (svāgatā), but it wouldn't be difficult to rephrase the pāda so as to conform to both metre and standard sandhi (e.g., tena vāpi sahite 'sya ca labdhis). So I am left with the impression that Yādavasūri must have considered his choice of sandhi in this case unproblematic, although he usually follows the stardard rule e + a > e ['].
>> 
>> Thanks again,
>> Martin
>> 
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> 
> Elliot M. Stern
> 552 South 48th Street
> Philadelphia, PA 19143-2029
> emstern1948 at gmail.com <mailto:emstern1948 at gmail.com>
> 267-240-8418
> 
> 
> 

Elliot M. Stern
552 South 48th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19143-2029
emstern1948 at gmail.com
267-240-8418

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