[INDOLOGY] The alphabet found in the Lalitavistara
Luis Gonzalez-Reimann
reimann at berkeley.edu
Fri Nov 1 00:03:25 UTC 2019
My apologies, the subject line above is the correct one.
_____
Dear Madhav and Matthew,
For what it's worth, texts that describe the /cakras/ (tantras & /haṭha
yoga/) routinely add/kṣa/ after the /ha/. They are placed in the two
petals of the /āj̇ñā cakra/. Padoux discusses the addition of/kṣa/ on p.
156 of his book /Vāc/:
"...finally the compound phoneme/kṣa/, the addition of which is
sometimes justified on theoretical grounds because it logically fits in
a given metaphysical system; but the real reason of its being placed
there is difficult to ascertain, except perhaps as a means to have fifty
phonemes rather than forty-nine. Naturally, since each phoneme is a form
of energy, it is correlated with a deity. There are several texts giving
differing lists of these fifty divinized energies."
One could speculate that is was added in order to fill up all the petals
in the /cakras/, but that would imply that the number of petals in seven
/cakras/ was fixed before the addition of /kṣa/.
Padoux, André. 1992. /Vāc://The Concept of the Word in Selected Hindu
Tantras/. Translated by J. Gontier. Delhi: Sri Satguru Publications.
Originally published by SUNY.
The book is on SCRIBD:
https://www.scribd.com/doc/61589773/Vac-the-Concept-of-the-Word-in-Selected-Hindu-Tantras-a-padoux-SUNY-1990
Regards,
Luis
_____
On 10/31/2019 10:52 AM, Matthew Kapstein via INDOLOGY wrote:
> Dear Madhav,
>
> No doubt text editorial issues are part of what is at issue, as well
> as the mix of Sanskrit and Prakrit elements informing BHS. For what
> it's worth, I note that when the alphabet is recited as a purificatory
> mantra in tantric contexts in Newar and Tibetan Buddhism, all the
> vowels and semivowels are included, and kSa is added at the end
> following Ha. My hunch is that this perhaps originated due to the
> distinct graphic form in some scripts and so departs from the
> phonological principle of alphabetic order, but that's really only a
> guess.
>
> best,
> Matthew
>
> Matthew Kapstein
> Directeur d'études,
> Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes
>
> Numata Visiting Professor of Buddhist Studies,
> The University of Chicago
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:* INDOLOGY <indology-bounces at list.indology.info> on behalf of
> Madhav Deshpande via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info>
> *Sent:* Thursday, October 31, 2019 12:24 PM
> *To:* Indology <indology at list.indology.info>; Bharatiya Vidvat
> parishad <bvparishat at googlegroups.com>
> *Subject:* [INDOLOGY] The alphabet found in the Lalitavistara
> Dear Colleagues,
>
> As I have been reading the Lipiśālāsandarśana-Parivarta of the
> Lalitavistara [p. 89, P. L. Vaidya edition], some interesting features
> of the alphabet popped up for me. The Alphabet omits /r̥/ and /l̥/,
> but includes /ai, au/, and /aḥ/. Among the consonants, it adds /kṣ /at
> the end after /h/. The version of this passage as given in the
> Bauddhāgamārthasaṅgraha [ed by P. L. Vaidya] also omits /l/, while it
> is included in the version of Lalitavistara edited by Vaidya himself.
> I wonder if there are textual variants about this. I don't know what
> this alphabet represents. The omission of /r̥ /and /l̥ /goes along the
> phonologies of Prakrits, but the inclusion of /ai, au/, and /aḥ/ goes
> in the direction of Sanskrit. The addition of /kṣ /and the possible
> omission of /l /point to something else that I cannot figure out. Any
> suggestions and references are welcome.
>
> Madhav M. Deshpande
> Professor Emeritus, Sanskrit and Linguistics
> University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
> Senior Fellow, Oxford Center for Hindu Studies
>
> [Residence: Campbell, California, USA]
>
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