[INDOLOGY] The alphabet found in the Lalitavistara

[Harry Spier]

Dear Madhav,
If you do a search of the Muktabodha digital library searchable etexts
collection   for akārādikṣakārānta  you will find many references to
the letters from a to kṣa in about 40 different tantric texts.

 In the search etexts field you need to type in Kyoto-Harvard
transliteration between angle brackets i.e. <akArAdikSakArAnta>

Best wishes,
Harry Spier

On 10/31/19, Luis Gonzalez-Reimann via INDOLOGY
<indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
>
> 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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>