[INDOLOGY] The alphabet found in the Lalitavistara

[Harry Spier]

A chart of modi script I have agrees with what Madhav shows for
Marathi devanagari alphabet.

I also have a nepal script primer that has kSa, tra, jJa after ha.

Harry Spier

On 11/1/19, Madhav Deshpande <mmdesh at umich.edu> wrote:
> The traditional Marathi charts of the Alphabet [called मुळाक्षरे] also end
> in ह, ळ, क्ष, ज्ञ.
>
> [image: image.png]
> 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]
>
>
> On Fri, Nov 1, 2019 at 4:58 PM Harry Spier via INDOLOGY <
> indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
>
>> Dear list members,
>> "A Primer in Grantha Characters" relating devanagari to grantha
>> characters has after h  what I think is  vedic l followed by kSa for
>> 51 characters .
>>
>> A chart I have relating  Sharada characters  to devanagari (I no
>> longer recall the source and I have no title page for it ) has   kSa
>> tra jJa SNa STa STha after h .(I'm using Kyoto-Harvard
>> transliteration).
>>
>> Harry Spier
>>
>> On 11/1/19, Richard G. Salomon via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info>
>> wrote:
>> > Many documents containing the "alphabet" in Devanagari and other
>> > scripts,
>> > ancient and modern, have kṣa, jña, and/or tra added in various
>> combinations
>> > (one, two, or all three), at the end, after ha, because these are
>> > graphic
>> > ligatures, in the sense that they are (no longer) obviously
>> > combinations
>> of
>> > their component graphs. The criteria are graphic, not phonetic
>> > (although
>> > coincidentally jña is phonetically distinct in most languages dialects
>> from
>> > j-ñ). You can see some or all of these special graphs in various Indian
>> > primers for teaching reading to children.
>> >
>> > The position of the ligatures at the end of the "alphabet" is part of a
>> > general pattern in script history whereby "extra" characters get added
>> > –
>> > understandably – at the end of the standard sequence. This is why,
>> > for example, our alphabet has v-w-x-y-z at the end; these were not part
>> of
>> > the character sets in the scripts from which "Latin" is developed,
>> > going
>> > back to the Phoenician (and ultimately even to proto-Canaanite) script,
>> > which ended with t.
>> >
>> > Rich Salomon
>> >
>> >
>> > On Fri, Nov 1, 2019 at 2:20 AM Martin Joachim Kümmel via INDOLOGY <
>> > indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
>> >
>> >> Dear Madhav and colleagues,
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> in NW Indo-Aryan, old *kṣ* developed into a new phoneme, a retroflex
>> >> affricate *ṭṣh*, and I have long been wondering if this might be one
>> >> factor relevant for the special status of this akṣara. Although lack
>> >> of
>> l
>> >> might also have been an originally NW feature, I am not sure this
>> >> would
>> >> still be relevant at the time, and for the other peculiarities, I
>> >> don’t
>> >> see
>> >> how they might be explained as NW.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> All the best,
>> >>
>> >> Martin
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> Univ.-Prof. Dr. Martin Joachim Kümmel
>> >>
>> >> Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Philosophische Fakultät
>> >>
>> >> Institut für Orientalistik, Indogermanistik, Ur-und Frühgeschichtliche
>> >> Archäologie
>> >>
>> >> Seminar für Indogermanistik
>> >>
>> >> Zwätzengasse 12, D-07743 Jena, Germany
>> >>
>> >> Tel. +49-(0)3641-9443-81 Fax -82 Sekretariat -80
>> >>
>> >> E-mail: martin-joachim.kuemmel at uni-jena.de
>> >>
>> >> Homepage: http://www.oriindufa.uni-jena.de/k%C3%BCmmel_martin.html
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> *Von:* INDOLOGY <indology-bounces at list.indology.info> *Im Auftrag von
>> >> *Madhav
>> >> Deshpande via INDOLOGY
>> >> *Gesendet:* Donnerstag, 31. Oktober 2019 18:25
>> >> *An:* Indology <indology at list.indology.info>; Bharatiya Vidvat
>> parishad <
>> >> bvparishat at googlegroups.com>
>> >> *Betreff:* [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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