[INDOLOGY] Short and sweet?

Sat Feb 12 19:29:55 UTC 2022

Thanks for all suggestions so far, and especially to Walter and Dan for 
their thoughts on the Persian and Arabic possibilities. Perhaps I should 
have given a little more background; let me do so now.

The Sanskrit author is Samarasiṃha 
<https://doi.org/10.1163/25425552-12340005>, and the verse occurs in his 
Pṛcchoddeśa (more commonly known among later authors simply as 
Samarasiṃhatājika or -śāstra, with variants). That text is an abridged 
Sanskrit version of several Arabic works on astrology, primarily by Sahl 
ibn Bishr; the Sanskrit title is probably meant as a free translation of 
Kitāb fi l-masāʾil wa-l-aḥkām ('Book on questions and judgements'). So 
Samarasiṃha did know Arabic quite well, which seems to preclude the 
otherwise very attractive possibility of a 'creative misunderstanding' 
suggested by Walter.

The technical term sahm in Arabic-language astrology is a calque of the 
Greek κλῆρος 'lot' (as in casting lots); the phrase sahm as-saʿāda 
translates κλῆρος τῆς τύχης 'lot of fortune' (often semi-Sanskritized as 
puṇya-sahama). Astrological lots are mathematically derived points on 
the ecliptic signifying various things, from the fairly abstract (e.g., 
fortune) to the very concrete and specific (e.g., camels ). The chapter 
from which the line in question was taken goes on to discuss 48 such 
'sahamāni', using that term repeatedly.

I didn't give the full verse because it is corrupt (so far I have seen 
only a single MS of the text): the scribe seems to have mixed up two 
verses, so that the sentence is incomplete, which makes it even more of 
a challenge to make sense of the sūkṣmasvāduḥ (or, indeed, sūkṣmaḥ 
svāduś ca). Perhaps the missing bit would have explained it! I just 
wondered whether this were a set phrase that I was unaware of. Perhaps 
Samarasiṃha just meant to express his appreciation of the mellifluous 
quality of the 'Tājika language' is general, and/or the phrase sahm 
as-saʿāda in particular?

Best wishes,
Martin

Den 2022-02-12 kl. 19:42, skrev Dan Lusthaus via INDOLOGY:
> Dear Martin, Walter, and everyone,
>
> The arabic is probably
>
> سام = sublime [sām; the “ah” in the Sanskritized sahm could just 
> signal it is a long-a]
>
> أل سعادة = [al-sa ‘hāda; happiness, joy, beatitude, welfare, sunshine; 
> al- becomes as- due to external sandhi]
>
>
> So sām = sukṣma and as-sa ‘hāda = svādhu = pleasantness, charm, beauty 
> (MW) [not just “sweetness”]. If so, that would make sūkṣma-svādu a 
> fairly literal translation.
>
> The author probably didn’t differentiate between Arabic and Persian, 
> just as Indians tended to consider Greeks and central Asians viewed as 
> in the Hellenistic orbit as yavana, regardless of actual ethnicity, 
> geography or language. Someone familiar with Arabic/Persian 
> astronomical terms could offer further clarification or suggestions.
>
> Dan
>
>
>> On Feb 12, 2022, at 1:08 PM, Walter Slaje via INDOLOGY 
>> <indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
>>
>> Hello Martin,
>>
>> even if a concept with an Arabic-language term is hidden behind that, 
>> it is by no means certain that the author also understood it in 
>> Arabic (unless he was an expert). He could well have associated 
>> something Persian with this wording (tājikabhāṣāyāṃ!) and made up a 
>> vague meaning, which he then simply translated literally into 
>> Sanskrit. Anyway, I would rather understand it as Karmadhāraya, i.e. 
>> as a kind of "subtle sweetness". In any case, it is striking that 
>> saha-masāda could perhaps conceal a truncated Persian مازه māzah/māze 
>> ("taste") as well as a truncated Persian سهل sahl ("soft, easy"). The 
>> Persian experts on this list will be able to judge this immediately.
>> Suppose this were possible, the sentence could come to mean that in 
>> the Tajik language, a wording like saha-masāda (~ ~ "soft taste") is 
>> the equivalent of sūkṣma-svādu ("subtle sweetness").
>>
>> So much for my amateurish guesswork.
>>
>> Best wishes,
>> Walter
>>
>>
>> Am Sa., 12. Feb. 2022 um 17:12 Uhr schrieb Martin Gansten via 
>> INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info>:
>>
>>     In a Sanskrit text probably originating in 13th-century Gujarat,
>>     I just came across this line:
>>
>>     yas tājikabhāṣāyāṃ sūkṣmasvāduś ca sahamasāda iti |
>>
>>     This is a reference to the Arabic term /sahm as-saʿāda/ (the Lot
>>     of Fortune, an astrological concept). But I am puzzled by the
>>     designation sūkṣmasvādu, which I have never seen before that I
>>     can recall, and certainly not applied to an abstract concept.
>>     Does it ring a bell with anyone? Is it an idiomatic expression
>>     that I have failed to pick up?
>>
>>     Thanks in advance,
>>     Martin Gansten
>>
>>
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