[INDOLOGY] Question about Skt pra- before a cardinal number

Mon Mar 13 06:47:29 UTC 2023

Dear Rajam,

this is one of the meanings which AiGr assigns to pra- "towards". Then it would be "almost the X number of years", which would fit the context well. Why I have not followed up this lead so far is that I am not sure if this English expression was possible in Sanskrit as well. Therefore I am curious to know if there are actual occurrences of the combination in Sanskrit.

With kind regards, Herman

Herman Tieken
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website: hermantieken.com<http://hermantieken.com/>

The Aśoka Inscriptions: Analysing a corpus, New Delhi: Primus Books, 2023.
https://primusbooks.com/ancient/the-asoka-inscriptions-analysing-a-corpus-by-herman-tieken/

________________________________
Van: rajam <rajam at earthlink.net>
Verzonden: maandag 13 maart 2023 02:58
Aan: Tieken, H.J.H. (Herman) <H.J.H.Tieken at hum.leidenuniv.nl>
CC: Indology List <indology at list.indology.info>
Onderwerp: Re: [INDOLOGY] Question about Skt pra- before a cardinal number

Dear Professor Tieken,

I’m not knowledged about what you are describing/proposing here. Nevertheless, I’d like to share some of my thoughts.

I’ve been looking into the technique of rendering numerals in Old Tamil, specifically in the Tolkappiyam and similar texts.

The phrase that immediately came to my mind was pra-dhaksina (ப்ரதட்சிண), which I take to mean ‘due South.’

It seems to me that such references are based on ‘clock-wise’ movement.

Regards,
rajam

On Mar 12, 2023, at 1:09 PM, Tieken, H.J.H. (Herman) via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info<mailto:indology at list.indology.info>> wrote:

Dear List members,

In a passage in a Jain text I came across a formation consisting of the preposition p(r)a and a cardinal number, in a context in which "over that number (of years)" would make sense (compareprapatha, "weiter Weg", pravīra, "grosser Held", and praṇapat, "Urenkel" in AiGr II, p. 257). The combination pra+number looks like an ad hoc, learned formation. Or, and this is my question, is it perhaps found in other texts I am not aware of, for instance, in treatises about mathematics or temple building?

With kind regards,
Herman

Herman Tieken
Stationsweg 58
2515 BP Den Haag
The Netherlands
00 31 (0)70 2208127
website: hermantieken.com<https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fhermantieken.com%2F&data=05%7C01%7CH.J.H.Tieken%40hum.leidenuniv.nl%7C0231ca4fe6e34c194dfb08db23666321%7Cca2a7f76dbd74ec091086b3d524fb7c8%7C0%7C0%7C638142694884377600%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=2V5sbKMXDiK6UHlGL5T3Sum4TPdTbry%2BhXJ1osCNPco%3D&reserved=0>

The Aśoka Inscriptions: Analysing a corpus, New Delhi: Primus Books, 2023.
https://primusbooks.com/ancient/the-asoka-inscriptions-analysing-a-corpus-by-herman-tieken/<https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fprimusbooks.com%2Fancient%2Fthe-asoka-inscriptions-analysing-a-corpus-by-herman-tieken%2F&data=05%7C01%7CH.J.H.Tieken%40hum.leidenuniv.nl%7C0231ca4fe6e34c194dfb08db23666321%7Cca2a7f76dbd74ec091086b3d524fb7c8%7C0%7C0%7C638142694884377600%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=kNC6VMU619iQUrrO8H%2BnQiLDCa2kmQFvJjMY8TkmFCI%3D&reserved=0>

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