[INDOLOGY] Devanagari v and b in manuscripts from Kashmir

[Philipp Maas]

Dear Dominik and Harry,
Determining “exactly what the MS says” may sometimes be a less
straightforward task than it may seem. Frequently, transcribing requires
interpreting. To quote Walter Slaje:

“The ambiguity of some characters of the Śāradā script that are almost, or
in many cases actually, homographic makes reference to the lexicon,
grammar, and syntax now and then a necessary condition for the
interpretation of a character. In any case, an interactive process of
script deciphering and textual understanding is required.”
(My rough translation of Slaje, Walter (1993). *Śāradā
<https://www.dropbox.com/s/602wzzrp7c5uf52/Slaje_Sarada_1993.pdf?dl=0>.
Deskriptiv-synchrone Schriftkunde zur Bearbeitung kaschmirischer
Sanskrit-Manuskripte auf der Grundlage von Kuśalas
Ghaṭakharpara-Gūḍhadīpikā*. Reinbek: Verl. für Orientalistische
Fachpublikationen, (Indische Schriften 1), p. 2: “Beding durch die
Mehrdeutigkeit einiger nahezu oder oft auch tatsächlich homographer Zeichen
der Śārdā-Schrift ist der Rückgriff auf Lexikon, Grammatik oder
Satzkonstruktion mitunter eine notwendige Voraussetzung für die Deutung der
Schriftzeichen. Es bedarf daher auf jeden Fall eines wechselwirkenden
Verfahrens von Schriftentzifferung und Textverständnis.”)

Slaje provides a list of “semi-homograph akṣara-s” in the Śāradā script,
including *ba *and *va, *on p. 43-45.

I fully agree with Dominik that orthographic peculiarities like the
gemination of consonants after *r*, the writing of class nasals and
anusvara, etc., should be exactly reflected in transcriptions. However, any
manuscript transcript should be based on a benevolent interpretation of the
Sanskrit text transmitted in the witness, containing, for example, *ba* or
*va*, when and wherever required by the contexts.
With best wishes,

Philipp



__________________________

PD Dr. Philipp A. Maas
Research Associate
Department of Indology and Central Asian Studies
University of Leipzig
___________________________

https://spp1448.academia.edu/PhilippMaas


Am Mo., 13. März 2023 um 20:42 Uhr schrieb Dominik Wujastyk via INDOLOGY <
indology at list.indology.info>:

> In transcribing a manuscript it is best practice to transcribe
> diplomatically exactly what the MS says.
>
> A second, separate file may be prepared that contains various
> normalisations, like ba/va or śa/sa, rma/rmma, etc.
>
> To normalise the main transcription file takes away the opportunity to
> study these phenomena.  And in any case, the majority of these features can
> be manipulated with regular-expression rules, as in Saktumiva
> <https://saktumiva.org/wiki/orthography>.  So there's no need to
> normalise them.
>
> Best,
> Dominik
>
>
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