[INDOLOGY] ळ in south Indian grantha sanskrit manuscripts

Fri Mar 24 10:02:40 UTC 2023

I was in course of stating more or less the same as Anna Aurelia about the Malayalam script manuscripts, observing the regularity of the use of the retroflex for peculiar words, which, I would add, usually preserve this peculiarity in their borrowing/inclusion within Malayalam language. The retroflex is systematically replaced by -l- in the Devanagari manuscripts which are transcripts of Malayalam script mss., with the problem that this retroflex can in fact also sometime be used for -ḍ- (see below jaḷa for jaḍa etc.).
Contrasting examples are viḷambita (cf. viḷambase in Esposito's post) with a "forced" intervocalic -l-  > -ḷ- after a prefixe (lamb- alone being written with l-), versus viloḷita keeping the initial -l- of the theme after the prefixe. A more complete listing of the forms of the concerned words (from the apparatus in crit. ed. mentioning them) should be made for drawing linguistic conclusions. The references of Philipp Maas are useful in this respect.

A few samples from a text in course of edition

vilolita : viloḷita
kuntala : kuntaḷa
lalita : laḷita
pulinā : puḷinā
milatpulakakuḍmalaṃ : miḷatpuḷakakuḍmaḷaṃ
valakṣagu : vaḷakṣagu
kalakala : kaḷakaḷa
alinda : aḷinda
gala : gaḷa
antarāla : antarāḷa
pacelima : paceḷima
bahala : bahaḷa
gadula : gaduḷa
nalina : naḷina
bakula : bakuḷa

vilambita : viḷambita

jaḍa : jaḷa

From a purāṇa text:

pātāla : pātāḷa
śālin- : ṣāḷin-
tolikā : toḷikā
argala- : arggaḷa-
vyāla- : vyāḷa-
bala- :  vaḷa-
karāla- : karāḷa-
pralaya- : praḷaya-
dhūli- : dhūḷi-
alakā- : aḷakā-

-viluḍī- : -viluḷī-
-jaḍī- : -jaḷī-
-vrīḍam :  -vrīḷam
kṣveḍita- : kṣveḷita-
thuḍa- : thuḷa-
huḍa- :  huḷa-

Le 24 mars 2023 à 09:29, Anna Aurelia Esposito <anna.esposito at uni-wuerzburg.de<mailto:anna.esposito at uni-wuerzburg.de>> a écrit :

Dear Harry Spier,
I found the same in drama manuscripts written in Malayāḷam script. In particular Sanskrit words intervocalic l is replaced by ḷ. This usage persevers not only in all manuscripts, but also in the editions printed in Malayāḷam script (see e.g. the edition of the “Trivandrum Plays” ascribed to Bhasa of Bhāskaran, 1987).

In Cārudatta ascribed to Bhāsa we find for example ḷ in I.2a dehaḷīnām, I.13b bahaḷa-, I.13b -kāḷā-, I.26.38 viḷambase, III.8b karāḷo, III.10b -kākaḷīṣu, III.12d nīḷa-, in Dūtavākya -kaḷaṅka- 35.1, -praḷaya- 47c and *49c, -laḷitā- *47a.

So far, no one has been able to explain to me why the l has been changed to ḷ in these words, and consistently in every manuscript (and also in the printed edition). A possible explanation would be, as you suggest, that one scribe read the text and the other wrote it; but in some cases it is evident from the errors in the manuscripts that the text was copied and not written down by hearing. I am curious if someone from the list can give us an explanation.

Best wishes,
Anna Esposito

Zitat von Harry Spier via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info<mailto:indology at list.indology.info>>:

Dear list members,
I'm looking at the devanagari transcription of a south indian grantha
manuscript.  most consonent l's are the classical sanskrit l i.e. ल but
some words have the letter, ळ .
Some examples are:
प्रक्षाळ्य

नाळिकेरोद्भवंपादौप्रक्षाळ्याचम्यमुकुळीकृतियपिण्गळायवामांघ्र्यब्जदळासह्रिताम्अण्गुळ्यग्रेणशुद्धविद्यातत्वव्याप्तसर्वमणळोपेतं

I'm pretty sure this isn't from typist misprints because प्रक्षाळ्य
occcurs many times always spelled with ळ

Any explanations would be appreciated.  My understanding is that sometimes
manuscripts were created by one scribe speaking the text and another scribe
writing what he hears.  Is that a possible explanation for the occurance of
this letter ळ .  I.e. local pronounciation creeping in.

Thanks,
Harry Spier

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