[INDOLOGY] ळ in south Indian grantha sanskrit manuscripts

Fri Mar 24 13:18:15 UTC 2023

Dear all,

In Kannada, too, Sanskrit words are often written with a retroflex ḷ (ಳ =
ळ) where we might have expected l (ಲ = ल). The retroflex ḷ in Sanskrit
words is called by the name kṣaḷa (ಕ್ಷಳ) in Kēśava's Śabdamaṇidarpaṇam
(1260 CE). Kēśava (or Kēśirāja, as he is also known) distinguishes this
sound from the retroflex ḷ found in Kannada words, called kuḷa (ಕುಳ), which
is however written with exactly the same letter (ಳ). Kēśava further notes
that the kṣaḷa and kuḷa (ಳ = ळ) can serve as equivalents for the sake of
prāsa (second-letter alliteration), whereas the dental l (ಲ = ल) cannot
alternate with either of them.

I don't know precisely (a) why Kēśirāja felt it necessary to distinguish
between the Sanskrit and Kannada retroflex ḷ; and (b) why the retroflex ḷ
(kṣaḷa) occurs optionally in some Sanskrit words, in some positions, and
not in others. Kittel in his *Grammar of the Kannada Language *pp. 14–15
<https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.23505/page/13/mode/2up>, §30,
says: “It is often used by Kannaḍa people as a substitute for the Saṁskṛita
ಲ (= ल), the sound of which in the Saṁskṛita language apparently bears a
dubious character for them, one that is neither their ಲ (= ल) nor their ಳ
(= ळ); this ಳ (= ळ) is Kêšava’s kṣaḷa.” I interpret this to mean: whereas
Kannada clearly distinguishes a dental and retroflex lateral, Sanskrit does
not, and the Sanskrit lateral is pronounced somewhere between a dental and
retroflex position (kind of like the "dental" stops in most kinds of
American English), with some phonotactically-conditioned variation within
this range. The exact conditions of this variation remain a little obscure,
but Kēśava does after all call the consonant kṣaḷa, which suggests that the
retroflexion is found (among other places) in those same contexts where
dental n is retroflexed to ṇ. Christophe's observation that retroflex ḷ is
not used word-initially accords with my impression of Kannada usage.

Andrew

On Fri, Mar 24, 2023 at 5:08 AM Christophe Vielle via INDOLOGY <
indology at list.indology.info> wrote:

> 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 *vilo**ḷita* 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> 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>:
>
> 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
>
>
>
>
> **********
> PD Dr. Anna Aurelia Esposito
> **********
> Universität Würzburg
> Lehrstuhl für Indologie
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> Christophe Vielle <https://uclouvain.be/en/directories/christophe.vielle>
> Louvain-la-Neuve
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