[INDOLOGY] Are there two different om (praNava) signs in Sharada?

[Mrinal Kaul]

Dear Deepro,

In my experience sometimes both forms of ‘oṃ' are used interchangeably. In the sample you have shared, the first form is more Devanāgariased and the latter, as you know, is vowel ‘o’ in Śāradā with ‘ँ’ on top. In some cases the ‘ँ’ is found upside down on top of the vowel ‘o’. But I would not associate any unique significance of this interchangeable usage and I humbly invite the experts to correct me.

Mrinal
-----
Mrinal Kaul (he/ him/ his)
Assistant Professor of Indian Philosophy
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS)
Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-B)
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> On 31-May-2023, at 10:56 PM, Deepro Chakraborty via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
> 
> Dear all,
> 
> In a Kashmiri Sharada manuscript, two different om symbols are used (image attached). I have seen both of them in manuscripts but have not seen them being used in the same manuscript. Is it the case that they are used in different contexts, such as, when both are used, the first one is used at the beginning of the text and the other one elsewhere? 
> 
> -- 
> Deepro Chakraborty
> (he/him)
> PhD candidate
> Department of History, Classics, and Religion
> University of Alberta
> 
> The University of Alberta acknowledges that we are located on ᐊᒥᐢᑿᒌᐚᐢᑲᐦᐃᑲᐣ (Amiskwacîwâskahikan) Treaty 6 territory, and respects the history, languages, and cultures of the First Nations, Métis, Inuit, and all First Peoples of Canada, whose presence continues to enrich our institution.
> <sharada om.png>
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