[INDOLOGY] unsandhied juncture

[Madhav Deshpande]

While listening to the program of the Kalidas Sanskrit Vrati awards at the
Kalidasa Sanskrit University in Ramtek, Nagpur, I could see how the long
Sanskrit compounds get broken up with pauses, occasionally breaking the
sandhis in the middle of the compounds. I had noted this in spoken Sanskrit
in Pune, and also practiced in my own spoken Sanskrit. In scholarship, we
often focus on written Sanskrit, and forget that behind this written
Sanskrit lies the spoken Sanskrit. This is something to be seriously taken
into our scholarly approaches.


Madhav M. Deshpande
Professor Emeritus, Sanskrit and Linguistics
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
Senior Fellow, Oxford Center for Hindu Studies
Adjunct Professor, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore, India

[Residence: Campbell, California, USA]

On Wed, Jul 15, 2026 at 10:26 AM Sudalaimuthu Palaniappan via INDOLOGY <
indology at list.indology.info> wrote:

> Sorry, on pages 154 and 155, the name is rendered as Anantaśiva-āchārya
> in the Sanskrit and Tamil sections and not as Ānantaśiva-āchārya. I
> regret the error.
>
>
>
> Regards,
>
> Palaniappan
>
>
>
> *From: *"palaniappa at aol.com" <palaniappa at aol.com>
> *Date: *Wednesday, July 15, 2026 at 11:48 AM
> *To: *"Jan E.M. Houben" <jemhouben at gmail.com>, Indology List <
> indology at list.indology.info>
> *Subject: *Re: [INDOLOGY] unsandhied juncture
>
>
>
> I can think of one instance I worked on recently.
>
>
>
> In the Kūram plates published in the South Indian Inscriptions, volume 1,
> the name Anantaśiva ācārya occurs. Please see the Sanskrit version lines 56-57
> on attached p. 150 and the Tamil version on line 84 on p. 151. On pages 154
> and 155, the name is rendered as Ānantaśiva-āchārya in the Sanskrit and
> Tamil sections. But on p. 147, the name is interpreted as
> Anantaśivāchārya. As I argue in my monograph (https://tinyurl.com/33a9tt4s)
> pp. 13-17, the lack of sandhi is due to deliberate action by the
> inscriber who wanted to distinguish between a brahman Śivācārya and a
> non-brahman architect (ācārya).
>
>
>
> Hope this helps.
>
>
>
> Regards,
>
> Palaniappan
>
>
>
> *From: *INDOLOGY <indology-bounces at list.indology.info> on behalf of
> Indology List <indology at list.indology.info>
> *Reply-To: *"Jan E.M. Houben" <jemhouben at gmail.com>
> *Date: *Sunday, July 12, 2026 at 8:59 AM
> *To: *Indology List <indology at list.indology.info>
> *Subject: *[INDOLOGY] unsandhied juncture
>
>
>
> Dear List members,
>
>
>
> As sandhi at the juncture of two words is expected in correct sanskrit,
> its absence could point to carelessness of the author or scribe, but also
> (rather) to the intention to make a quoted form stand out more clearly, as
> in pacyase iti, or to indicate a "weak" clause boundary, for which a
> da.n.da was felt to be too "strong".  I'm sure this problem has been dealt
> with in various transcriptions and editions of inscriptions and
> manuscripts. Is there any best practice regarding such places where
> sandhi is not observed, intentionally or erroneously? Especially in the
> former case the editor has to avoid "hypercorrection". Any widely accepted
> symbol (which could by itself lead to confusion by suggesting that the
> symbol represents something in the source)? Or adding a (clumsy) remark in
> the text, "sandhi not applied", or in the apparatus each time? (In
> Epigraphia indica volumes it appears commonly in notes "sandhi is not
> observed here", e.g. EI 37 p. 83, 84, 304.) A plus-sign, pacyase+iti, would
> probably at first sight suggest that an existing sandhi in the witness
> (manuscript / inscription) is undone by the editor.
>
>
>
> Best regards,
>
>
>
> Jan Houben
>
>
>
> --
>
> *Jan E.M. Houben*
>
> Directeur d'Études, Professor of South Asian History and Philology
>
> *Sources et histoire de la tradition sanskrite*
>
> École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE, Paris Sciences et Lettres)
>
> *Sciences historiques et philologiques *
>
> Groupe de recherches en études indiennes (EA 2120)
>
> *johannes.houben [at] ephe.psl.eu <johannes.houben at ephe.psl.eu>*
>
> *https://ephe-sorbonne.academia.edu/JanEMHouben
> <https://ephe-sorbonne.academia.edu/JanEMHouben>*
>
> *https://www.classicalindia.info* <https://www.classicalindia.info>
>
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