[INDOLOGY] Date and place of a manuscript

[Martin Gansten]

No, MW is a little erratic when it comes to bhūtasaṃkhyā: no value is 
given for bhūpāla, but 'a term for the number sixteen' is found under 
bhūpa (and 'N. of the numeral 16' under nṛpa; other synonyms of 'king' 
may include it too). For aṅka MW gives 'the numbers one and nine', but I 
have never seen it mean anything but 9 in a bhūtasaṃkhyā context.

Best wishes,
Martin


Den 2026-09-02 kl. 23:03, skrev Jean Michel DELIRE:
> Thanks to Martin and Priya for their precise answers about the 
> location and scribe of the manuscript.
> I had no idea that it could have been written in Tukoji Rao's camp or 
> residence, and didn't imagine that rāmāṃkabhūpāla could be a 
> bhūtasaṃkhyā. Actually, Monier-Williams /Dictionary /gives 3 for rāma 
> and there are 9 āṃka (without the 0), but I don't find in MW the value 
> 16 for bhūpāla.
> The fact that the scribe uses a śloka, as in the traditional Sanskrit 
> mathematical texts, and that the author recommends to use the letters 
> ka, kha, ga, etc. to name the geometrical points, instead of the abjad 
> notation used in the Jaipur's /rekhāgaṇita/ and its Arabic model, also 
> points to a more traditional and Hindu context.
>
> Thanks again,
>
> Jean Michel Delire, Brussels
>
> Le mer. 2 sept. 2026 à 19:09, Martin Gansten via INDOLOGY 
> <indology at list.indology.info> a écrit :
>
>     Apologies to the list for my many posts today, but naturally the
>     solution is to eliminate the superfluous /ṃ /at the end of
>     /daśamyāṃ/. This will give /daśamyām alikhad bālakṛṣṇo/. Mystery
>     solved, verb restored, and the verse does seem to refer to the
>     scribe after all (since the author has already been identified in
>     the colophon).
>
>     Martin
>
>
>     Den 2026-09-02 kl. 19:01, skrev Martin Gansten:
>>     I'll have to correct that: as was just pointed out to me
>>     off-list, what I read in haste as an 'e' stroke in fact belongs
>>     to a ha from the line above, and the semi-legible letter after kṛ
>>     is more probably ṣṇo, giving malikhadvālakṛṣṇo. A personal rather
>>     than place name? No verb, though, if this reading is correct.
>>
>>     Martin
>>
>>
>>     Den 2026-09-02 kl. 17:21, skrev Martin Gansten:
>>>     Dear Priya and all,
>>>
>>>     I agree that this is intriguing, and it did occur to me that
>>>     /tu/ might properly be a part of what followed rather than a
>>>     separate particle, but I didn't have the background knowledge to
>>>     identify Tukoji Rao. I imagine, though, that this short prose
>>>     phrase (/dillīnagare tukorāvakaṭake/) refers to the copying of
>>>     the manuscript, whereas the verse dating speaks of the book
>>>     itself being completed (/kṛto gaṇitapustakam/ [sic]), so the
>>>     date and the Tukoji reference don't necessarily go together. In
>>>     fact, /malikhadvāle/ in the verse looks like a possible place
>>>     name and could refer to where the work itself was written,
>>>     although I have no idea of what or where that is.
>>>
>>>     Best wishes,
>>>     Martin
>>>
>>>
>>>     Den 2026-09-02 kl. 16:12, skrev Priyamvada Nambrath via INDOLOGY:
>>>>
>>>>     It appears to me that the location sentence parses as
>>>>     'dillīnagare tukorāva-kaṭake' - translating to 'in the military
>>>>     camp/ residence of Tuko Rao in the city of Delhi.'
>>>>
>>>>     Śaka 1693 translates, as you note, to 1771-72 CE, which
>>>>     aligns very nicely with Tukoji Rao Holkar I. In this exact
>>>>     period, Tukoji Rao was involved in a successful Maratha
>>>>     campaign against the Mughal Emperor, Shah Alam, in Delhi, and
>>>>     won some significant concessions. He is known more for his
>>>>     military accomplishments; so if it is the same person that is
>>>>     referred to here, the fact that a geometry textbook was being
>>>>     written inside his garrison while he was engaged in a battle
>>>>     with Delhi is fascinating.
>>>>
>>>>     All best,
>>>>     Priya
>>>
>>>
>>
>
>
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