[INDOLOGY] Date and place of a manuscript
Lubomír Ondračka
ondracka at ff.cuni.cz
Fri Sep 11 08:38:42 UTC 2026
For those who can read Bengali script, I highly recommend an excellent
monograph on this subject, which is – in my opinion – the most detailed
treatment of the issue of bhūtasaṅkhyā to date.
Kalpanā Bhaumik
Saṃskṛta o bāṃlā bhāṣā-sāhitye saṃkhyāvācak śabder vyavahār
[Usage of Numerical Words in Sanskrit and Bengali Language and Literature]
Ḍhākā: Bāṃlā ekāḍemī, 1993.
https://search.worldcat.org/title/30029518
The author gives a large number of examples, explains in detail the
various ways in which a date can be constructed, and provides an
extensive list of code words (pp. 144–311), including bhūpa and bhūpati
(16).
L.
On 11/09/2026 09:12, Christophe Vielle via INDOLOGY wrote:
> References on bhūtasaṃkhyā from a 2016 post on the list:
>
> "For the specific words used in bhūtasaṃkhyā-s, see Bühler's Indian
> Paleography (pp.84-86) [rather pp. 103-106 <https://archive.org/details/
> in.gov.ignca.18230/page/103/mode/2up>] or Kale's History of Dharmaśāstra
> vol. 5.1 (pp. 701-703 <https://archive.org/details/
> KhistoryOfDharmasastraancientAndMediaevalReligiousAndCivilLaw/page/700/
> mode/2up>). See also a blog by Péter Szántó (http://
> tibetica.blogspot.hu/2008/02/bhtasakhy.html <http://
> tibetica.blogspot.hu/2008/02/bhtasakhy.html>) [who uses Subbarayappa and
> Sarma 1985]"
>
>> Le 10 sept. 2026 à 22:49, Martin Gansten via INDOLOGY
>> <indology at list.indology.info> a écrit :
>>
>> Thanks for the link, Dominik. There's another useful list in /Indian
>> Astronomy: A Source Book /by Subbarayappa and Sarma (1985, also
>> available on Archive), which includes nṛpa, bhūpa and bhūpati for the
>> number 16.
>>
>> The most important thing to understand when it comes to bhūtasaṃkhyā
>> is that it's the concept that matters, not the choice of terms.
>> Because there is a traditional list (or several lists?) of 16
>> celebrated kings, /any/ word for king can be used to mean 16, just as
>> any word for moon can mean 1, any word for eye can mean 2, etc. The
>> precise word doesn't need to be attested in a pre-existing text in
>> order to be valid.
>>
>> Best wishes,
>> Martin
>>
>>
>> Den 2026-09-10 kl. 22:12, skrev Dominik Wujastyk:
>>> I've found Rangacarya's list <https://archive.org/details/
>>> dli.csl.7173/page/287/mode/1up> helpful in the past. He doesn't have
>>> bhūpa or bhūpāla, though.
>>>
>>> Best wishes,
>>> Dominik
>>>
>>> --
>>> Dominik Wujastyk, Professor Emeritus, Classical Indian History
>>> University of Alberta
>>>
>>> "The University of Alberta is committed to the pursuit of truth,
>>> the advancement of learning, and the dissemination of knowledge
>>> through teaching, research and other scholarly and creative
>>> activities and service."
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>>> health-safety-environment/media-library/my-employment/
>>> agreements/2020-2024-collective-agreement---working-version.pdf> 3.01
>>>
>>> Current research: The Suśruta Project <http://sushrutaproject.github.io/>
>>> Journal: History of Science in South Asia <http://hssa-journal.org/>
>>> ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0216-6381
>>>
>>>
>>> On Thu, 3 Sept 2026 at 04:29, Roland Steiner via INDOLOGY
>>> <indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
>>>
>>> Dear Martin,
>>>
>>> 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
>>>
>>> Here, as in most cases, MW relies on the Petersburg dictionaries.
>>> When using these dictionaries, it's important to note that
>>> Böhtlingk only lists meanings for which he had evidence in the
>>> literature. For /bhūpa/, meaning “the number sixteen”, he had
>>> such evidence, namely “Gaṇit. Bhagaṇ. 9” (cf. MW s.v. /bhūpa/: “a
>>> term for the number sixteen, Gaṇit.”), but apparently not for /
>>> bhūpāla/. There's nothing more to it than that. It then goes
>>> without saying that in such cases /bhūpāla /can also refer to the
>>> number, which is why it's advisable to also check the Petersburg
>>> dictionaries for similarly formed words or synonyms, such as /
>>> nṛpa/, as you've already pointed out.
>>>
>>>
>>> MW gives 'the numbers one and nine', but I have never seen it
>>> mean anything but 9 in a bhūtasaṃkhyā context.
>>>
>>> MW's source is pw s.v. /aṅka/: "7) die Zahlen eins und neun." In
>>> the large PW (Volume 5, "Verbesserungen und Nachträge (=
>>> Improvements and Additions)", p. 951, s.v. /aṅka/), the following
>>> is given as evidence for the designation of the number "one": "9)
>>> auch Bez. der Zahl Eins, Ind. St. 8,208, N."
>>>
>>> Kind regards, Roland
>>>
>>>
>>> Am Donnerstag, 03. September 2026 08:33 CEST, schrieb Martin
>>> Gansten via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info>:
>>>
>>>> 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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>>>>
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>
> –––––––––––––––––––
> Christophe Vielle <https://www.uclouvain.be/en/people/christophe.vielle>
> Louvain-la-Neuve
>
>
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