[INDOLOGY] Date and place of a manuscript

Fri Sep 11 09:02:17 UTC 2026

For some reason I've been using this list: B.V. Subharayappa and K.V.
Sarma, Indian Astronomy, A Sourcebook, Nehru Centre, Bombay 1985.

Appendix V : Bhūtasaṃkhyā - Word numerals used in Indian Mathematical texts

https://archive.org/details/indian-astronomy-a-sourcebook-b.-v.-subbarayappa-k.-v.-sarma/page/332/mode/2up

It mentions aṅka, rāma, bhūpāla with the values Prof. Gansten listed.

Best wishes,
Peter

On Fri, 11 Sept 2026 at 10:46, Dominik Wujastyk via INDOLOGY <
indology at list.indology.info> wrote:

> 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
>
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>
> 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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