The word visarāru sounds suspiciously Dravidian. In Telugu, visarāru means "(v.) to spread out, to diffuse", which also has cognates in other Dravidian languages (See DEDR 5450). It is remarkable that the Traditional lexicographers in Telugu ascribed a Sanskrit etymology for this word, deriving it from Skt. visaraṇa.

Is it possible Kamalaśīla was a South Indian, and influenced by the local tradition of considering a Dravidian visarāru as a Sanskrit word?

On Wed, Feb 6, 2013 at 1:11 PM, Matthew Kapstein <mkapstei@uchicago.edu> wrote:

In the Tattvasaṅgrahapañjika I find the term visarāru. It clearly means
something like "flowing forth continuously," but I do not find it in the lexicons at my
disposal (I'm away from my library just now) and I can't work out the derivation,
except of course that it's from vi-sṛ > visara "going forth".

It's not, by the way, to be found in Edgerton's BHS dictionary, or in Apte, or in Monier-Williams,
which I do have packed into my tablet.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

Matthew Kapstein
Directeur d'études,
Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes

Numata Visiting Professor of Buddhist Studies,
The University of Chicago