From: Jan E.M. Houben <jemhouben@gmail.com>
Date: 24 February 2013 16:27
Subject: Re: [INDOLOGY] John Brough's 1980 article on Pali sakāya niruttiyā?
To: Madhav Deshpande <mmdesh@umich.edu>
Cc: "indology@list.indology.info" <INDOLOGY@list.indology.info>

Dear Madhav,

This is a new element in an old discussion to which contributions have also been made long ago at our Ideology and Status of Sanskrit (ISS) conference (new Indian edition of the proceedings with brief update on the theme in new preface has recently appeared:

Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 2012, ISBN 978-208-3501-6).

A Wezler referred at that occasion to Jacobi 1893:112-119 and E. W. Hopkins 1902:83ff. (his article in ISS proceedings p. 346).

A Aklujkar referred to the passage as an early place where samskrta as adjective to vāc would refer to what we call "Sanskrit" (ISS proceedings p. 71), which suits the old interpretations from Jacobi onwards.

I drew attention to "Govindarāja's comments" on the Ramayana passage "in which he contrasts a local mānuṣa language
of men (atra vākyasya mānuṣatvaṁ kosaladeśavartimanuṣyasambandhitvaṁ vivaksitaṁ tādrgvākyasyaiva devīparicitatvāt) and the gīrvāṇabhāṣā, Rāmāyana, Krishnacharya's ed. vol. 2:112-113" (ISS proceedings p. 167).

Both Govindarāja's mānuṣa language and his gīrvāṇabhāṣā are in the normally accepted reading vācaṁ ... saṁskrtām:

vācaṁ codāharisyāmi mānusīm iha saṁskrtām

versus

yadi vācaṁ pradāsyāmi dvi-jātir iva saṁskrtām

John Brough's article was reprinted in the Collected Articles edited by Wright and Hara (1996).

Jan