Firstly happy Navaratri.

Secondly I was told by a good sanskritist that the word bhagavAn is always written in devanagari -with a space after it as a sign of respect even if it would normally be joined to the following letter in devanagari.  I did a quick search of the texts in the Muktabodha digital library and I found that was true about 50% of the time.

i.e.

भगवान्भूतभावनः ............... भगवान्पावकः ..................... भगवान्दत्तात्रेयो

Can any of the list members tell meif  not joining bhagavAn to the following word based on some scriptural statement.

Thanks,

Harry Spier