For what it's worth, texts that describe the cakras (tantras & haṭha yoga) routinely add kṣa after the ha. They are placed in the two petals of the āj̇ñā cakra. Padoux discusses the addition of kṣa on p. 156 of his book Vāc:

"...finally the compound phoneme kṣa, the addition of which is sometimes justified on theoretical grounds because it logically fits in a given metaphysical system; but the real reason of its being placed there is difficult to ascertain, except perhaps as a means to have fifty phonemes rather than forty-nine. Naturally, since each phoneme is a form of energy, it is correlated with a deity. There are several texts giving differing lists of these fifty divinized energies."

One could speculate that is was added in order to fill up all the petals in the cakras, but that would imply that the number of petals in seven cakras was fixed before the addition of kṣa.

Padoux, André. 1992. Vāc: The Concept of the Word in Selected Hindu Tantras. Translated by J. Gontier. Delhi: Sri Satguru Publications. Originally published by SUNY.

Dear Madhav,

No doubt text editorial issues are part of what is at issue, as well as the mix of Sanskrit and Prakrit elements informing BHS. For what it's worth, I note that when the alphabet is recited as a purificatory mantra in tantric contexts in Newar and Tibetan Buddhism, all the vowels and semivowels are included, and kSa is added at the end following Ha. My hunch is that this perhaps originated due to the distinct graphic form in some scripts and so departs from the phonological principle of alphabetic order, but that's really only a guess.

best,

Matthew

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

Numata Visiting Professor of Buddhist Studies,
The University of Chicago

From: INDOLOGY <indology-bounces@list.indology.info> on behalf of Madhav Deshpande via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info>
Sent: Thursday, October 31, 2019 12:24 PM
To: Indology <indology@list.indology.info>; Bharatiya Vidvat parishad <bvparishat@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [INDOLOGY] The alphabet found in the Lalitavistara

Dear Colleagues,

As I have been reading the Lipiśālāsandarśana-Parivarta of the Lalitavistara [p. 89, P. L. Vaidya edition], some interesting features of the alphabet popped up for me. The Alphabet omits r̥ and l̥, but includes ai, au, and aḥ. Among the consonants, it adds kṣ at the end after h. The version of this passage as given in the Bauddhāgamārthasaṅgraha [ed by P. L. Vaidya] also omits l, while it is included in the version of Lalitavistara edited by Vaidya himself. I wonder if there are textual variants about this. I don't know what this alphabet represents. The omission of r̥ and l̥ goes along the phonologies of Prakrits, but the inclusion of ai, au, and aḥ goes in the direction of Sanskrit. The addition of kṣ and the possible omission of l point to something else that I cannot figure out. Any suggestions and references are welcome.

Madhav M. Deshpande

Professor Emeritus, Sanskrit and Linguistics

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

Senior Fellow, Oxford Center for Hindu Studies

[Residence: Campbell, California, USA]

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