Dear Prof. Olivelle,Thanks for your email. You are absolutely right. When I was writing my thesis, I did think very carefully about whether I should use the terms 'left' and 'right' while talking about pūrva and para respectively.One reason, of course, was, as you mention, that these terms only makes sense in the written context. The other reason for my apprehension about the accuracy / appropriateness of these terms was that, if Sanskrit were to be written, like Persian, from right to left, then para would have meant 'left'.So, why did I eventually decide to use the term 'right'? The thing is, I had to make it absolutely clear that, according to me, paraṁ kāryam means 'the rule which is applicable to the part that is spoken / pronounced later in time'. For example, the suffix is uttered / pronounced later than the base. I realized I would find it difficult to use this long and somewhat awkward phrase ('the rule which is applicable to the part that is spoken / pronounced later in time') again and again in my thesis. And since I've introduced so many new ideas in my thesis, I wanted to present things diagrammatically wherever possible to help the reader understand what I am trying to say. For all these reasons, I decided to translate para as right hand side when translating not only (my interpretation of) 1.4.2 vipratiṣedhe paraṁ kāryam, but also in other rules such as 1.1.51 uraṇ raparaḥ and 1.1.47 mid acho'ntyāt paraṇ.I have not provided the above clarification in my thesis. In hindsight, I think I definitely should have. In the future, when I write about my doctoral research, I will most certainly do so. Thank you very much for bringing this up.In my recent interviews though, including the one with BBC radio yesterday, I did explain that paraṁ kāryam actually means 'that rule which is applicable to the part (to be more precise, operand) which is spoken / pronounced later', and that I use the term right hand side purely because I find it convenient to do so.Best,Rishi---Dr. Rishi RajpopatMSt (Oxford), PhD (Cambridge),Former Gonda Fellow (Leiden)On Thu, Dec 15, 2022 at 10:00 PM Patrick Olivelle via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:I wrote a response but apparently sent it only to Dominik. Here it is:
Thank you, Dominik. I am no Pāṇinian, and it is good to know that this is a series work and advances scholarship. I was curious, however, about the use of ‘left’ and ‘right’ in the write-up on websites. These terms make sense only within a manuscript culture. Would the translations have to be “prior” and “posterior” or some terms to that effect, if we are dealing with orality?
Patrick
On Dec 15, 2022, at 12:04 PM, Dominik Wujastyk via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:
Madhav, Rajpopat discusses this point and explicitly defends his view in paras 1.6 and 1.7.
On Thu, 15 Dec 2022 at 07:11, Madhav Deshpande via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:
In contrast with Patañjali, many modern scholars have argued that originally the rule "vipratiṣedhe paraṃ kāryam" was intended to apply only within the ekasaṃjñādhikāra prescribed by the previous rule "ā kaḍārād ekā saṃjñā." While Rishi Popat disagrees with Patañjali, he still seems to take the rule as applying across the entire Aṣṭādhyāyī. Popat has an interesting suggestion, but I am not yet convinced of his understanding of paratva. I would like to hear from my Guru, Professor Cardona.
Madhav M. DeshpandeProfessor Emeritus, Sanskrit and LinguisticsUniversity of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USASenior Fellow, Oxford Center for Hindu Studies
Adjunct Professor, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore, India
[Residence: Campbell, California, USA]
On Thu, Dec 15, 2022 at 3:42 AM Arash Zeini via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:
Thanks for sharing this. A great example of close reading, if true. I was most intrigued by Prof. Vergiani's statement:
"Mr Rajpopat said he had a ‘eureka moment’ after his supervisor at Cambridge, Professor of Sanskrit Vincenzo Vergiani, advised him: ‘If the solution is complicated, you are probably wrong.’"
All best,Arash
On Thu, 15 Dec 2022, 08:13 Kenneth Gregory Zysk via INDOLOGY, <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:
I came across this in my morning news: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/student-solves-ancient-puzzle-that-baffled-scholars-for-centuries/ar-AA15i1XE?cvid=6546b24b0bde472b850c8525d2afe813Best,Ken
_______________________________________________
INDOLOGY mailing list
INDOLOGY@list.indology.info
https://list.indology.info/mailman/listinfo/indology
_______________________________________________
INDOLOGY mailing list
INDOLOGY@list.indology.info
https://list.indology.info/mailman/listinfo/indology
_______________________________________________
INDOLOGY mailing list
INDOLOGY@list.indology.info
https://list.indology.info/mailman/listinfo/indology
_______________________________________________
INDOLOGY mailing list
INDOLOGY@list.indology.info
https://list.indology.info/mailman/listinfo/indology
_______________________________________________
INDOLOGY mailing list
INDOLOGY@list.indology.info
https://list.indology.info/mailman/listinfo/indology