Dear friends,With thanks to those who corresponded with me about my puzzle, I have found an alternative solution, though one that involves another, perhaps lesser puzzle.The syllable preceding ṣāstriṃśat in my text is ca, which I had taken to be a conjuction. But if we read caṣās triṃśat, "thirty caṣās," and take caṣa to be a contraction of caṣaka, then this would be mathematically appropriate in context (roughly, "thirty minutes in a half-hour"). However, I have not been able to find an attestation of caṣa for caṣaka. Has anyone seen this before?many thanks,MatthewMatthew T. KapsteinProfessor emeritusEcole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, PSL Research University, ParisNumata Visiting Professor of Buddhist Studies EmeritusThe University of Chicago Divinity SchoolMember, American Academy of Arts and SciencesSent with Proton Mail secure email.On Wednesday, September 30th, 2026 at 11:04 AM, Matthew Kapstein <mattkapstein@proton.me> wrote:
Dear friends,An astrological text I am studying contains the wordṣāstriṃśatwhich has me stumped. Perhaps it is a very odd way of representing 36, ṣaṭtriṃśatbut this strikes me as quite strange.The reading is confrimed, however, by all four manuscripts that I am consulting, although they often disagree about other matters.I would welcome your learned suggestions.thanks in advance,MatthewMatthew T. KapsteinProfessor emeritusEcole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, PSL Research University, ParisNumata Visiting Professor of Buddhist Studies EmeritusThe University of Chicago Divinity SchoolMember, American Academy of Arts and SciencesSent with Proton Mail secure email.
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