Indian Antiquary Vol 51

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 19

JANUARY, 1022]
TAE APABARANSA STABAKAS OF RAMA-SARMAN
18
5. Similarly, 9 7 (initial) is confounded with lta. Morcover, both are commonly used to indicato tu, and again both are often confounded with e a. Iu cach case our only guide is the context.
6. When r is subjoined to a consonant in Bengali, it takes the form . But in the MS. this sign is also often employed to indicate a non-initial u, so that may be either pra or pu.
7. The letters #kha and tha are habitually confounded. It is generally im. possible to tell from the form of the letter which is meant. A typical example is khoda in verse 5 of the Nagara section. It should probably be read thoda. Cf. the Hindi thorā, a little.
8. The letter is used indiscriminately for na, na, and la. Sometimes 9 na is also used. For la, the writer sometimes makes a slight distinction in the form of the 7, by bringing the left-band end of the essential part of the character a little lower down than usual. Wben this is the case, I have transliterated it by la, but otherwise I transliterate it by na, whatever it is intended to represent.
9. The letters 9 pa and da are frequently 80 written that it is impossible to distinguish between them. We may take it as a general rule that every may be read either as da or as pa.
10. The character is employed indiscriminately for ba, va, and ra. It is also often indistinguishable from 5 ca. Thus, 6 may always be read as ca, ba, va, or ra.
11. The compound o tra is invariably written ştra, and I therefore so transliterate it.
12. The character stha is also used for hu. Only the context can indicate what is intended. The syllable hu is also often represented by ha, the only distinction being that when hu is intended the tail at the bottom is made a little longer, and more horizontal. But this distinction is commonly neglected, and only the context can decide whicb cbaracter is intended.
13. The character dru seems generally to be used for its proper purpose. But the character drū is also used to indicate hra. Only the context can tell what is meant. Similarly, is used for hü, but, as written, it strongly resembles .
In the following text, I have given for each verse, first, & strict transliteration of the MS. as I read it, and then my version of the text as emended after allowing for the above and other irregularities, and after comparison with the corresponding text of Mārkandēva. The transliteration is slavishly literal. Thus, I have transliterated by va, whether it represents ba, va, or ra, and I have transliterated by stha, even when hu is clearly meant. Only in this way will my readers be able to check my emended text and to criticize it. I have divided words as they are divided in the MS., and have indicated the beginning of each folio, and of each line within & folio. The whole passage begins near tbe end of the fifth line of Folio 42a.
On plates I, II, and III will be found photographic reproductions of those pages of the Original Manuscript on which the verses occur, with these my transcription and emended version can be compared by those familiar with the Bengali character.