[Y-Indology] beginner's question about the letter's name

[Guest guest]

--- Harry Spier <harryspier wrote:

 

>

> 2) About the name of another letter, I've always

> wondered why instead of

> like the other letters the consonent r is not called

> rakara but is called

> repha instead.

>

 

The r-sign that follows a consonant [and,in writing,

is placed underneath the consonant] is in fact called

ra-kAra or ra-phalA, and the r-sign that precedes a

consonant [and is placed above the consonant] is

called a repha.

[Whitney, I remember, wrote that the r-sign is called

not a r-kAra but a repha.]

 

Best wishes,

 

Jogesh Panda

 

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

My speculative explanation for why Repha and not rakAra is that there

is already the term RkAra to refer to the vowel R. By the time of the

PrAtiZAkhyas and Skt. Grammars, the distinctive non-consonantal

pronunciation for the vowel R has disappeared and has been replaced by

a consonantal pronunciation with fractional vowels (ac=bhakti in

Patanjali's terms) flanking one or two consonantal r sounds (madhye

dvau rephau). The quality of these vowel-fractions dialectally

fluctuated between a/i/u and so on. Compare Pali katvA for Skt.

kRtvA, but miga for Skt. mRga, and nibbuta for Skt. nirvRta. Thus, at

least dialectally, one could not distinguish in pronunciation RkAra

and rakAra. This is probably why a distinct term repha may have come

about.

Madhav Deshpande

 

INDOLOGY, "Harry Spier" <harryspier@H...> wrote:

>

>

> Dear list members:

>

> 1)

> Madhav Deshpande wrote:

> >the long variety of

> >this vowel [L] does not occur in any item of the Sanskrit

vocabulary.

>

> One thing I've noticed is that while long vowel L does not occur in

any

> words it does occur as a letter in some Kashmir Shaivite texts in

the

> description of a mystical theology concerning the letters of the

Sanskrit

> alphabet. (For example see the first two lines of page 14 of the

K.S.T.S.

> edition of the Tantrasara.) So any font used to reproduce these

texts needs

> long vocalic L in its character set.

>

> 2) About the name of another letter, I've always wondered why

instead of

> like the other letters the consonent r is not called rakara but is

called

> repha instead.

>

> Best,

>

>

> Harry Spier

> 371 Brickman Rd.

> Hurleyville, New York

> USA 12747

>

>

>

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