Indian Palaeography from about B.C. 350 to about A.D. 1300 c9.s3.t2: B. — Numeral notation by letters

Indian Palaeography from about B.C. 350 to about A.D. 1300 c9.s3.t2

Language: English

B. — Numeral notation by letters

c9.s3.t2.1

Two systems of numeral notation, according to BURNELL originally South-Indian, which both employ the phonetically arranged characters of the alphabet, have still to be described, as they are not without interest for paleography. In the first system,⁸ only the vowelless consonants have any importance, and their numeral values are : —

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⁸ Compare B.ESIP. 79; W.IS. 8, 160; IA. 4, 207.

c9.s3.t2.3

| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| *k* | *kh* | *g* | *gh* | *ṅ* | *c* | *ch* | *j* | *jh* | *ñ* | = | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 0 |
| *ṭ* | *ṭh* | *ḍ* | *ḍh* | *ṇ* | *t* | *th* | *d* | *dh* | *n* | = | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 0 |
| *p* | *ph* | *b* | *bh* | *m* | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | = | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | | | | | |
| *y* | *r* | *l* | *v* | *ś* | *ṣ* | *s* | *h* | *ḷ* | ... | = | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | |

c9.s3.t2.4

The consonants are, however, not used by themselves, but for the formation of chronograms, containing any vowels and also compound consonants, of which the last element alone has numerical value. In the figures, resulting from those chronograms, the units invariably stand on the left, and the whole sum has to be turned round. An interesting instance of this notation, probably the most ancient hitherto discovered, occurs at the end of Ṣaḍguruśiṣya’s commentary on the Sarvānukramaṇī (MACDONELL, page 168), where the chronogram, according to KIELHORN’s undoubtedly correct emendation, is :¹ — $2 & 3 & 1 & 5 & 6 & 5 & 1$ $khago=ntyān=meṣam=apa.$

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¹ IA. 21, 49 f., No. 4.

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As the author himself adds, this has the value of 1,565,132. And this figure corresponds, as the author likewise says, to the number of the days elapsed since the beginning of the Kaliyuga, and yields the vernal equinox, 24th March, A. D. 1184, as the date of the completion of the work. The equinox is indicated also by the verbal meaning of the chronogram: — “(Coming) from the last (sign of the Zodiac), the sun reached Aries.”

c9.s3.t2.7

The second system to be considered,² which is still used in Ceylon, Siam and Burma for the pagination of MSS., and according to BURNELL formerly also [83] occurred in Southern India, utilises the Brahmanical *Bārākhaḍī* (see page 2 above). According to BURNELL, the Akṣaras *ka* to *ḷa* are equivalent to 1 to 34; *kā* to *ḷā* = 35 to 68; *ki* to *ḷi* = 69 to 102; and so on. But in the Pali MSS. of the Viennese Court Library from Burma, I find *ka* to *kaḥ* = 1 to 12; *kha* to *khaḥ* = 13 to 24; and so on: and in those from Ceylon, where the *Bārākhaḍī* includes the vowels *ṛ*, *ṝ*, *ḷ*, and *ḹ*, *ka* to *kaḥ* = 1 to 16, and *kha* to *khaḥ* = 17 to 32, whereby a somewhat different employment of the Akṣaras results.³ FAUSBÖLL has kindly informed me that the last two methods alone (not that mentioned by BURNELL) are used in the Pali MSS. known to him. And he adds that, after the exhaustion of the whole *Bārākhaḍī*, the Ceylonese MSS. begin again with 2 *ka*, 2 *kā*, and so on, and further that the pagination of Siamese MSS. agrees exactly with those from Burma.