मार्गदेशीविचारः ३

The following is a description of India and the deśī (vernacular) languages spoken in various polities. More on the placement of Prākrits etc. later. It is taken from the tenth chapter of the Bhāvaprakāśana of the 12th century Kashmirian author Śāradātanaya:

The land of Bhāratavarṣa measures 9000 yojanas from Adam’s bridge, Rama’s bridge or Nala’s bridge (or whatever is the currently acceptable designation for the island bridge linking India and Śrīlaṅkā) to the Himalayas:

deśo bhāratavarṣākhyo & navasāhasrayojanaḥ
ā setor ā himagirer & āyāmaḥ parikīrtitaḥ/


Decrease of inhabited area (from north to south) out of fear from encroaching snow (a quasi-ice-age paranoia) as cyclical time progresses:


tāraḥ pūrvāparādyantaḥ & saptasāhasrayojanaḥ
vasanti martyāḥ sarvatra & prāpte kṛtayuge sukham/
tretāyuge dvāpare ca & himākrāntibhayāj janāḥ
pādaṃ pādaṃ visṛjyaite & śrayante dakṣiṇāpatham/
yojanānāṃ sahasre dve & sapañcāśacchatadvayam

In the Kali age humans walk the earth, yakṣas, vidyādharas, siddhas, gandharvas, maharṣis sport with their wives in the uttarāpatha:


prāpte kaliyuge martyāś & caranti vasudhātale/
yakṣā vidyādharāḥ siddhā & gandharvāś ca maharṣayaḥ
krīḍanti strīgaṇaiḥ sārdham & uttarāpathabhūmiṣu/
asya bhāratavarṣasya & caturtho dakṣiṇāpathaḥ
catuḥṣaṣṭibhidābhinno & nānājanapadāśrayaḥ/

List of 64 lands. This passage seems defective, I cannot make it 64 without further MS evidence, Kārūśa and Yavana seem to be repeated:


[1]pāṇḍyāḥ [2]sakeralāś [3]colāḥ & [4]sindhu[5]siṃhala[5]pāmarāḥ
[6]kaliṅga[7]yavana[8]mleccha&[9]pārasīka[10]śakāhvayāḥ/
[11]gauḍa[11]lāṭa[12]vidarbhāś ca & [13]kāmarūpa+[14]āndhra[15]koṅkaṇāḥ
[16]karṇāṭa[17]suhya[18]kāmbhoja&[19]hūṇa[20]kārūśa[21]gurjarāḥ/
sa[22]saurāṣṭra[23]mahārāṣṭra&[24]himmīra[25]āvanty[26]anūpajāḥ
[27]aṅgā [28]vaṅgāś ca [29]vaṅgālāḥ & [30]kāśī[31]kosala[32]maithilāḥ/
[33]kirāta[34]vardhraka+[35]āraṭṭa&[36]kuru[37]pāñcāla[38]kekayāḥ
[39]auḍhra[40]māgadha[41]sauvīra&[42]daśārṇa[43]magadhāhvayāḥ/
[44]nepāla[45]jaina[46]bāhlīka&[47]pallava[48]kratha[49]kaiśikāḥ
s{u}[a][50]śūrasenakājāna&[51]kārūśa[52]yavanādayaḥ/
[53]yadavaś [54]cakra[55]kurava&[56]pārvatīyāḥ sa[57]haimanāḥ
[58]kāśmīra[59]maru[60]k{e}[o]ṅkāṇa&[61]nagrāś ca saha[62]maṅkaṇāḥ/
mahendraduhitus setor & ete madhyam upāśritāḥ
ete ‘ṣṭādaśabhir bhāṣā&bhedair vyavaharanti ca/


18 deśī languages.

tā bhāṣās teṣu keṣāñ cid & deśānāṃ nāmābhiḥ kṛtāḥ
[1] dramiḍāḥ [2] kannaḍa+[3]āndhrāś ca & [4]hūṇa[5]himmīra[6]siṃhalāḥ/
[7]pallavā [7]yavanā [8]jaināḥ & [9]pārvatīyāḥ sa[10]pāmarāḥ
[11]kaṣa[12]vardhraka[13]kāmbhoja&[14]śaka[15]nagrāḥ sa[16]vākaṭāḥ/
ete 'ṣṭādaśabhāṣāṇām & āśrayāḥ saha[17]koṅkaṇāḥ
etā bhāṣāś ca sarvatra & [18] mlecchabhāṣety udāhṛtāḥ/
tattaddeśeṣu saṅgītaṃ & tattadbhāṣābhir anvitam
deśīti deśikam api & kathayanti manīṣiṇaḥ/

Some unusual saṃketas

In paricchedas 5–11 of the Nāgarasarvasva of Padmaśrī (ca. 1100–1300 A.D.), a work on erotics, is preserved an elaborate code-language of conventions (saṃketa) designed entirely to facilitate the management of clandestine love-affairs. These conventions are of six kinds: [1.] bhāṣāsaṅketa, [2.] aṅgasaṅketa, [3.] poṭalīsaṅketa, [4.] vastrasaṅketa, [5.] tāmbūlasaṅketa, [6.] puṣpamālāsaṅketa, sarvasaṅketakathana. Here is the aṅgasaṅketa, which allows two concerned parties to state their interest and fix place and time of an assignation by means of innocuous looking hand-gestures. Click for more...

So far I have consulted the following sources for this text:
1) Nāgarasarvasva Wellcome Inst. Q 20 II. 131-B, ff. 102, Nepalese yellow paper, Nevar lipi.
2) Nāgarasarvasvam of Mahāmati Padmaśrī with the commentary of Jagajjyotirmalla, ed. Babulal Shukla Shastri, Delhi 1994.
3) Lienhard, Siegfried: Observations concerning a Buddhist text on erotics: the Nāgarasarvasva of Padmaśrī. In: CAJ 23(1979), S. 96–103.


Nāgarasarvasva 6 with the Commentary of Jagajjyotirmalla:

6.1ab: kṣemapraśne karṇalatā& kathitā kathane 'pi sā /
6.1cd: kacadaṃśas tu kāmārttāv & uraḥ snehe śiro 'rcane // 1//

kṣemapraśne kuśalapraśne karṇalatā hastena sparśanīyā, sā karṇalatā kathane api kathitā / kāmārttā kacadaṃśaḥ keśaḥ sparśanīyaḥ, snehe uraḥ vakṣaḥsthale sparśanīyam / ete patākayā kāryāḥ /

6.2ab: madhyamā 'vasarapraśne& tarjanīpṛṣṭhayojitā /
6.2cd: avasare 'ñjalir jñeya& āhvāne kuñcitāṅguliḥ // 2//

avasarapraśne madhyamāṅgulī tarjanīpṛṣṭhayojitā / avasare sati añjalir jñeyaḥ āhvāne ākāraṇe sa eva añjaliḥ viparītaḥ kuñcitāṅguliḥ /

6.3ab: aṅguṣṭhatarjanīmadhyāḥ& pūrvadakṣiṇapaścimāḥ /
6.3cd: uttarā 'nāmikā ceti& diśo jñeyā anukramāt // 3//

pūrve aṅguṣṭhaḥ, dakṣiṇe tarjanī, paścime madhyamā, uttare anāmikā, evaṃ krameṇa catasro diśaḥ jñeyāḥ /

6.4ab: kaniṣṭhamūlam ārabhya& rekhāḥ pañcadaśa kramāt /
6.4cd: aṅguṣṭhasyordhvarekhāntaḥ& smṛtāḥ pratipadādiṣu // 4//

kaniṣṭhāmūlaṃ ārabhya aṅguṣṭhasya ūrdhvarekhāntaṃ aṅguliṃ prati rekhātrayaṃ kramāt pañcadaśa rekhāḥ bhavanti, tena pratipadādyāḥ pañcadaśa tithayo bhavanti /

6.5ab: śukle vāmakare jñeyā& asite dakṣiṇe kare /
6.5cd: yad yat spṛśanti kāminyas& tasyārthe nipuṇaḥ sma //5

śuklapakṣe vāmakare rekhā kartavyā / kṛṣṇapakṣe dakṣiṇakare rekhā kartavyā / kāminyaḥ yad yat spṛśanti tat sthānaṃ nipuṇaṃ sma // iti aṅgasaṅketam //