To facilitate correct pronunciation, in this study words and texts in Indo-Aryan languages, including modern ones, have generally been *transcribed * rather than *transliterated *(e.g., *devá * instead of de̱va, Śaṅkarśāstrī Mārūlkar instead of Śaṃkaraśāstrī Mārūlakara). All transcriptions from Indo-Aryan languages, including modern ones, follow the standard of the International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration.ⁱ Transliterations and transcriptions of texts following other systems have been tacitly adapted to this standard. I have also followed it when transcribing names and titles of works (e.g., Hari Nārāyaṇ Āpṭe instead of हिर नारायण आपटे), unless the authors or publishers have specified a romanization themselves (e.g., Bhattacharyya instead of Bhaṭṭācārya). Moreover, instead of transcribing them, I use the modern, anglicized or romanized versions of to-ponyms if such exist (e.g., Pune instead of पुण्यायपतन). A few common English loanwords are styled roman as well (e.g., mantra, yoga).
*ṁ *(sometimes written ◌ँ in Devanāgarī) is used to indicate the nasal ( anunāsika) pronunciation of a vowel. The placement of daṇḍa s (।, ॥; |, ||) within texts is generally adopted from the source texts. / and // indicate that the preceding text is metrical. Roman punctuation marks are only occasionally added to a transcription either to indicate syntactical units or to mark the end of a pāda.
Proper Vedic and Sanskrit names of persons, works, rituals, etc., are generally capitalized (e.g., Viśvāmitra, Ṛgveda). Words that could (in theory at least) be easily translated, are italicized (e.g., svarga/heaven, loka/world). For the special spellings of Gāyatrī/ *gāyatrī * and Sāvitrī/ sāvitrī, see Table 2 on p. 2 below.
Elements of a mantra that are not part of any syntactical construction are sometimes written in small caps in the translation (e.g., eaRth for bhūḥ).
Hyphens in Sanskrit words have three functions: (1) they indicate that the word is a sandhi form (e.g., tat savitur vareṇyaṃ-, followed by *bhargo- * etc.); (2) as a mere reading aid, they indicate the boundary of compounds whenever the need arises (e.g., *ṛgvedaḥ * or ṛg-vedaḥ). (3) As is customary in the romani
The accent of the Śatapatha-Brāhmaṇa is transcribed following the interpretation of Hoffmann (1975). For a summary of the various interpretations of the accent of the Śatapatha-Brāhmaṇa, see Coffie 1994: 4–16.
note on spelling ∙ xv
ization of titles of Vedic and Sanskrit works, hyphens are also used to separate the components of compounds and make them easier to read (e.g., Taittirīya-Saṃhitā). In these cases, it has become an established practice to dissolve vowel sandhis (e.g., Śvetāśvatara-Upaniṣad); consonant sandhis, however, are usually retained (e.g., Bhagava d-Gītā, Ṛ g-Veda).
Subscripted vowels (e.g., i, u) represent sounds which must have been there in the original text, but were lost due to the application of sandhi or other sound changes.ⁱⁱ In the case of versified texts, they generally indicate the original metrical structure. No attempt is made, however, to *fully * reconstruct the ur-form of a verse: without the subscripted vowels, a text has the form as given in the editions or manuscripts. To give one example: if justified by the metrical context, *vyáñjana * may be given as viyáñjana, though originally, it must have been
* viáñjana.
Quotation marks, brackets, and symbols are used in the following ways:
**“ ” **mark translations, quotations, or indirect speech; **‘’ **are used in lieu of other quotation marks for text within quotation marks (e.g., “the following is ‘a quotation’ inside a quotation”). **„ “ **and **‚ ‘ **are used in the same ways as in German contexts. In primary texts and translations, **( ) **indicate additions or alternatives that are based on or can be derived from the text.ⁱⁱⁱ **[ ] **generally mark “external information,” that is, comments in primary texts and bibliographical entries, or explanatory additions to or modifications of quotations and translations; if they are part of original quotations, this is indicated. Irrespective of their normal functions, **[ ] **are also used in lieu of **( ) **within round brackets, and vice versa.
The symbol ⁺ indicates that a correction has been made in the following text up to the next space. × indicates a conjecture. **= **is used to mark identity between words or texts; ≈ to mark similarity between words or texts. When a slash /
is used to mark alternatives, a space indicates that the respective alternative consists of more than one word. (e.g., lightning/thunder/ rain cloud).
ii
In providing them in the case of the Ṛgveda, I have taken into consideration the metrical reconstruction provided by van Nooten & Holland (1994). Using this reconstruction as an actual edition of the Ṛgveda is problematic; see, for instance, Smith 2006: 329.
iii
Many translators of Vedic and Sanskrit texts mark information that they believe is not in the source text with square brackets. This concerns, for example, words such as the definite or indefinite article or forms of “to be,” which indeed often have no literal equivalent in the original. In my opinion, however, supplying such words in square brackets suggests that they are *missing * from the original. Since I find that this is rarely the case, I aim to indicate only additional information that can usually be omitted or read over without affecting the structure of the sentence. For reflections on the (excessive) use of brackets in English translations of philosophical Sanskrit texts (which in many respects are also relevant to non-philosophical texts), see Mcrea & Patil 2010: 34–40.
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