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Date: Mon, 29 Mar 1999 22:46:24 -0000
Subject: [agathiyar] manuscript: Kannada in Nandinagari script
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Dear Swaminathan,
According to Dr. Jayabarathi and your observations (Krishna Temple mention, etc.), the translations thus far tell us the text could well be of Mahdva origin, though one contact from the Dvaita Organization suggested the invocation/salutation that includes Sarada would be unusual in Madhva texts. My research and contacts say Nandinagari was the script the Madhvas favored in this time frame.
My rough understanding is that they wanted to make religious writings/teachings more available to the masses, so they used local languages instead of Sanskrit. If a Madhva scribe was the recorder, he would likely use Nandinagari.
If I turn up any more confirming or conflicting material on this subject I will let you know. I'm posting this to Agathiyar, so if anyone else has anything to add on this subject, please do.
The very first query I made regarding the ms was to Eden Golshani, who turns out to be a teenage girl of the BaHai faith who maintains a page on the scripts of all Asia. She is not Asian or Indian, but this is her chosen path for contribution and education according to her faith. Her contact came back with: "this looks like Nandinagari script, popular among the Madhva Brahmanas around the 14th-16th centuries." This notion was dismissed by many scholars after that. As it turns out, of course, her contact seems to be quite right. She is avidly following our progress.
N. Swaminathan wrote:
>
> Dear Jennifer:
>
> One of my kannada friends felt that there may be few phrases of telugu origin.
> Another person suggested that some of the characters may be from Marati.
> They could be wrong because they are trying to read Nandinagarai with
> their knowledge of Devanagari. Anyway I shall try to compile these as we
> progress. I cannot believe that there was no kannada script at the time when the
> manuscript was writen. This we can verify after translating a dozen verses or so.
> We can ask the kannada scholars to see if they know of the original version of a similar manuscript in
> kannada script. The name Ramu Relesu seen at the end, could be the person
> who took it down in phonetically in Nandanagari script, as he heard it recited in kannda.
> As we translate more verses we may also come upon the composer's signature
> phrase (e.g. the compositions of Purandara Das have the word "Purandara vittala";
> Swathi thirunal compositions have the word " Padmanabha" and so on like
> the famous director Alfred Hitchcock appearing in one shot of his movies).
>
> N. Swaminathan
> Los Angeles
>
> ==================================
> >
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