fragment of terracotta molded tablet Tawadeintha (Tāvatiṁsa) pagod, Sriksetra
Version: (e58a53b), last modified (c4e1250).
Bibliography
ASB, has a brief report on finds at Tawadeintha that includes this tablet fragment. No transliteration provided.
Primary
Griffiths, Arlo, Marc Miyake and Julian K. Wheatley. 2018–03–26. “Corpus of Pyu inscriptions.” Zenodo. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.1207290. [URL]. Item DHARMA_INSPYU00090.
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<ab>
<lb n="1"/> va khaḥ<!-- MM: reading by AG in 2016-11-22 email -->
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<!-- AG: comments by MM in 2017-03-05 email, slightly edited by AG -->
<p>The script look like Pyu, though there are no truly unique Pyu features like a subscript dot, and it could also be Southern Brāhmī, in which case the language would be expected to be Pali. The closest Indic matches for <seg type="graphemic">vakhaḥ</seg> are Prakrit <foreign>vakkha-</foreign> 'tree' < <foreign>vr̥kṣa-</foreign> (the corresponding Pali is <foreign>vaccha-</foreign>) or <foreign>vakkha-</foreign> 'chest' < <foreign>vakṣas-</foreign> (no Pali cognate?). But
it is hard to to imagine why anyone would write 'tree' or 'chest' in isolation, and Pali <seg type="phonemic">kkh</seg> is normally spelt <seg type="graphemic">kkh</seg> in the Pyu corpus, so we are inclined to read here two Pyu monosyllabic words.</p>
<p>Both <foreign xml:lang="pyx">va</foreign> and <foreign xml:lang="pyx">khaḥ</foreign> are attested in Pyu texts. Alas, they are
only together in the present one, and without understanding the context,
<foreign xml:lang="pyx">°o khaḥ</foreign> in PYU <ref target="DHARMA_INSPYU00032">32</ref>, l. 3, could either be a nominalization of a verb <foreign xml:lang="pyx">khaḥ</foreign> or a possessed object <foreign xml:lang="pyx">khaḥ</foreign>, so it is hard to guess what the part of speech of <foreign xml:lang="pyx">khaḥ</foreign> is. <foreign xml:lang="pyx">°o va</foreign>
in PYU <ref target="DHARMA_INSPYU00020">20</ref>, l. 2, has the same problem: <foreign xml:lang="pyx">va</foreign> might be either a verb or a noun.</p>
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<!--ASB 1911, 6, 41.-->
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<p><bibl><ptr target="bib:ASB"/><citedRange>1911: 6, 41 (no. 3)</citedRange></bibl>, has a brief report on finds at Tawadeintha that includes this tablet fragment. No transliteration provided.</p>
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Commentary
The script look like Pyu, though there are no truly unique Pyu features like a subscript dot, and it could also be Southern Brāhmī, in which case the language would be expected to be Pali. The closest Indic matches for vakhaḥ are Prakrit vakkha- 'tree' < vr̥kṣa- (the corresponding Pali is vaccha-) or vakkha- 'chest' < vakṣas- (no Pali cognate?). But it is hard to to imagine why anyone would write 'tree' or 'chest' in isolation, and Pali kkh is normally spelt kkh in the Pyu corpus, so we are inclined to read here two Pyu monosyllabic words.
Both va and khaḥ are attested in Pyu texts. Alas, they are only together in the present one, and without understanding the context, °o khaḥ in PYU 32, l. 3, could either be a nominalization of a verb khaḥ or a possessed object khaḥ, so it is hard to guess what the part of speech of khaḥ is. °o va in PYU 20, l. 2, has the same problem: va might be either a verb or a noun.