From: N. Ganesan (naa.ganesan@gmail.com)
Date: Tue Jun 28 2005 - 10:25:18 CDT
NG >This fact is recorded in the Tamil chapter of the Unicode
>standard also. The unicode std. mentions using 2,3,4 as
>subscripts on the Tamil letters (k, c, T, t, p in
>transliteration). There are hundreds of books existing
>using 2,3,4 as subscripts or superscripts upon
> க், ச், ட், த், ப் (= k, c, T, t, p respectively in
>transliteration) to transliterate voiced and aspirated
>letters (called varga letters of k, c, T, t, p) on Indic scripts into Tamil.
Richard Wordingham asked:
<<
How are they combined with the vowel? Is
it C + V + subscript/superscript
digit in Unicode?
>>
I always think Tamil script books in terms of Venn diagrams. Tamil
books with no Tamil Grantha letters dwelling in the innermost circle
(the letters defined in Tolkaappiyam and Nannuul grammars),
There, Pure Tamil letters only:
க், ங், ச், ஞ், ட், ண், த், ந், ப், ம், ய், ர், ல், வ், ழ், ள், ற், ன்
Next, is the circle, in most common use, something like Unicode Tamil
code chart plus addition for anuswaram and vocalic r. Of course, the
outermost circle in the Venn chart is the one with numbered (2,3,4
super- or sub-scripts), vocalic RR, voclaic L, vocalic LL. This
ensures
one-to-one round trip transliteration between other Indic scripts and
Tamil script. Stripping 2,3,4 will yield the next inner circle. Then
there are well defined rules to convert all grantha consonants into 18
"Pure Tamil"
consonants to reach the innermost circle of the
Venn diagram, if the user needs/desires it. Another analogy: This Venn
diagram resembles the famous Hindu temples at Madurai (Meenakshi
goddess), Srirangam (Vishnu Narayana), Chidambaram (Natarajar, famous
Chola emperors'
bronzes in world museums) or Tirupati (Vishnu). Outer prakarams
(enclosures) lead to innerprakarams, the inner sanctum is the cell, if
you may, where the godlike Pure Tamil consonants reside.
Coming to your question of how the numbered
consonants and their corr. abugida series work,
please check the Vaishnava slokams page at:
http://www.prapatti.com/slokas/slokasbyname.html
The last column has the numbered consonants text
of many Vaishnava slogans. They will have
most of abugidas and the way numbered consonants
are employed. Note also the use of U+0bb6 (sha)
used extensively.
Regards,
Naga Ganesan
OT:
Many Vaishnava slokams were written in Tamil Nadu.
The most famous Bhakti epic in Sanskrit is
Bhagavatham inspired and written in Tamil Nadu
(cf. (late) F. Hardy, Virahabhakti. Oxford)
Bhagavatham is famous in Bengal, and popularized
in the West by Hare Krishnas.
Steve Jobs, Apple founder, had good meals at Hare Krishna
temple in his youth. See his talk at Stanford on the inspiration
behind aesthetic proportional fonts in PCs etc.:
http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html
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