Re: Devanagari

On Saturday, June 19, 2004, at 01:49 , Emily Zilch wrote:

> { 20040618,1245 | Ray Brown } "From Nagari was derived the
> proto-Bengali script and the Devanagari ("Divine Hagari") scripts,
> which in turn have given rise to other scripts including Nandinagari,
> Oriya, Gujurati & Maihili. The Tibetan script also can be traced back
> to Nagari."
>
> Don't you mean NAGARI or "City" Script & Devanagari or "Divine
> City/City Script of the Gods"?
"Divine Hagari" was a typo for "Divine Nagari". I hadn't anglicized Nagari
in my mail; but, yes, "na:gari:" is derived from the Sanskrit "na:gar" =
'city' and thus "na:gari:" is, as you say, the 'city script' meaning, I
guess, the script of urbane [sic] city-dwellers as opposed to the other
'rustic' or 'non-urbane' Indic scripts.

But "divine.......of the gods" is translating "deva-", the first part of
the compound, twice. My understanding is that the first part is Sanskrit
"deva" = 'heavenly'. But, I guess, "heavenly city-script" or "city-script
of the gods" is much the same, i.e. claiming that this version of the
Indic script is not only that of civilized city-dwellers but is also that
of the gods themselves.

> I always rather enjoyed thinking of Nagari as the "City Script". Sounds
> futuristic-scifi to me.
Maybe - but the notion of 'city' = 'refined, civilized, urbane' ~ 'country'
  = 'uncouth, loutish, unrefined' is very ancient. Probably harks back to
the earliest human urban settlements. And, of course, the claim that your
version of whatever is sanctioned by the gods or God is not only ancient
but, alas, still alive - as though human beings can, so to speak, put God
into their back pockets.

> A pain in the ass to write, mind you - written
> the near opposite of most scripts, that is to say making up-strokes and
> right-to-left strokes of the pen, adding the topmost last.
Ach! I've never seriously tried writing it - but sounds awkward enough.

Ray
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