Zirkoff B. - Appendix (BCW vol.8)

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Appendix

by Boris de Zirkoff

H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writtings, vol. 8, page(s) 412-480

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412

NOTE ON THE TRANSLITERATION OF SANSKRIT

The system of diacritical marks used in the Bibliographies and the Index (with square brackets), as well as in the English translations of original French and Russian texts, does not strictly follow any one specific scholar, to the exclusion of all others. While adhering to a very large extent to Sir Monier-Williams’ Sanskrit-English Dictionary, as for instance in the case of the Anusvâra, the transliteration adopted includes forms introduced by other Sanskrit scholars as well, being therefore of a selective nature.

It should also be noted that the diacritical mark for a long “a” was in the early days a circumflex, and therefore all of H.P.B.’s writings embody this sound in the form of “â.” No change has been made from this earlier notation to its more modern form of the “macron,” or line over the “a.” Such a change would have necessitated too many alterations, and almost certainly would have produced confusion; therefore the older usage has been adhered to throughout. 413