elisa freschiA quote from the Mahābhārata on sphoṭa? – elisa freschi https://elisafreschi.com These pages are a sort of virtual desktop of Elisa Freschi. You can find here my cv and some random thoughts on Sanskrit (and) Philosophy. All criticism welcome! Contributions are also welcome! Wed, 22 Apr 2026 19:06:15 +0000 en-US hourly 1 A quote from the Mahābhārata on sphoṭa? https://elisafreschi.com/2018/11/13/a-quote-from-the-mahabharata-on-spho%e1%b9%ada/ https://elisafreschi.com/2018/11/13/a-quote-from-the-mahabharata-on-spho%e1%b9%ada/#comments Tue, 13 Nov 2018 12:18:13 +0000 elisa freschi http://elisafreschi.com/?p=2924 Within a discussion on the sphoṭa in the Seśvaramīmāṃsā, Veṅkaṭanātha adds a quote he ascribes to the Mahābhārata. The quote is found in a different form in other printed works by Veṅkaṭanātha and in the various manuscripts of the Seśvaramīmāṃsā. However, I could not identify anything similar in the Mahābhārata itself.

The SM 1902 edition reads:

sphoṭas tvaṃ varṇasaṃghasthaḥ iti mahābhāratavacanam

The Mahābhārata statement “You are the sphoṭa, which is present in the conjunction of phonemes”.

Other manuscripts read varṇasthaḥ or varṇasamudāyaḥ instead of varṇasaṃghasthaḥ (both unmetrical). The Śatadūṣaṇī 30 reads sphoṭas tvaṃ varṇasaṃśraya iti mahābhārate ‘py ucyata iti cen na. The same quote is reused also in the Tattvamuktākalāpa with a different reading: sphoṭas tvaṃ varṇajuṣṭas tv iti yadabhihitaṃ bhārate sāpi śaktiḥ (v. 89, section 314).

Do readers know anything similar in the Mahābhārata? And who could be uttering it? Addressed to whom?

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