# Anybody know Sanskrit? What's written on this stone? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 12, 2010, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-sanskrit-whats-written-on-this-stone/556911 "2010-10-12T19:50:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-sanskrit-whats-written-on-this-stone/556911/1 "2010-10-12T19:50:35Z")
This stone was brought from Tibet - unknown age, but it has something written on it in Sanskrit. I don’t even know how to look at it, if it is upside-down please let me know. But here it is: [Sanskrit on Stone](http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r156/Phlosphr/DSC_0305-1.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-sanskrit-whats-written-on-this-stone/556911/2 "2010-10-12T19:59:10Z")
Are you sure that’s Sanskrit? If it is, I guess it’s upside-down; there should be a horizontal line running across the top in Devanagari script. But I don’t really recognize the letter-forms. But then again, I don’t really read Devanagari script. Or perhaps it’s Sanskrit written in a non-Devanagari script. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-sanskrit-whats-written-on-this-stone/556911/3 "2010-10-12T20:08:18Z")
It might be [Tibetan](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibetan_script), and if it is then I think it’s upside-down. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-sanskrit-whats-written-on-this-stone/556911/4 "2010-10-12T20:11:37Z")
It’s Tibetan and it’s upside down. I’m not sure what it says – I don’t know any Tibetan – but it looks like the letters “a-ma-na.” ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-sanskrit-whats-written-on-this-stone/556911/5 "2010-10-12T20:15:08Z")
As seen in the article linked to by **Giles** , it’s the “om mani” at the start of [om mani padme hum](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Om_mani_padme_hum). ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-sanskrit-whats-written-on-this-stone/556911/6 "2010-10-12T20:20:21Z")
It’s not the same as “Om Mani Padme Hum.” The first letter on the stone is missing the diacritical that completes the “Om” and the last letter is missing the diacritical that changes “Na” to “Ni.” However, it’s possible that for space reasons, I guess it’s possible that some people use “A-Ma-Na” as some kind of an abbreviation for “Om-Ma-Ni.” I don’t really know. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-sanskrit-whats-written-on-this-stone/556911/7 "2010-10-12T20:23:00Z")
Yeah, I noticed the missing diacriticals but just assumed that there was some reason to elide them. Perhaps they were on another rock? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-sanskrit-whats-written-on-this-stone/556911/8 "2010-10-12T21:55:24Z")
That makes a lot of sense, perhaps dropping the first and last diacriticals are some way of abbreviating the text in a normal “Tibetan” way. I don’t know. If it helps, on the other side of this stone is a set of eyes… ---
**Author:** ![Omi\_no\_Kami](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a88e4f/32.png) [@Omi\_no\_Kami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omi_no_Kami)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-sanskrit-whats-written-on-this-stone/556911/9 "2010-10-13T00:34:20Z")
I don’t think the diacritics would’ve been dropped if it was intended to be a mantra, pronunciation is quite critical in those cases. Writing “om” as “a” is especially unlikely, as the two have very different meanings and the fact that “om” is written with 3 characters (a-u-m in sanskrit, a + narou o + the labializing suffix marker in Tibetan) is relevant in the mantra’s most typical interpretation. My guess is that it is a transliteration of something, although I don’t recognize the term. In Tibetan “Ama” is “mother” and “na” is a conditional marker, but they don’t go together like that. There is a Dagpo Kagyu tradition of Mahamudra philosophy called the “four-syllable tradition”, said four syllables being a-ma-na-si but I doubt the last would have been elided from any direct reference. “amana” also means “religious practitioner” in on of the prakrits, but the eyes on the other side are reference to a stupa and as such I don’t think a prakritic term would be written on it. So I don’t know what to tell you, but that’s what I’ve got. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-sanskrit-whats-written-on-this-stone/556911/10 "2010-10-13T01:44:00Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > I’m not sure what it says – I don’t know any Tibetan – but it looks like the letters “a-ma-na.” Check the radar range. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-sanskrit-whats-written-on-this-stone/556911/11 "2010-10-13T16:47:03Z")
If it’s a stone from a mani wall, that someone ‘liberated’, that’s not very good karma. If it’s a tourist purchase, you’re probably all right. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-sanskrit-whats-written-on-this-stone/556911/12 "2010-10-13T16:51:41Z")
> [@Omi\_no\_Kami](#): > > I don’t think the diacritics would’ve been dropped if it was intended to be a mantra What if it was just meant to be a souvenir? I suspect a lot of these things get sold to people like Phlosphr, who are not likely to be relying on it for pronunciation. In any case, “Om Mani” is not the mantra. It’s “Om Mani Padme Hum.” Its purpose might be purely symbolic. ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-sanskrit-whats-written-on-this-stone/556911/13 "2010-10-13T19:54:13Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > If it’s a stone from a mani wall, that someone ‘liberated’, that’s not very good karma. > > If it’s a tourist purchase, you’re probably all right. Actually, I work for a Buddhist School, and this was gifted to the school from a teacher who was studying in Tibet. Her home burned down in Tibet some 20yrs ago, and this was one of the few things she recovered. It has a great story, and one of her descendants gifted it to my school… So I think it means something, perhaps I’ll try getting a better picture of it and sending it on, this time with both sides. It’s definitely not a tourist piece. Thanks everyone, and thanks for the descriptors **Omi no Kami**. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-sanskrit-whats-written-on-this-stone/556911/14 "2010-10-14T13:59:05Z")
If it’s not a tourist piece that must mean it was intended for a mani wall and never made it. Maybe you should consider a pilgrimage to get it to a mani wall? It’s quite crude and may have been home made. All the more reason to see it reaches it’s intended destination. I’m confused though. If you work in a Buddhist school how is it, you don’t recognize this as Pali and the meaning wasn’t evident to one and all? Om Mani Padme Om, is singularly the most recognizable inscription and would be known to every Tibetan/Buddhist. ---
**Author:** ![Omi\_no\_Kami](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a88e4f/32.png) [@Omi\_no\_Kami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omi_no_Kami)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-sanskrit-whats-written-on-this-stone/556911/15 "2010-10-14T14:40:36Z")
Slight nitpick-it’s om mani padme _hum_- the first syllable is the impure mind, body and speech of the practitioner and the pure mind, body and speech of a Buddha, while the last syllable is indivisibility, in this case indicative of an indivisible union of method and wisdom. As for the souvenir/symbolic piece, I don’t know the original purpose or intent of this piece but in general it would be highly unusual- the diacritics are a necessary part of the orthography and people don’t tend to omit them- in Tibetan they most commonly indicate the vowel sound (every consonant is assumed to be followed by ‘a’ unless written otherwise), so there isn’t a good reason I can see to omit them. I don’t have any real expertise in Tibetan art or devotional practices though, so there could easily be a standard I’m unfamiliar with. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-sanskrit-whats-written-on-this-stone/556911/16 "2010-10-14T14:47:19Z")
> [@bibliophage](#): > > > [@acsenray](#): > > > > I’m not sure what it says – I don’t know any Tibetan – but it looks like the letters “a-ma-na.” > > Check the radar range. Tell Striker it’s gonna be another ten minutes.