kim ucyate bhavān?

I will not reveal* where that phrase was uttered since our topic of the day is scribal Sanskrit. My first exposure to scribes was reading a wonderful little work by István Ráth-Végh called "The Comedy of the Book" (as far as I know unfortunately not translated into English, but a German translation seems to be around). This witty collection of anecdotes and other curiosities had an entry on rather personal scribal marginalia on mediaeval codices, such as "I've got a bad headache today", or "Let a good cow be given to the scribe", or even "Let a nice girl be given to the scribe". I found this very amusing and little did I know then that I'll be spending the rest of my life constantly trying to pry what was going on with scribes on that particular day when they chose to copy a particular work. Baffling mistakes, eyeskips, etc. could be put down to external pressure: chatty wife, screaming children, equivalent of Bollywood music in the streets, bad weather. We'll never know. But as you all know, many scribes had absolutely no inkling what they were copying.

Enter Sarvārthasiddha of Maitrīpura mahāvihāra (the Kwa Bahal of Kathmandu just within the old city**) affixing this note to a manuscript of the Caṇḍamahāroṣaṇa now kept in the Bodleian Library (ms. Hodgson 2). Note that it was probably great weather in āśvina 1823 as the monsoon just ended, so bad Sanskrit is not to be put down to the rain.

yadā dṛṣṭaṃ tadā likhitaṃ lekhako nāsti doṣakaṃ |
jadi śuddhaṃ m-aśuddhaṃ vā śuddhanīyo mahadbudhīḥ ||

When (i.e. the way) I saw it then (i.e. just the same way) I wrote it, there ain't no fault with the scribe! If anything is clear or unclear [in the readings], the big-headed ones correct it!

Sorry for the colloquial translation, I just couldn't resist. It's a bit puzzling (amongst many other things) why the wise ones should correct good readings. But this seems to have been a trope. Here's another one from 1281 māgha (again nice and cool weather):

jādisaṃ pustakaṃ dṛṣṭā tādisaṃ likhitaṃ mayā |
jadi sudham asudhaṃ vā mama dokho na dīyate ||
udakānalacorebhyo musikebhyo tatheva ca |
rakṣatavya payatnena mayā kaṣṭena likhite ||

I wrote this just the way I saw it in a book. If anything is clear or unclear [in the readings], don't put the blame on me! I copied it in the midst of hardships, so it should be kept away from water, fire, thieves, and mice.

This guy was particularly bad: he even managed to misspell the name of his king (Anaṃtamīla for Anantamalla) and wrote 'Thoysday' for 'Thursday' (vyaśapati for bṛhaspati).

And there are doubtless many more. Please feel free to add your finds.

* I heard the anecdote from Prof. Sanderson.
** The fact that this Bahal is still within city bounds is Kashinath Thamod's discovery.