Dear Bihani Sarkar, thanks for this precious detailed reference. Jan Houben
On Sunday, 1 January 2023, Bihani Sarkar <[email protected]> wrote: > Dear Professor Houben, > There is a reference to this in the text of the *Kumārasambhava*, as read > and commented on by Aruṇagirinātha and Nārāyaṇapaṇḍita, in the section on > Pārvatī's tapas. In Sarga 5, Pārvatī's asceticism to win Śiva is described, > and its transformative, purifying power is said to have affected the > surrounding environment, causing even animals usually at war to become > gentle towards each other: > > *virodhisattvojjhitapūrvamatsaraṃ* > > *drumair abhīṣṭaprasavārcitātithi |* > > *navoṭajābhyantarasambhṛtānalaṃ* > > *tapovanaṃ tatra babhūva pāvanam ||* 5.17 > > > > 'There [on Mount Gaurīśikhara], her [very] ascetic grove, in which, inside > a newly built leaf hut, she had built the sacred fire, became purifying: > even beasts there mutually at war were free of their ancient hostility ( > *virodhisattvojjhitapūrvamatsaraṃ*), and its trees worshipped guests with > choice buds.' > > > As the two commentators note, these--i.e. peaceful animals, and trees > being hospitable to guests (just like the ascetic)--are the special, > magical characteristics of the hermitage groves of great ascetics. Nārāyaṇa > provides the following citation to a source I am not yet able to identify, > thus: > > > *'tapovanocitāni viśeṣaṇāny āha-- virodhisattvojjhitapūrvamatsaram > ityādinā | 'spṛśati kalabhaḥ saiṃhīṃ daṃṣṭrāṃ mṛṇāladhiyā muhur' iti > āditapovanavṛttānto' tra draṣṭavyaḥ |* > > > [Kālidāsa] describes the qualities appropriate to hermitage groves with > the compound 'even beasts there mutually at war were free of their ancient > hostility'. "A baby elephant keeps touching a lion's fang thinking it to be > a lotus stem"-- such a description of a hermitage grove is apparent in this > case.' > > > I am not sure which *tapovanavṛttānta* the quote about the baby elephant > placing his trunk inside the lion's mouth with utmost ease is from. But > evidently in such tales of hermitage groves, which the commentator was > aware of, there is an idea that the dharma of such places is non-violence > and generosity between man and beast, not to be witnessed in the real > world. And that this dharma is a transposition of the ascetic's own quality > onto the surrounding environment. > > > It would be interesting to read the *Raghuvaṃśa* verses you mention below > in a parenthesis in relation to this. > > > Thank you > > Bihani Sarkar MA (English, First Class Hons.), MPhil DPhil (Sanskrit), > (Oxon.) > > Lecturer in Comparative Non-Western Thought, > > Department of Politics, Philosophy and Religion, > > Lancaster University. > > > > On Sat, Dec 31, 2022 at 8:44 PM Jan E.M. Houben via INDOLOGY < > [email protected]> wrote: > >> Dear All, >> Thank you all who have reacted with precious references to passages >> relevant to what is perhaps a kind of "radiance of peace" concept, >> expressed briefly in Yoga-sūtra 2.35, अहिंसाप्रतिष्ठायां, तत्सन्निधौ >> वैरत्यागः । >> It seems that only the extensive passages in the Rāmāyaṇa Kakawin to >> which Andrea Acri referred extends the concept explicitly to human society. >> I am grateful for the references to the Mahābhārata, Śākuntalopākhyāna >> (famously elaborated also by Kālidāsa), and the Telugu commentary on it. >> Also the reference to the Caitanya-caritāmṛta in Sanskritic Bengali bring >> us beyond the scope of Sanskrit literature in the strict sense of the word. >> The reference to Aśvaghoṣa’s Saundarānanda I find important because it >> concerns the legendary sage Kapila, known as one of the founders of the >> Sāṁkhya system of philosophy (as I have argued, Sāṁkhya was originally more >> a movement, partly in protest to Vedic ritualism, and became a >> philosophical system afterwards). >> The scene described in this reference is almost a Sāṁkhya illustration of >> the concept (later on?) formulated in YS 2.35. >> One part of a similar formula is perhaps found in the saṁnyāsa-vidhi >> attributed to a certain Kapila, अभयं सर्वभूतेभ्यो मत्तस् स्वाहा >> ।(Baudhāyana-Gṛhya-Śeṣa-Sūtra 4.16.4). >> The other part remains here apparently unexpressed, namely: the >> expectation that this declaration will lead to वैरत्यागः and to wild >> animals etc. to provide, reciprocatively, abhayam to the ascetic (and, near >> the ascetic, to each other). >> A very similar or rather parallel concept, expressed in different terms, >> is found, in my view, in the maitrī and maitrī-bhāvanā of Buddhism, as >> discussed by Lambert Schmithausen in his *Maitrī and Magic : Aspects of >> the Buddhist Attitude Toward the Dangerous in Nature*, Vienna, 1997. >> As we know that nonviolence was and is an important religious duty in >> JAINISM it would be interesting to know whether in that context, too, a >> concept of a "radiance of peace" was known or developed... >> With best wishes to all, >> >> On Sun, 25 Dec 2022 at 19:13, Jan E.M. Houben <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> >>> Dear All, >>> According to Yoga-sūtra 2.35, अहिंसाप्रतिष्ठायां, तत्सन्निधौ वैरत्यागः । >>> >>> which apparently means that when someone is thoroughly established in >>> non-violence, (mutual) enmity disappears in his environment. >>> Commentaries and references given for aphorism and referred to for >>> instance in James Wood’s translation emphasize that in this situation >>> *even* wild animals, no more attack their prey. An example is Kirāṭārjunīya >>> 2.55 (meter viyoginī): Vyāsa is looked at by Yudhiṣṭhira: >>> madhurair avaśāni lambhayann api tiryañci śamaṃ nirīkṣitaiḥ / >>> paritaḥ paṭu bibhrad enasāṃ dahanaṃ dhāma vilokanakṣamam // >>> “Calming even wild animals by his gentle looks, spreading a blazing >>> radiance around which burns away guilt, (but which yet) can be gazed at >>> (the sage, i.e., Vyāsa son of Parāśara, was seen by the king, Yudhiṣṭhira)” >>> (tr. following Roodbergen 1984, p. 143; cp. also Raghuvaṁśa 13.50, 14.79.) >>> Are any more convincing stories or anecdotes known in Sanskrit >>> literature, in which the peace-creating influence suggested in YS 2.35 >>> inspires animals or *even* humans to behave in a more peaceful way ? >>> With best wishes for a Peaceful Christmas New Year to all: >>> >>> शान्ते ! ऽस्मिन् लोक एधस्व विद्यातः प्रेमतस्तथा । >>> >>> तव भक्तजनानां च कल्याणमस्तु सर्वदा ॥ >>> >> -- >> >> *Jan E.M. Houben* >> >> Directeur d'Études, Professor of South Asian History and Philology >> >> *Sources et histoire de la tradition sanskrite* >> >> École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE, Paris Sciences et Lettres) >> >> *Sciences historiques et philologiques * >> >> Groupe de recherches en études indiennes (EA 2120) >> >> *johannes.houben [at] ephe.psl.eu <[email protected]>* >> >> *https://ephe-sorbonne.academia.edu/JanEMHouben >> <https://ephe-sorbonne.academia.edu/JanEMHouben>* >> >> *https://www.classicalindia.info* <https://www.classicalindia.info> >> >> LabEx Hastec OS 2021 -- *L'Inde Classique* augmentée: construction, >> transmission >> >> et transformations d'un savoir scientifique >> >> _______________________________________________ >> INDOLOGY mailing list >> [email protected] >> https://list.indology.info/mailman/listinfo/indology >> > -- *Jan E.M. Houben* Directeur d'Études, Professor of South Asian History and Philology *Sources et histoire de la tradition sanskrite* École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE, Paris Sciences et Lettres) *Sciences historiques et philologiques * Groupe de recherches en études indiennes (EA 2120) *johannes.houben [at] ephe.psl.eu <[email protected]>* *https://ephe-sorbonne.academia.edu/JanEMHouben <https://ephe-sorbonne.academia.edu/JanEMHouben>* *https://www.classicalindia.info* <https://www.classicalindia.info> LabEx Hastec OS 2021 -- *L'Inde Classique* augmentée: construction, transmission et transformations d'un savoir scientifique
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