RBM-COLLECT-indx.htm
by U Kyaw Tun (UKT) M.S. (I.P.S.T., U.S.A.) Based on Unicode Consortium, Not for sale. No copyright. Free for everyone. Prepared for students and staff of TIL Research Station, Yangon, MYANMAR : http://www.tuninst.net , www.romabama.blogspot.com
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RBM-COLLECT-indx.htm
UKT 160330: This collection of works was originally created 070724 in London, Ontario, CANADA.
Many in the original collection has now been listed in their respective folders. But new ones have been added mostly from my notes in my work from Macdonell.
• The Brahmin aka Brahmin-Poannar -
Brahmin.htm - Update 16042
• The Dogma of the Priority of Speech in Language Teaching -
VCook-dogma.htm - Update 011206
by Vivian Cook draft as of March 2001,
University of Essex, United Kingdom
•
Dance of Goddess Tara तारा
«tārā»
Watch videos of Tibetan monks :
-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SOzfMod3Co 140708
-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3K-yh7Jrnis 140708
-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jx8edTqkdU 140708 - Dalai Lama chanting
-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aJj_3HHEHI 140708 - many monks & nuns
chanting
and decide for yourself whether it can be related to Nat-pwè in Myanmarpré
and
{ta-ra nût þa.mi:} of Pagan, and also compare with Theravada of Myanmarpré.
•
Akshayapatra - inexhaustible vessel
•
Allophones of velar-plosive
consonant and aspiration
• Arundhati
{a.roan~Da.ti}
- wife of Rishi Vashishta
{wa.þaiS~HTa. ra.þé.}
•
Backgammon & Ludo
• Burmese Markets :
{Zé:}
• Caste system and the Vedas
•
Dipper stars
• Five Basic Elements
• Horse's mane
•
Indian game of dice
• Mora
•
Poisons and Antidotes
• Rishi Agastya
•
Royal ploughing ceremony :
the
{pa.HTa.ma. Zaan}
See a video on Thai Royal Ploughing Ceremony 2014 :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwkaVhfbKu4 140713
•
Sanskrit-Devanagari conjunct
क्ष =
{k~Sa.}
•
Theory of Multiple Intelligences :
{Zaan} and
{ñaaN}
• aksharas {Za.} & {Ña.}
&
• Burmese are taking over the United States of America
•
Manvantara aka age of a Manu :
an idea derived from the Theory of
Creation by Hindu religionists after
they have introduced of their Mahadevas:
the Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva.
There are indications that Veda
originally did not even lists their
names.
• names of apsaras :
Pal:
{ic~hsa.ra} aka
{de-wic~hsa.ra}
•
Shepherds and Goatherds
•
Veda, its divisions and subdivisions
• Vedinga - the beginning of Classical Sanskrit
•
Apabhraṃśa :
{a.pa. Brän-sha.}
•
Deeper meaning of a Bur-Myan word -
based on Pal-Myan and Skt-Dev
•
Development of the Akshara system of
Writing : Palatal non-hisser
{sa.}/
{c} च &
Dental hisser
{Sa.}/
{S} ष
• The Hunt
• Rudra and
{dé-wau:}
• Thirty-three Deva-gods
• Ashtaka Festivals - festival of Ma'nes
• Sayadaw
Khingyi Byaw
- the Abbot of Taungdwingyi
• The Mystery : the Third Eye
•
Mahadhammaraza Dipdadi
- the last
king of Bayinnaung (Taunggoo) dynasty
in Ava
•
Naungdawgyi
- the second Burmese
king of Konbaung dynasty
• Godavari river
(Marathi: गोदावरी )
• Lonar Crater Lake : Entrance to the World of Naga
under the surface of the Earth? Theravada Buddhists of Myanmarpré revered the
Naga. It is not a snake nor a lizard. It is not an animal, but equal in status to the Déva in the
Sky. According to Mahayana Buddhism, Gautama Buddha preached the Diamond Sutra
to the Naga first, only to be revealed to the Humans much later.
UKT120112:
{gau:da-wa.ti} basin culture in southern India should be compared to that of
{É-ra-wa.ti} basin culture in southern Myanmarpré. The word
{ta.leing:} probably comes from
•
Sacrifice of Daksha : Daksha दक्ष
= द क ् ष
-->
{dak~Sa.}
• Telugu
From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akshaya_Patra 120906
UKT inserts in [...]
Akshayapatra
(Skt: अक्षयपात्र)
meaning inexhaustible vessel,
is an object from Hindu theology. It
was a wonderful vessel given to
Yudhishthira [the eldest Pandava] by
the Lord Surya [Sun-deva], which
held a never-failing supply of food
to the Pandavas every day.
UKT 130221: The insert pix implies that Yudhishthira was reciting the morning mantra, the Gayatri Mantra -- the equivalent of Buddhist Peacock Sutra, which is usually recited while half immersed in water, looking up at the rising Sun.
When the Pandavas began their exile in the forest, Yudhishtra was despondent at his inability to feed the holy sages and others who accompanied him. At this, Dhaumya, the priest of the Pandavas, counselled him to pray to Lord Surya. Pleased with Yudhishtira's prayers, Lord Surya blessed him with the Akshaya Patra, a vessel that would give unlimited food every day till Draupadi [common wife of the five Pandava brothers] finished eating.
UKT: End of Wikipedia stub.
Go back Akshayapatra-note-b
- UKT 110801, 130221, 130702
Skt-Dev «ks» is an alternative for
{hka.}. It is a conjunct of
{ka.} and
{Sa.}. It is stable and behaves like a
basic akshara. However, when changed
into Pali it is split. [I have observed this in many words since 110715.] Note that Romabama uses
the Bur-Myan grapheme
for both IPA /c/ and /s/ sounds for
onset position in the canonical CVÇ
syllable. It differentiates them
only in the coda:
{s} and
{S}.
Row 1-column 2 (r1c2) akshara /kʰ/ is the velar-plosive voiceless consonant. The reader should note that in Bur-Myan and Skt-Dev, there is another phoneme close to it with the sound /k/. To the English speaker /kʰ/ and /k/ are the allophones and both are dubbed the voiceless velar-plosive which has /g/ as the voiced counterpart. My American friends cannot distinguish the sounds of /kʰ/ and /k/ , but these sounds are very clear to a Burmese speaker and to many of my Hindi-speaking friends of Asiatic-India origin who have settled in Deep River, Ontario, Canada.
Thus to differentiate the two
"allophones" I have to call /k/
as the tenuis-voiceless and /kʰ/ as
the voiceless. The reader should note
that the first three sounds of the row-1
of akshara matrix are /k/ (tenuis-voiceless),
/kʰ/ (voiceless), and /g/ (voiced).
They are respectively,
{ka.}
{hka.},
{ga.}, and their counterparts are क
«ka», ख «kha», and
ग «ga.» .
It is noteworthy that Mon-Myan
{ga.} and Bur-Myan
{ga.} are quite different. The Mon phone sounds like /ge/ to me, and according
to Haswell, J.M., Grammatical notes and Vocabulary
of the Peguan Language , 1874, Mon-Myan {ga.} is pronounced as <<kā >>.
What I would like to point here is this: each language of BEPS has its own
peculiarities, and the serious student should listen to authentic sounds of the
native speakers and not be content with the descriptions given by non-natives.
Romabama transcriptions are fine for Bur-Myan, because I as the author is a
native Bur-Myan speaker, but should be expected to be different from that the
natives in other languages including Mon-Myan.
The reader will
notice that position of <h> is
different in
{hka.} and ख «kha». I have
to change it for Romabama to settle the
problem of aspiration.
In the English dialects, GA (General American) and RP (Received Pronunciation or British), the word <herb> ('the medicinal vegetables') is pronounced differently. In Myanmarpré, then spelled "Burma", under the British in the reign of King George V and his son King George VI, when I was going to school as a child, I was asked to pronounce the <h> in <herb>. Burma or "British-Burma" to be specific, as a British colony had to follow the British accent. That was in the 1930s.
Then, on my very first trip to North America, in the late 1950s, I was asked to pronounce <herb> without the <h> sound. Then in the 1970s in Sydney, Australia, I was asked to pronounce the <h> again. I was a little miffed and I told my Australian friends what I think of the <h> and the problem of aspiration. Clearly the English-speaking world has an (a ?) h-problem which is unknown to the Burmese-Myanmar.
In Bur-Myan, <h> or
{ha.} is articulated way back in the
throat as a deep sound. There is simply
no aspiration to it. Because its POA
(Place of Articulation) is very close
to velar,
{ka.},
{ha.} cannot form a medial, and
{kha.} is not allowed. The
"h-after-k" was put in by
Western phoneticians as they came
into contact with the Indic languages
in the 18th century. Both the present
day Indians and Myanmars are still
following the western-view. But in
Romabama, I have to change it to
"h-before-k" to be in
conformity with the c2 consonants,
{hka.},
{hsa.} [what the English and Indians
think to be an affricate],
{HTa.},
{hta.},
and
{hpa.} .
I have already said that the Bur-Myan grapheme
is used for both IPA /c/ and /s/ sounds in
Romabama. However, you should note that
/c/ is the palatal-plosive, and /s/ the
dental-fricative-sibilant. The POAs are
quite far from each other. There is
clearly a need to differentiate the two
sounds as in Skt-Dev: च «ca» and
ष «ṣa» .
MLC uses two graphemes
for च, and
for ष . It shows that Sanskritists
in Myanmarpré are following their Indian
counterparts: ष derived from प «pa», and
derived from
{pa.}. I feel that since dental-fricative-sibilant
/s/ and bilabial-plosive
/p/ are worlds apart in the IPA (at least
in the Bur-Myan way) they should not have
similar looking glyphs. However, as
Romabama is intended to serve all the
five speeches Burmese, English, Mon, Pali
and Sanskrit, or BEMPS for short, I feel
that it is best to use
is used for both IPA /c/ and /s/ sounds.
Please note that Romabama is phonemic in outlook and that it cannot follow the IPA which gives the "precise pronunciation" and since there is no standard for Burmese as with the GA and RP, and since many indigenous ethnic groups in Myanmarpré have their own natural languages which uses the same Myanmar akshara, Romabama must serve all: to a pragmatist (an engineer) accuracy is more important than precision. Myanmar akshara is the unifying script of the land, and I intend Romabama to be a unifying script to bring many languages in the region as well as English together. - UKT110714
Go back allophone-velar-aspiration-note-b
-- UKT 130220, 130603
UKT note: There are no singulars and plurals in Skt-Dev & Pal-Myan, and I am obliged to drop the English plurals in translating individual words.
The names of the Rishis
{I.þi.}
aka
{ra.þé.} are confusing
enough, but when the names of their
wives are included it is sure to send
you into a head-spin. The following
note is on three forest dwelling Rishis:
#1. Rishi Vashishta, वशिष्ठ, वसिष्ठ -- Mrs. Rishi Arundhati, अरुन्धती
Vashistha वशिष्ठ, वसिष्ठ , is one of the Saptarishis --
वशिष = व श ि ष ={wa.shi.Sa.}
वसिष्ठ = व स ि ष ् ठ =
-- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vashistha 130604Arundhati अरुन्धती -
अरुन्धती = अ र ु न ् ध त ी =
-- SpkSkt#2. Rishi Vishvamitra, विश्वामित्र «viśvā-mitra», born as Kaushika and became king. The king and his army was hosted by Rishi Vasishta (sp. variation). The food for the guests was provided by Nandini the calf - the gift of Indra to Rishi Vasishta. The king tried to buy the calf, but when the rishi refused, the king tried to take it by force. The yogic power of Rishi Vashishta prevailed, upon which the king decided to become a rishi himself.
UKT 130604: I cannot get a reliable spelling for King Kaushika. The nearest I could find is कौशिक from SpkSkt.
Vishvamitra , विश्वामित्र viśvā-mitra "friend of the world"
-- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vishvamitra -- 130604
= व ि श ् व ा म ि त ् र -->{waish~wa}
{mait-ra.}
Pali form in Buddhism: «vessâmitta» -->{wéþ~þa}
{mait~ta.}
He became Rishi Vishvamitra, [UKT ¶].
[ex-King Kaushika now known as Rishi Vishyamitra was] more powerful than Vashishta. Indra sent his dancer Manuka to Rishi Vishvamitra to seduce him. Manuka succeeded and gave birth to Sakuntala, and Rishi Vishvamitra lost his yogic powers. Realizing his state, Rishi Vishimitra rejected both Manuka and Sakuntala, and regained his yogic powers. Again Indra sent another dancer to seduce him, but Rishi Vishimitra, in anger, turned the second dancer to stone. The rishi was reminded by Brahma to control his anger, and after much endeavour, the rishi came to control his anger and became a Brahmarishi.
... ... ...
In the Buddhist Vinaya Pitaka of the Mahavagga (I.245) [4] section the Buddha pays respect to Vishwamitra by declaring that the Veda in its true form was declared to the Vedic rishis "Atthako, Vâmako, Vâmadevo, Vessâmitto, Yamataggi, Angiras, Bhâradvâjo, Vâsettho, Kassapo, and Bhagu" [fn.5] and because that true Veda was altered by some priests he refused to pay homage to the altered version. [6]
[fn.5] P. 494 The Pali-English dictionary By Thomas William Rhys Davids, William Stede . [UKT 130603 ckecking found on pdf p915/1358, of TIL downloaded PTS:
Brāhmaṇa1 ... ..."the ten inspired Seers of old times, who composed the Vedic hymns"; their names are Aṭṭhaka, Vāmaka, Vāmadeva, Vessāmitta, Yamataggi, Angirasa, Bhāradvāja, Vāseṭṭha, Kassapa, Bhagu Vin I.245; D I.104; A III.224; IV.61; cp. VvA 265.See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vishvamitra 130220
#3. Rishi Gautama -- Mrs. Rishi Ahilya who was seduced by Indra (a character mistaken for Buddhist Sakka). She was redeemed by Rishi Vishvamitra. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahalya 130220
The above account tells us about three rishis, two of which were enemies of Indra. I am wondering whether this conflict tells us about the struggle of two groups of peoples -- the worshippers of Indra [the IE speakers who would become Hindus] and Sakka [Tib-Bur speakers who would become Buddhists].
I have come across an interesting article
about the Rishi families -- the forest
dwellers.
The Wives of the Rishis -
An Analysis of the Tij-Rishi Panchami
Women's Festival by Lynn Bennett,
Kathmandu:
http://www.pitzer.edu/academics/ilcenter/study_abroad/orientation/nepal-articles/03-Bennett-Wives-Rishis.pdf
130220. The downloaded pdf (28 pages) is
in ~~Lib-Indic.
From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arundhati_Hinduism 130220
Note: this Wikipedia page was accessed also on 120907. To make the link to the page active I have to remove the (...) around "Hinduism".
Arundhati
(Skt: अरुन्धती)
is the wife of the sage
Vashishta, one of the seven sages (Saptarshi)
{ra.þé.} who are identified with
the Ursa Major. She is identified
with the Morning star and
also with the star
Alcor which forms a double star with
Mizar (identified as Vashista)
in Ursa Major. [UKT ¶]
UKT, 120907, 130220:
¤ Morning star is now identified with Venus -- one of the most beautiful object just before sunrise when it can be seen. A person to be identified with morning star must indeed be exceedingly beautiful but need not be chaste.The pix on the right shows the ideal simple life of a couple: a male rishi
{ra.þé.ma.}. Though married according to their custom, they may have taken the vow of celibacy, and no longer have sex. We see this in the life of 'Buddha-to-be' King Vessantara {wéþ~þûn-ta.ra} (sp?) and Queen {ma.di} (sp?) after they abdicated and became rishis.
¤ See my note on Dipper stars - the Big Dipper, the Little Dipper, and the Tiny Dipper.
The Theravada idea of
The Buddhist
-- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bharadwaja 120908In the Buddhist Vinaya Pitaka of the Mahavagga (I.245) [Wiki-fn04] section the Buddha pays respect to Bharadwaja by declaring that the Veda in its true form was declared to the Vedic rishis "Atthako, Vâmako, Vâmadevo, Vessâmitto, Yamataggi, Angiras, Bhâradvâjo, Vâsettho, Kassapo, and Bhagu" [Wiki-fn05] and because that true Veda was altered by some priests he refused to pay homage to the altered version. [Wiki-fn06]
Wiki-fn04 - P. 494 The Pali-English dictionary By Thomas William Rhys Davids, William Stede
Wiki-fn05 - P. 245 The Vinaya piṭakaṃ: one of the principle Buddhist holy scriptures ..., Volume 1 edited by Hermann Oldenberg
Wiki-fn06 - The Vinaya Pitaka's section Anguttara Nikaya: Panchaka Nipata, P. 44 The legends and theories of the Buddhists, compared with history and science By Robert Spence Hardy
Arundhati, though the wife of one of the seven seers, is accorded the same status as the seven seers and is worshipped with them as such. [1] In the Vedic and Puranic literature, she is regarded as the epitome of chastity, conjugal bliss and wifely devotion. [1] [2] In post-Puranic epic poems in Sanskrit and Hindi, she has been described as “chaste and revered” and with a character that is “unblemished, inspiring and worthy of imitation”. [3] [4] In the Hindu culture, there are several beliefs, practices and traditions centred around Arundhati including a ritual in the marriage ceremony after the Saptapadi, a fast, a belief about imminent death, and a maxim.
Go back Arundhati-note-b
From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backgammon 120906
Backgammon is one of the oldest
board games for two players. The
playing pieces are moved according to
the roll of dice, and players win by
removing all of their pieces from the
board. There are many variants of
backgammon, most of which share common
traits. Backgammon is a member of the
tables family, one of the oldest classes
of board games in the world.
Although luck is involved and factors into the outcome, strategy plays a more important role in the long run. [1] With each roll of the dice, players must choose from numerous options for moving their checkers and anticipate possible counter-moves by the opponent. Players may raise the stakes during the game. There is an established repertoire of common tactics and occurrences.
Like chess, backgammon has been studied with great interest by computer scientists. Owing to this research, backgammon software has been developed capable of beating world-class human players.
UKT: More in Wikipedia article.
From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludo_board-game 120906
Ludo (from Latin ludo, "I play") is a board game for two to four players, in which the players race their four tokens from start to finish according to dice rolls. Like other cross and circle games, it is similar to the Indian Pachisi, but simpler. The game and its variants are popular in many countries under various names.
UKT: The Bur-Myan equivalent is the
{pa.hsic} game played with 6 cowries (small sea-shells) instead of 2 dice. I, as a child in the early 1930s, was familiar it with in Kungyangon (on the outskirt of the old ruined Mon city of Dalla) played by idle rich ladies of Mon descent -- my Mon ancestors. The "board" is a patch-work of coloured cloth carefully sewn together which can be stored away after play. -- UKT120906
Pachisi originated/started in India by
the 6th century.
[1]
The earliest evidence of this game in
India is the depiction of boards on
the caves of
Ajanta.
[1]
This game was played by the Mughal emperors of India; a notable example being that of Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar, who played living Pachisi using girls from his harem. [1]
Variations of the game made it to England during the late 19th century. One which appeared around 1896 under the name of Ludo was then successfully patented. [1]
UKT: More in the Wikipedia article.
Go back Backgammon-note-b
- UKT 13061, 160426:
Inset shows a slave market where slaves were appraised, bid & sold. There are no records of such cruelty in the history of Myanmarpré.
I remember reading, as a boy, the historical novel Kidnapped by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson (written in 1886)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kidnapped_novel 160426)
It tells about a Scottish boy being kidnapped to be sold into slavery in the Carolinas. It is based on solid historical facts during and after the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745.Pal:
{a.za. lak~hka.Ni.ka}
-- UHS-PMD0017
UKT from UHS: f. goat exchange [goat market].
In Myanmarpré
various exchanges where live animals are
appraised by professional appraisers and
are bought and sold. These exchanges are
held in major towns. At one time the horse
being the means of overland travel was
very important and horse exchanges were
very common. Until recent times, the
cattle exchange where oxen for use in
agriculture were bought and sold were
important. What is interesting is how
these meets are known in Bur-Myan:
{Zé:}.
Go back Bur-market-note
UKT 130601, 130721
The caste system was devised by the
{brah~ma.na.}
{poaN~Na:} to perpetrate themselves as
mouth-piece of the Brahma - styled by
them as the Creator. Therefore to avoid
confusion of terms, I am using the
compound word
{brah~ma.na.poaN~Na:}. Because of their
learning, they styled themselves as
the top or first class, the kingly class
as the second, the tradesman the third,
and the militarily conquered original
natives of the land as Shudras or slaves
and servants. They classed the females
including their own into the same class
as the Shudras and would denied them the
chance to learn the Veda
{wé-da.}. Apart from the four, are the Chandalas
{sûN~dð-la.} the 'out caste'.
Curiously, if you are to judge the
importance of the gods in the Vedas by
the number of hymns dedicated to them,
none of the 3 gods of the
{brah~ma.na.poaN~Na:}, the Brahma,
Vishnu, and Shiva are of importance.
This has led me to believe that the
Vedas did not belong to the
{brah~ma.na.poaN~Na:} originally, but
to the original inhabitants of the
land who had been now classed as
Sudras. See Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rigvedic_deities 130721.
The top three gods are: Indra 289, Agni 218, Soma 123. The prominent deities of later Hinduism (Rudra being an early of form of Shiva) are present as marginal gods. The number of hymns being: Vishnu 6, Brahmanaspati 6, Rudra 5.
The caste system is very much against
the views of Gautama Buddha who came
from the kingly class. Because of the
Buddha's ancestry, the word
{hkût~ti.ya.} is well known to the
Myanmar Buddhist. From this word,
and its 'negative'
{a.hkût~ti.ya.}, we can conclude that
the conjunct
{kSa.} is used in
अक्षत्र
«a-kṣatra» with
{a.} as negation.
Go back caste-veda-note-b
-- UKT 120907
As a child I was wonder-struck by the
stars in the night sky. Soon, a night-sky
atlas came into my hands, and I learned
to identify many stars. The easiest to
find is Orion - the Hunter ever chasing
Taurus
{praiþ~þa.} - the Bull. I was a mythology
buff -- on Greek and Roman mythologies.
Later, these myths about the gods
{dé-wa.} and goddess
{dé-wi} became useful in my study of Hindu
astrology, specializing in Ashtakavarga --
the Strength of Eight. Now lets go to the
stars - the modern way.
In Hinduism, as well as in Greek and Roman mythologies, the luminaries in the sky (or in their parlance "Heaven", were identified with gods, goddess and immortals. The modern Astronomical constellation Ursa Major is described below:
Ursa Major (Latin: "Larger
Bear"), also known as the
Great Bear, is a constellation
visible throughout the year in most of
the northern hemisphere. It can best be
seen in April. It is dominated by the
widely recognized asterism known as
the "Big Dipper" or
"Plough", which is a useful
pointer toward north [or Pole Star
aka Polaris
{Du-wän} -- used for oceanic navigation
since ancient times], and which has
mythological significance in numerous
world cultures. --
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ursa_Major 120907
Mizar is known as Vasistha and Alcor is known as Arundhati in traditional Indian astronomy. [7] The pair is considered to symbolize marriage (Vashishtha and Arundhati were a married couple) and, in some Hindu communities, priests conducting a wedding ceremony allude to or point out the constellation as a symbol of the closeness marriage brings to a couple. [8]
-- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mizar_star 120907
In Bur-Myan culture, the constellation
Ursa Major is known as
{hkwûn-nhic-siñ krèý} (sp?) 'seven-arranged star' .
In a way it looks like a large spoon
and is known as the 'dipper'. The two
stars at the cup-end always point to
the Pole-star aka Polaris or
{Du-wän krèý} at the true North in the
night-sky.
Although another group of 7 stars are
also known as the Little Dipper aka
Tiny Little Dipper, it is not the northern
stars. These seven, known as Pleiades
{hpyauk-hseip} also looks like a little
dipper and sometimes people got confused.
Polaris is more important to sea-faring
people, but to the Bur-Myan, an
agricultural people, the positions of
{hpyauk-hsaip} in the sky are indication
of the Myanmar Luni-solar seasons and
the coming of the monsoon rains. See
MLD MED2006-306
Go back Dipper-stars-note-b
-- UKT 130721, 130829
By
Basic Elements the ancients, both Buddhists and Hindus, did not mean our
present-day system of chemical elements of Mendeleyev Periodic Table. The
ancients divided the material world based on easily recognizable properties of
materials around us: Earth - cold & weighty, Water - cold & light,
Fire - hot & weighty, and Air - hot & light. These are the Four
Material Elements. A human body made up of these Four Material Elements is
incapable of animation. It needs an Energy Element to make the inanimate
body come alive. The Energy Element is known as
{a-ka-þa.Daat}.
It is said that Tantra Buddhism as preached by certain Arigyis in pre-Anawrahta
Pagan was the main reason offered by King Anawrahta in uprooting the Ari-monks
in the 11th century. Since his own father had become an Ari monk, it is true
that Anawrahta spared some Ari monks. It is said, he made his father the
monk-king attended by his own court. It is also said that on his death,
Anawrahta's father became a Nat known as "Nat possessing the White Umbrella.
See the Outer 37-nats Thirty-seven Kings of U Po Kya, {pa-ra.mi
sa-pé} 2nd printing 1999, p.36-51: no. 09. Lord with the White Umbrella,
{hti:hpru-hsaung:nût} . See my presentation of Folk Elements in Burmese
Buddhism, by Maung (Dr.) Htin Aung, Printed and published by U Myint
Maung, Deputy Director, Regd: No (02405/02527) at the Religious Affairs Dept.
Press. Yegu, Kaba-Aye P.O., Rangoon, BURMA. 1981. --
flk-ele-indx.htm
(link chk 140713)
See also Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahabhuta 130721
Go back five-elements-note-b
-- UKT 130721:
The word here is <mane> /meɪn/ . The ending "e" is the silent-E or "magic-E". It
is part of the split vowel "a_e", where the consonant "n" goes into the middle.
It is the most troublesome vowel which plays havoc with transcription of Burmese
into English. Romabama therefore avoids such split vowels and goes along with
IPA system of CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant). In Romabama it is given as
{main:}.
Differentiate the word <mane> /meɪn/ 'horse mane' from <Ma'nes> /mɑːneɪz/
'Ancient Roman spirits of dead' which are equivalent to Myanmar
{nût saim:} 'Green Nats'. The
{nût saim:} which is commonly shortened to
{nût}
are not to be equated to (Pali & Sanskrit) Deva 'gods' (in Bur-Myan
{nût-dé-wa}).
The Bur-Myan word
{nût}
implies a meaning "someone who must be worshipped - whether out of fear or
respect".
From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mane-horse 130721
The
mane is the hair that grows from the top of the neck of a horse or other
equine, reaching from the poll to the withers, and includes the
forelock or foretop. It is thicker and coarser than the rest of the horse's
coat, and naturally grows to roughly cover the neck. Heredity plays a role,
giving some horses a longer, thicker mane, and others a shorter, thinner one.
Some horses, such as those used in circuses or in mounted displays such as Cavalia, have manes allowed to grow down to their knees. Others have their manes deliberately shaved completely off for style or practical purposes. When ungroomed, however, the mane usually grows no longer than the width of the horse's neck, as natural wear and tear limit its potential length.
The mane is thought to keep the neck warm, and possibly to help water run off the neck if the animal cannot obtain shelter from the rain. It also provides some fly protection to the front of the horse, although the tail is usually the first defense against flies.
Ponies usually have the thickest manes, with horse breeds having tremendous variation in thickness and length. Other equids such as the donkey often have very sparse, thin manes.
UKT: More in the Wikipedia article.
Go back horse-mane-note-b
From: http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/india/games/ 110715
People in India brought the idea of throwing the knucklebones of sheep or pigs to tell the future, or to play a game of skill like jacks, when they first came from Africa to India about 40,000 BC. [UKT: From Africa? Nothing but an unsupported claim. UKT¶ ]
But people in India may have been the first to get the idea of carving those knucklebones and turning them into marked dice. The earliest known dice in the world come from a backgammon set from Iran, from about 3000 BC. Harappan people certainly used dice about 2500 BC, and the Rig Veda and the Mahabharata both tell stories about dice.
UKT: More in the original article.
{krwé ûn} - n. game played with cowries or dice. - MED2010-050
The local name of the game is
UKT: When I was growing up in the 1930s in Kungyangon, Hanthawaddy Dist., Burma [now incorporated into Greater Yangon], the sound of women playing the equivalent of the dice game could be heard during the afternoon hours. They did not use a die, but six cowry shells instead. They would throw the cowries into a porcelain bowl, and the sweet sharp ringing sound produced could be heard even from the neighbouring houses. And my mother would remark, "Those idle women - they should be doing something productive!"
Go back game-dice-note-b
{ma.ha ra.þé.}
{OÄM} - BoBoAung
{Bo:Bo:aung} -- UKT 130613
See The Cult of the Magus in Folk Elements in Burmese Buddhism, by (Dr.) Maung Htin Aung. Printed and published by U Myint Maung, Deputy Director, Regd: No (02405/02527) at the Religious Affairs Dept. Press. Yegu, Kaba-Aye P.O., Rangoon, BURMA. 1981.
-- http://www.tuninst.net/FLK-ELE/ch05-magus/ch05-magus.htm 130613
I have been wondering how to equate the Indic-Hindu Maharishi
{ma.ha ra.þé.} to the Myanmar-Buddhist
entities, until I came to Angira
{ïn~gi-ra.þa.}. Taking into consideration
the practices of both kinds, including
the question of celibacy [Hindu holy-men
need not be celibate, whereas Buddhist
are], the closest I can find is the Bodaw
{Bo:tau}. The most famous among the
Myan-Buddhist is BoBoAung
{Bo:Bo:aung}. Literally I can translate
the name as Maharishi Om
{ma.ha ra.þé.}
{OÄM} ॐ .
BoBoAung
{Bo:Bo:aung} is quite modern, and since
he was the childhood friend of King
Bodawpaya, (b. 11 March 1745 – d.
5 June 1819), we know his time-period.
According to the Bodaw
{Bo:tau} tradition, those with the knowledge of OM
{OÄM} do not die, but undergo change to
his body (made up of material elements),
and change to his mind (made up of energy).
Thus, BoBoAung
{Bo:Bo:aung} is a modern manifestation
of some ancient Vedic Rishis who have
been in existence since the creation of
the present world-order.
If you would like to know what his soul (in the Christian sense) is, the best answer I could give is: it is just the body of knowledge to which he is attached. To the Theravada Buddhist, the soul is not an entity, but an idea to which a person clings to until Nirvana or simply the cessation of attachment. The passage of the whole body of knowledge from the older manifestation to the new need not be a one time process. A personage like the boy Prince Siddhartha (the Buddha-to-be) was born with the First Knowledge or the First Jhana. He acquired the higher Jhanas only with practice. At his final Nirvana, he let go all his Jhanas .
Thus the Cult of Magus is in line with the Anatta Doctrine of Buddhism, and should not be persecuted by the monastic order in Myanmarpré. If you -- a modern Burmese-Myanmar -- need to pray to some spiritual entity, you need not pray to the Christian God, or the Muslim Allah -- you can pray to a Bodaw !
Go back Maharishi-Om-note-b
-- UKT 130721, 160404
"Mora" in Roman-Latin means a short measure of time such as "linger, or delay". In Abugida-Akshara languages, since the "syllable" is the fundamental unit, the idea of "mora" comes naturally. The length of the vowel is measured in time-duration to blink your eye. This is not the case in Alphabet-Letters languages such as English-Latin.
From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mora_linguistics 130721
" Mora (plural morae or moras; often symbolized μ) is a unit in phonology that determines syllable weight, which in some languages determines stress or timing. As with many technical linguistic terms, the definition of a mora varies. Perhaps the most succinct working definition was provided by the American linguist James D. McCawley in 1968: a mora is “something of which a long syllable consists of two and a short syllable consists of one.” The term comes from the Latin word for “linger, delay”, which was also used to translate the Greek word chronos (time) in its metrical sense."
My [UKT] study of Indic and Myanmar languages has led me to the view that in the Indian sub-continent where the languages are derived from Prakrit (Pali) of the Asoka, the mora is well known as Skt-Dev मात्रा «mātrā». The phenomenon has been well known over two thousand years ago. Sanskritists working over the Prakrit have continued the study.
All of our vowels are
of the form
{a.}
{a},
{i.}
{i},
{u.}
{u}, for
what are known as
{þa.wûN} vowels. For the
{a.þa.wûN} --
{é}
{o}, etc.
-- they are almost the same, because of which we can easily transcribe one
language into another without having to go through the intermediary of English.
This is the underlying principle in my study of BEPS (Burmese, English, Pali &
Sanskrit speeches written in Myanmar, IPA, & Devanagari scripts.). [Caution for
those who think they know Bur-Myan: don't use vowel letters for your examples.]
When I first came across the idea of mora in my study of Linguistics I was completely baffled, because what I was reading was written by one whose native language was English in which the idea of short and long vowels was missing. Read the above Wikipedia article, and you -- if you are Bur-Myan speaker-writer -- you will know what I mean.
Go back mora-note-b
-- UKT: 120130, 120914
With this little note of mine, I remember my long lost childhood friend Barbara Soe of East Rangoon who reportedly committed suicide (in 1955 or a couple of years before) by drinking concentrated Sulphuric Acid which she stole from one of the chemistry labs I was working in. What a horrible way to die!
I graduated about four years ahead of my childhood friends, because I had to leave school due to Karen insurgency and attended Saya Solomon's tutorial classes in 1949 from where I matriculated to the Rangoon University in 1950. The last time I saw Barbara was in 1947: we were in the Third Standard at Silva Dale English Primary School then. We never met again.
As a young budding chemist in the early 1950's I became interested in Forensic Chemistry, and then in Forensic Medicine. Why? You walk into a chemistry lab, and there are chemicals around you that can kill you, maim you, or just simply make you sick. Solids, liquids, and gases all alike are potential hazards. With a deep knowledge of chemistry, you can harm another person and can get away with it. What a macabre thought!
From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forensic_chemistry 120914
Forensic chemistry is the application of chemistry to law enforcement or the failure of products or processes. Many different analytical methods may be used to reveal what chemical changes occurred during an incident, and so help reconstruct the sequence of events. "Forensic chemistry is unique among chemical sciences in that its research, practice, and presentation must meet the needs of both the scientific and the legal communities. As such, forensic chemistry research is applied and derivative by nature and design, and it emphasizes .
UKT continues:
The words अगद «agada»
and गद «gada» together
refers to
¤ गदागद
gadāgada [Dev spelling by
UKT - 120130]
- gadâgada m. du.
'Gada and Agada', the two Aśvins
(physicians of heaven)
L.
(cf. gadântaka.)
[Page 344, Column 3]
-- MonWilli
From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agada 120914
Agada is one of the eight branches into which ayurveda medicine is traditionally divided. Literally, gada means a disease and agada means any agent which makes the body free from disease; however the term agada is used specifically for the branch dealing with toxicology, the description of the different types of poisons, and their antidotes. [1]
Agada Tantra is defined as a section
of toxicology that deals with food poisoning,
snakebites,
dog bites,
insect bites, etc.
[2]
[UKT ¶]
UKT: In the following paragraph, you see several names among which are three, which I presume to be of humans who have been deitiefied :
- Kashyapa कश्यप «kaśyapa»
- Vriddhakashyapa - presumably an extension of Kashyapa
- Atreya Punarvasu - ? - not found in Wikipedia 120914Kashyapa was a rhisi [an ancient thinker or philosopher] who had been deitiefied in Hinduism. He is mentioned in Buddhism:
"In the Buddhist Vinaya Pitaka of the Mahavagga (I.245) [9] section the Buddha pays respect to Kashyap by declaring that the Veda in its true form was declared to the Vedic rishis "Atthako, Vâmako, Vâmadevo, Vessâmitto, Yamataggi, Angiraso, Bhâradvâjo, Vâsettho, Kassapo, and Bhagu" [10] and because that true Veda was altered by some priests he refused to pay homage to the altered version. [11] Kashyap is an Origin of Orissa." -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashyap 120914The following video mentions another person, the Buddhist saint who presided the First Buddhist Council. See the video (Japanese ?) with subtitles in English: Buddhist Stories- Kashyapa Thero
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCoHxGECcL8 120914
The school of toxicology was founded and run by Kashyapa कश्यप «kaśyapa» , also known as Vriddhakashyapa, another contemporary of Atreya Punarvasu. He lived in Taksashila in what is now modern-day Pakistan. His text was called the Kashyapa Samhita. This, however, is a different book than the Kashyap Samhita of pediatrics. This text is not available now but the references of this text are found mentioned in different commentaries. Some other texts written by Alambayana, Ushana, Saunaka, and Latyayana were known to exist. However except for references to them, the original texts are no longer available. [3] [4]
The traditional practice of toxicology is still practiced by different families of vishavaidyas (poison doctors) who specialize in toxicology. However, their knowledge is limited compared to the knowledge possessed by the earlier ayurvedic physicians. In ancient times, it was the job of Vishavaidyas to protect members of the royal families from being poisoned, as well to poison enemies of the kings. [5]
Go back Poison-Antidote-note-b
From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agastya 130221, 130722
Agastya [UKT: the name is well known in Tamil, Telugu, & Kanada - south Indian languages. We may remember him as a southern rhishi.) is one of the Saptarishis who are extolled at many places in the Vedas and a revered Vedic sage and earliest Siddhar. He is also believed to be the author of Agastya Samhita. Agastya is a name of Shiva too. The word is also written as Agasti and Agathiyar. [1] A-ga means a mountain, and Asti means thrower. [2] Agastya the Muni, son of Urvashi was born of both Gods, Mitra and Varuna.[2] [3] Agastya is also the Indian astronomical name of the star of Canopus, is said to be the 'cleanser of waters', since its rising coincides with the calming of the waters of the Indian Ocean. He was son of Pulasthya, son of Brahma.
Siddhar [4] were spiritual adepts who possessed the ashta siddhis, or the eight supernatural powers. Sage Agathiyar is considered the guru of all Siddhars, and the Siddha medicine system is believed to have been handed over to him by Lord Muruga, son of the Hindu God Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvathi. Siddhars are the followers of Lord Shiva. [UKT ¶]
Agathiyar is the first Siddhar. His disciples and other siddhars contributed thousands of texts on Siddhar litratures, including medicine and form the propounders of the system in this world. [5] He is considered as the Father of Tamil literature and compiled the first Tamil grammar called Agathiyam. It is believed that he has lived in the 6th or 7th century B.C and specialized in language, alchemy, medicine and spirituality (yogam and gnanam). There are 96 books in the name of Agathiyar. [6] However, some Tamil researchers say that Agastya mentioned in Vedas and Agathiyar mentioned in Tamil texts could be two different characters. In Tamil language the term 'Agam' means inside and 'iyar' means belong. One who belong inside (soul) is the Tamil meaning for Agathiyar.
UKT: More in the Wikipedia article.
UKT 130723: It is claimed that the name
"Agastya" is depicted in the seals
of Indus-Saraswati civilization.
See Two Systems of Symbolic Writing :
The Indus script and the Easter
Island script ,
by Egbert Richter-Ushanas, 4th revised edition 2012.
http://www-user.uni-bremen.de/~ushanas/ 130723, 140713
Downloaded file in TIL library on SD-card ~~Lib-Vedic:
-
symb-writ-indx.htm (link chk 140713)
: no Intenet link
Go back Rishi-Agastya-note-b
• Rishi Agastya
•
Royal ploughing ceremony :
the
{pa.HTa.ma. Zaan}
See a video on Thai Royal Ploughing Ceremony 2014 :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwkaVhfbKu4 140713
•
Sanskrit-Devanagari conjunct
क्ष =
{k~Sa.}
-- UKT 130723
The royal ploughing ceremony was carried
out from ancient times right down to the
present, to show the king's connection to
the land. At present, the annual ceremony
is still carried out in Cambodia and
Thailand - both Theravada Buddhist countries.
The following Wikipedia article was an
extensive one, from I have taken out only
the Bur-Myan part.
The plough is of two types. The type used in dry cultivation is used for turning up the top soil. It has only one plough-share. For wet cultivation, in addition to "one plough-share type", we also use a second type. The second contraption is similar to a wooden-garden rake.
The first operation is done just after one or two rain showers when the soil is soft but still quite dry. In this operation you can see the furrow.
In the second operation, done after
flooding the field, the wet soil is mulched.
The plough-man usually rides the plough-bar.
In the painting by Saya Chone {sa.ya hkyoän}
given in the following article the plough-man
-- in this case the king in full royal
regalia -- rides the plough.
UKT 130723: The painter, obviously a Bur-Myan from northern parts probably had not seen an actual plough in operation. The plough has a hand bar for the rider to hold in one hand, whilst he holds the ratan cane in the other. See MLC MED-2006-207 for a pix of plough.
Wet-cultivation is more labour intensive, and the rice plants take longer to bear a harvest, but the quality of rice is much better. I was born in wet-cultivation area in the Irrawaddy delta and was used to the best varieties of rice which ars no longer available.
In northern Myanmar, where rain fall is
just a fraction of that of the delta,
the rice is of the lowest quality, and
you can get two to three harvests a year
from dam-irrigated fields.
The varieties of rice for wet cultivation and dry cultivation belong to different species of rice. I was told that the species of rice that I was accustomed to in my childhood have completely disappeared. This is heart-breaking for me for my mother was engaged in rice-trade during the years of WWII, and I even though a child know the ins and outs of rice cultivation, milling in steam-driven mills, and storage of unhusked as well as husked grains.
From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Ploughing_Ceremony 130723
The traditional date of the Burmese royal ploughing ceremony was the beginning of the Buddhist lent in the Burmese month of Waso (June to July). [3]
In 2009, the ceremony was held on May 11 in Thailand and on May 12 in Cambodia. The date is usually in May, but varies as it is determined by Hora (astrology) . In 2013, the ceremony and public holiday was held on Monday, 13 May. [4]
In the ceremony, two sacred oxen are
hitched to a wooden plough and they
plough a furrow in some ceremonial ground,
while rice seed is sown by court Brahmins
{braah~ma.Na. poaN~Na:}. After the ploughing,
the oxen are offered plates of food,
including rice, corn, green beans, sesame,
fresh-cut grass, water and rice whisky.
UKT 130723: Since alcohol is taboo in Myanmar Buddhist ceremonies, I would like to know the source of this information. Moreover, the common alcoholic drink is not the distilled kind, but fermented palm-toddy juice -- not rice, the source of information was a mixed up with the Chinese and the Japanese.
Depending on what the oxen eat, court astrologers and Brahmins {brah~ma.Na. poaN~Na:} make a prediction on whether the coming growing season will be bountiful or not. [UKT ¶]
UKT 130723: Two types of astrologers were present in Myanmar royal courts: the white {hu-ra:} (probably Myanmar Buddhist), and the brown {hu-ra:} (most likely the Indian Hindu {poaN~Na:}.
I hold that the Ploughing ceremony preceded both Brahmanism and Buddhism, in spite of what the Hindu religionists would like to portray. The king must always present himself the same as the common peasant, and the Western belief of "royal Blue blood", and the
The ceremony is rooted in Brahman belief [?] , and is held to ensure a good harvest. In the case of the Burmese royal ploughing ceremony, it may also have Buddhist associations. In traditional accounts of the Buddha's life, Prince Siddhartha, as an infant, performed his first miracle during a royal ploughing ceremony, by meditating underneath a rose apple tree {þa.pré}, thus exemplifying his precocious nature. [5]
UKT 130724: The writer of Wikipedia reference [5] is no other than one of my contemporaries, Dr. Khin Maung Nyunt, who had worked in the History dept. of Rangoon University. He is some years senior to me in age. I was from the Chemistry dept, where I started working as a full-fledged Asst. Lecturer in 1955. I retired from the university service of 33 years as Assoc. Professor and Head of Chemistry Dept., Taunggyi Degree College (now University).
As a skeptical chemist who doesn't readily accept anything given by the so-called "authorities" my views are bound to be different from traditionalists like Dr. Khin Maung Nyunt, who was a follower of British colonialist-historians such as Professor Luce, and John Jardine (who wrote the Introduction to Sangermano's work -- sang-j-indx.htm (link chk 140713)) who were of the view that everything that was "good" must have its origin in Roman and Greek cultures of the West. With this little note of mine, I beg my contemporaries and my old Sayas such as Dr. Htin Aung, to differ from them. See also my work on Dr. Htin Aung's Folk Elements in Buddhism -- flk-ele-indx.htm (link chk 140713).
Wiki ref [5] -- Khin Maung Nyunt (July 1997). "Lehtun Mingala (The Royal Ploughing Ceremony)". Myanmar Perspectives 3 (7).
Burmese chronicles traditionally attribute the start of this rite to the late 500s CE during the Pagan dynasty, when it was performed by the kings Htuntaik, Htunpyit and Htunchit, all of whom bear the name 'htun' or 'plow.' [5] [UKT ¶]
UKT 130724: The area ruled by Pagan dynasty mentioned above is in central Myanmarpré, which we call the "dry zone". The area because of its low rainfall could support dry-cultivation of rice only. It is the area where my father's ancestors came from. The people are only used to eating the harshest varieties of rice. I was born in the Irrawaddy delta, in a small town from whose environs my mother's relatives came from. The area was the most fertile for rice cultivation and the wet-cultivation was practiced. It is home of the most tasteful and sweet-smelling varieties of rice. My father's cousins did not like this kind of rice.
The kings whose names are mentioned above were all dry-zone people, who would only know the dry-cultivation in dam-irrigated fields
However, this costly ritual did not occur annually nor was it performed by every monarch. [5] During this ritual, the king plowed a specifically designated field outside the royal palace called the ledawgyi {lèý-tau-kri:} with white oxen that were adorned with golden and silver, followed by princes and ministers, who took turns to ceremonially plow the fields. [6] [UKT ¶]
While the plowing was undertaken, [Hindu] Brahmin priests offered prayers and offerings to the 15 Hindu deities, while a group of nat votaries and votaresses {nût hsa.ra} {nût oap} {nût htaim:} invoked the 37 chief nats (indigenous spirits). [6] The ploughing ceremony was a ritual to propitiate the rain god, Moe Khaung Kyawzwa {mo:hkaung-kyau-swa} in order to ensure a good harvest for the kingdom, and also a way for the king to present himself as a peasant king {taung-þu-kri:} to the commoners. [5]
UKT 130724: The above para is full of inconsistencies. All the Myanmar kings were Buddhists who would tolerate what we call the "heretical" Hinduism. The Hindu Brahina-poannas
The "nats"
In Thailand, the rite dates back to the Sukhothai Kingdom (1238–1438). During John Crawfurd's Siam mission, he noted on 27 April 1822 (near the end of the reign of Rama II)
UKT: More in the Wikipedia article.
Go back plough-note-b
-- UKT 110715, 130604
क्ष {kSa.} is a Skt conjunct,
and when it is used to check the vowel
{a.}, the resultant looks like:
अ क ् ष ् = अ क्ष ् = अक्ष् - note the presence of Devanagari viram the equivalent of
{a.þût}
अक्ष्
{akS} is of the same form as
{ahk}
[not allowed in regular Bur-Myan]. It is therefore similar to
{ak} अक् = अ क ् .
Killing a conjunct usually breaks it up and
is not allowed in regular Bur-Myan. However,
in Skt-Dev अक्ष्
is not broken up, and we will have to treat
it as a special case. Yet, when this word is
incorporated into Pal-Myan, it is broken up into
{ak~Sa.} which then undergoes a further change to
{ak~hka.}. I presume that this is because
Sanskrit is an IE (Indo-European) language
and Pali a Tib-Bur (Tibeto-Burman) language.
[I still need to look into this observation
further. - UKT110715]
I must admit that my friend U Tun Tint, retd. editor of MLC, does not agree with me that Pali-Myan is a Tib-Bur and is different from Pali-Lat. (outcome of a private meeting between U Tun Tint, U Han Tun - retd. Vice Principal, Taunggyi Teachers' College, and myself on 110704 in my office at 35 Thantadalan, Sanchaung, Yangon.) I wait for input from other peers. - UKT110704
Because of its stability in checking vowels,
I will be treating
क्ष {kSa.}
[= क ् ष ]
as a basic grapheme comparable to
{hka.} in this file.
Go back Skt-Dev-conjunct-kS-note-b
-- UKT 120912, 130726
UKT 130726: We should differentiate two words,
Bur-Myan:
Bur-Myan:
Mon-Myan:{Ñaan} - n. the intellect -- Haswell1874-064
How to translate ज ् ञ
= ज्ञ ? Is it related to
{Zaan} aka Jhana? Prince Siddartha
who later became the Gautama Buddha was
born with the First Jhana
{pa.Hta.ma. Zaan}. Through
practice, he acquired higher Jhanas.
Eventually by the time he became a Buddha he had acquired all the higher Jhanas -- total number being four -- which he enjoyed even at the moment of his death. It seems that Jhana is not normal intelligence that we are born with. It is some super-intelligence a man can be born with. It is said that by the time Prince Siddhartha became an acetic he had lost it. He had to practice meditation to regain it.
From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_multiple_intelligences 120911
The theory of multiple intelligences was proposed by Howard Gardner in 1983 as a model of intelligence that differentiates intelligence into various specific (primarily sensory) modalities, rather than seeing it as dominated by a single general ability.
UKT's addition:
Intelligence has been defined in many different ways including, but not limited to, abstract thought, understanding, self-awareness, communication, reasoning, learning, having emotional knowledge, retaining, planning, and problem solving.
Intelligence is most widely studied in humans, but has also been observed in animals and in plants. Artificial intelligence is the simulation of intelligence in machines. -- Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligence 120912
{a.þi.ñaaN} - n. intelligence -- MED2006-598
Gardner argues that there is a wide range of cognitive abilities, and that there are only very weak correlations among them. [UKT ¶]
For example, the theory predicts that a child who learns to multiply [an arithmetic operation] easily is not necessarily generally more intelligent than a child who has more difficulty on this task. The child who takes more time to master simple multiplication:
1. may best learn to multiply through a different approach,
2. may excel in a field outside of mathematics, or
3. may even be looking at and understanding the multiplication process
at a fundamentally deeper level,
or perhaps as an entirely different process. [UKT ¶]
Such a fundamental understanding can result in what looks like slowness and can hide a mathematical intelligence potentially higher than that of a child who quickly memorizes the multiplication table despite possessing a less detailed understanding of the process of multiplication.
The theory has been met with mixed responses. Traditional intelligence tests and psychometrics have generally found high correlations between different tasks and aspects of intelligence, rather than the low correlations which Gardner's theory predicts. Nevertheless many educationalists support the practical value of the approaches suggested by the theory. [1]
UKT: More in the Wikipedia article.
Now let me continue with Jhana:
I, as a child, was told the story of Prince Siddhartha at his father the King's Royal Ploughing Ceremony. On searching the Net for this story, I have come up with the following which is a little different from the Bur-Myan version that I have heard. However, the main facts are the same.
As a child, Prince Siddhartha
{þaid~Dût~hta.} was kind, compassionate
and thoughtful. One day, at the age of
seven, the prince followed his father
to witness the annual ploughing ceremony
at the beginning of the sowing season. [UKT ¶]
UKT: In the story I was told, the Prince was still in his cradle meaning at an age lower than the age of seven. The cradle was in the shade, and even as the day proceeded the shade remained in its place sheltering the child. That was cited as an example of the Prince's accumulated merits of his former lives.
While the king was busily engaged in the ceremony, the prince was left in the care of his maids under a shady rose-apple (jambu) tree. He was left alone when his maids wandered off to watch the ceremony.
The prince, not particularly attracted by the events, noticed a bird swooping to the ground and carrying off a small worm, which had been dug up from the earth by the farmer’s plough. The prince was greatly disturbed by what he had seen. “Alas! Do all living creatures kill each other?” he thought to himself. He realized that killing is suffering. Sitting alone under the big tree, he began to ponder in sorrow, over what he had seen. As he concentrated his mind, he began to experience the joy of meditation.
UKT: This meditative state of concentrated mind was described as the First Jhana. If so, I can translate inborn intelligence as a prelude to Jhana. The word Jhana has its own religious significance, because of which, I am not equating intelligence to the First Jhana, but only as a precondition for it. -- UKT 120912
When his father and maids noticed that he was not among the crowd who were watching the ploughing ceremony, they came looking for him. Under the tree, the king found his seven-year-old child in meditation. The king was deeply moved at the sight.
Go back Theory-Intelligences-note-bUKT 130609, 130901:
Fire worship is an
important ritual of the Hindu-religion, but not necessarily of the
Vedic-religion. The so called Hindu-religion is primarily a Brahmana-Poanna
religion, in which the Dévas and Asuras are always in conflict. The Dévas are
"gods" whereas the Asuras are "devils". It wasn't so in the Vedic-religion where
the Asura had NOT been demonized.
Looking into the Hindu-myth of the
Churning of the Cosmic Ocean, you'll see that the Dévas and the Asuras
took equal part, yet the Dévas "cheated" the Asuras of their fair share of the
Elixir of Life by a mean trick in which one of the chief Dévas, Vishnu, assumed
the likeness of a fair maiden who promised to both groups that she would hand
out a fair share to each group, but in stead gave all to the Dévas and nothing
to the Asuras. See Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samudra_manthan 130901
From: www.astropeep.com 130902
"According to Hindu Mythology, during the churning of the ocean, when Lord Vishnu assumed the form of Mohini to deceive the Asuras (demons) of their share of Nectar(Ambrosia- Amrit). But Rahu and Ketu realized that the Devas (Demi-gods) were up to no good, so they sneaked into the Devas line and drank a bit of the nectar. When the Sun god and Moon god noticed this they reported it to Lord Vishnu who assumed his Vishnu Roop (form) and severed their head with his discus (Chakra). But as they had already had a bit of the nectar, they did not die and hence the severed head became Rahu (North Node) and the body became Ketu (South Node)."UKT 130903: It is not the only time that Vishnu, against Dharma or Morality sided with the Déva. He ended up beheading the Rishi-wife of Maha-Rishi Braghu, for which Vishnu was rounded "cursed" by the holy man.
The language of the Hindu-religion is Skt-Dev, but we are not sure of the language of the Vedic. It may even be the language of the Indus-Saraswati civilization which did not leave us a script in sentence-like forms, but only in the form of short markings which are really "seals", not inscriptions.
In the oldest of the vedas, the Rig Véda, the Hindu-Trinity, Mahabrahma, Vishnu and Siva were minor deities compared to Indra (the King), Agni (the messenger), and Soma (the happiness-giver).
It is my conjecture that the Vedic-language probably gave rise to much-much
later Asoka script and Pal-Myan script. My conjecture is based on the Bur-Myan
runes, which are ideographs. The simplest rune, the {sa.Da.ba.wa.}-rune is
related to the Swastika of the Indus-Saraswati seals in which the circularly
rounded aksharas are written in while mantras are being recited. I also notice the likeness of
the "buffalo" headed-figure of the Indus-Saraswati seals. It can be seen in the image of Nankarein Mèdaw, a
tutelary goddess of the Mon-Myan, holding a fish to her bosom. We should also
note that the original inhabitants of Myanmarpré were the Pyus, who like the
people of the Indus-Saraswati were brass-age people. The alloy used was that of
copper and zinc, and not bronze the alloy of copper and tin. The ancient Jews
placed brass in high-esteem because it was not used as implements of war unlike
bronze. See in my notes on
Jewish Altar of Burnt Offering : users of Fire to send up the offerings . I
must suggest that the Vedic people were the Pyus of the Chindwin-Irrawaddy
civilization who later gave way the Burmese and the Mons.
Source for drawings from Myanmarpré:
MAX. and BERTHA FERRARS
First published in 1901 by
Sampson Low, Marston & co. Ltd., London and printed by
William Clowes & Sons, Ltd., London.
The Brahmana-Poannas
were IE speakers who do not have the phoneme r1c5, because of which they had to
borrow a grapheme from r3c3 and add a dot:
ड + dot --> ङ
Asoka-script, in which Magadhi (Pal-Myan) was written has a dedicated glyph
the likeness of which is found in (Bur-Myan):
{nga.} .
The phoneme
{nga.}
has the acoustic-element of
{ga.}.
Since there is no
{nga.}-sound
in Skt-Dev, it has to rely on a substitute
{na.}.
Because of this, Pal-Myan
{ag~gi.} has to be written as
{ag~ni.}.
Though Buddhists using Pal-Myan, have nothing to do
with Fire worship, Pal-Myan
used by Theravada-religionists have
a lot of words using
{ag~gi.} as prefix, because of importance of Fire in human-culture .
Go back aggi-agni-note-b
- UKT 110901,
Brahmin villages and Brahmin temples are of interest because of Payathonsu pagoda at Pagan.
From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agraharam 110901
An Agraharam
(Tamil: அக்கிறஹாரம்;
Telugu: అగ్రహారం)
or Agrahara is the name
given to the Brahmin quarter of a
heterogenous village or to any
village inhabited by Brahmins
{poaN~Na: rwa}. Agraharams were also
known as Chaturvedimangalams
is ancient times.
The name originates from the fact that the agraharams have lines of houses on either side of the road and the temple to the village god at the centre, thus resembling a garland around the temple. According to the traditional Hindu practice of architecture and town-planning, an agraharam is held to be two rows of houses running north-south on either side of a road at one end of which would be a temple to Shiva and at the other end, a temple to Vishnu. An example is Vadiveeswaram in Tamil Nadu.
UKT 130222: It is interesting to compare the architecture of Pagan Buddhist temples to those of Hindu temples. Compare Payathonsu with three spires to the schematic diagram of a Hindu temple above. I took a trip to Payathonsu in about 1970 to see a wall painting said to depict a procession of a bride being sent to an Ari monastery to be deflowered by the Ari before her wedding. I saw the painting, and I was told by the chemist on preservation work at the temple, who happened to be a classmate of mine, that it was a procession to worship the Goddess Tara and not what I had expected to see. Also compare Kandawpalin Buddhist temple to the one in Central Java Hindu temple in Central Java. http://www.ancientbagan.com/gawdawpalin-temple.htm 130222
With Brahmins taking up professions in urban areas and some migrating abroad agraharams are vanishing fast. Many of the traditional houses are giving way to concrete structures and commercial buildings.
UKT: More in the Wikipedia article.
Go back Agrahara-note-b
-- UKT 130726
We should be careful about the word "worship". We must differentiate, whether the "Fire" was held to be a supreme deva-god, in which case the word "worship" will have one implied meaning, or whether the "Fire" was "called upon" as a mere messenger to the "supreme deva-god" with another implied meaning. I suspect the ancients were just using "Fire" as a messenger, in which case these people would not qualify to be "Fire-worshipers", but just like the moderns using the telephone and Internet as a service provider. Though the Jews were using fire in sending up burnt offerings, they are by no means fire-worshippers
The ancients probably used another method
to send up a message to the supreme-deva-god.
The ancient Mayans and the Aztecs would
have one human (there had been cases of
volunteers), treated as a king and a god
for one whole year. At the end of the
stipulated time, his soul would be sent
up to the supreme-deva-god -- in other
words he would be "sacrificed"
with full pomp and ceremony. I cannot
remember the source from which I have
read the story. This presentation of the
"human messenger" and the usual
story of "killing enemies captured
in battle" as sacrificial
"animals" are exactly the
opposite of each other. The interpretation
of ancient events can be manipulated by
"modern scholars" particularly
the Christians missionaries with their
ulterior motives who would paint any other
religion (including the Theravada-Buddhism
of Myanmarpré and calling the Buddhists as
"idolaters") as that of the Devil.
See the stories of
• Iconoclast Controversy --
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iconoclasm 130727
• the Fourth Crusade --
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_Crusade 130727
From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_worship 110716
Worship or deification of fire (also
pyrodulia, pyrolatry or pyrolatria)
is known from various religions. Fire
has been an important part of human
culture since the Lower Paleolithic
[around 2.5 million years ago]. The
earliest known traces of controlled
fire were found at Gesher Benot Ya‘aqov,
Israel and dated to an age of 790,000
years, [1]
and religious or animist notions
connected to fire must be assumed to
reach back to such early pre-Homo sapiens
times. In the animal kingdom, the
controlled use of fire is restricted
to human species. As fire has also
destructive capabilities, the worshipping
of fire is necessarily ambiguous. This
is indicated in proverbs such as
"Fire is a good servant but a
bad master".
UKT: More in the Wikipedia article.
UKT: The Muslims are totally against fire-worship as evidenced by the prohibition of a Muslim male marrying a fire-worshipper. I remember going to a research presentation in English by Daw Kyan to the now-defunct Burma Research Society in the late 1950s in Physics theater, University of Rangoon. I can not get the original paper, however below is an extract alluding to the same idea from http://www.tax4india.com/indian-laws/marriage-n-divorce/marriage-under-muslim-law/marriage-under-muslim-law-2.html 110716.
"A Sunni male can marry a Muslim female (Of any sect) or a Kitabia. Marriage with the Kitabia, i.e. a woman who believes in a revealed religion possessing a Divine Book viz Islam, Christianity and Judaism is valid under the Sunni Law. But he cannot marry an idolatress or a fire-worshiper. A marriage, however with a idolatress or a fire worshiper is merely irregular in Sunni Law, but void in Shia Law. A Muslim woman cannot marry any man who is not a Muslim, whether he is Kitabia (i.e. man believing in a revealed religion possessing a divine book) or not. According to Mulla, a marriage between a Muslim woman and Non-Muslim male is irregular. But according to Fyzee, such a marriage is totally void."
- UKT 110716, 130608
Fire worship was probably not a Tib-Bur religion. It is almost certain
that they had worshipped the Nagas, the denizens of the ocean and the bowels
of the earth. Fire-worship was probably imported into India through the
north-western regions. Geologically, most of Myanmarpré - the heart land of
the Tib-Bur speakers - was under a shallow sea or was covered by a thick
mist most of the time when viewed from the heights of the Manipuri
mountains, when the fire-worshippers came on the scene. See my work on
¤ Myanmar Geology and Geography:
--
http://www.tuninst.net/MYN-GEO/geo-indx.htm 130608,
¤ Physical Geography of Myanmar:
--
http://www.tuninst.net/MYN-GEO/PHY-GEOL/phy-geo-myan.htm 130608
Naga-worship was probably exported through the same routes to places as far
away as the British Isles and the present-day Georgia, where they came to
have the story of St. George and the Dragon.
Go back fire-worship-note-b
-- UKT 120914
I have no idea what (or who, or why) have been pushing me, a material scientist and engineer, to go back to the Ancients, I simply don't know. In the early 1950's, I came across my brother U Saw Tun's text book Ancient Times by Breasted. Inside the front cover was a coloured photograph of Nefertiti's statue, with which I immediately fall in love.
UKT 130222: James Henry Brested (1865-1935), the American archeologist and historian, who defined the area of the Fertile Cresent, is instrumental in making me interested in Ancient Times. What I am studying now are two ancient civilizations, those of the Indus-Saraswati basin in India and Chindwin-Irrawaddy basin in Myanmarpré.
Then came the late 1960's, when I had some spare time. I went back to Breasted, almost line by line underlining what I had thought to be important and studying them again back and forth. Then about 15 years later, I took up my study of the Christian Bible, both King James and Gideon. I read both from cover to cover, at least two times each, again going line by line. I was struck with the Old Testament - which gives the history of the Jews. There were two Books which struck me -- the Book of Job and Ecclesiastes by a nameless person who calls himself a “Teacher,” ... “Vanity of vanities . . . ! All is vanity” (1:2). Now I am with the Ancients in India. -- UKT120914
UKT 120914, 130222: When you read the following, keep in mind that the Jews have no permanent home throughout much of recorded history. They were constantly on the move being driven out from country to country -- across geographical boundaries, and their sacrificial alter had to be designed to be carried away at instant notice. Thus, there was no special type of wood specified. Wood from the mango tree which would burn immediately after being cut shows that these wanderers have never seen the mango tree - a tropical tree abundant in southern parts of India and Myanmarpré.
From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altar_Bible 120914
Three separate piles of wood burned
atop the altar. The largest of these
was where all the portions of the
sacrifices were burned; the second
fire provided the coals for the Altar
of Incense within the sanctuary, and
the third was the "
perpetual fire" which constantly
burned on the altar. Nothing was placed
on it, and no coals were taken from it.
It existed solely to fulfill the
commandment that there be a perpetual
fire, as the Torah states: "And
a fire shall burn there on the altar
constantly; it shall not be extinguished
(Leviticus 6:5). [UKT ¶]
There was no commandment regarding the type of wood to be used; however, the Rabbis forbade the use of olive wood and grape vine, as these would not burn well and needed to be conserved because of their commercial value to the people. [UKT ¶]
Three particular types of wood were preferred: fig, walnut, and pine. These woods all burn well, and were therefore preferable. The choicest branches of fig were used for the second fire, the one from which coals were taken for the Altar of Incense. If all of the lamps of the menorah went out, they would have to be rekindled from the fire on the Altar of Burnt Offering.
... ... ...
In Exodus 27:3 the various utensils used with the altar are enumerated. They were made of brass. (Comp. 1 Samuel 2:13-14; Leviticus 16:12; Numbers 16:6-7). The altar could not be carved using utensils made of iron or of bronze ( Exodus 20:25), nor were any allowed on or near it, because iron and bronze were used for implements of war. [UKT ¶]
The Altar and its utensils were considered to be sacred, and the priests had to vest and wash their hands before touching them — even so much as removing the ashes from the altar.
UKT 120914, 130222:
In the above paragraph a distinction is made between brass and bronze. Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, whereas bronze is copper and tin. Incidentally brass was the alloy used by the peaceful Pyus of Ancient Myanmarpré, who would not wear silk because it involved the killing of insects.The Pyus were wiped out by the warlike northern Tib-Bur Nanzhao aka Nanchao (simplified Chinese 南诏 «Nánzhào» tribe from China, and by a southern Austro-Asiatic Mons, around 8th century AD. The Pyus, who had lost many males, were then absorbed by the 'horse riding' Mranmar-men (another northern Tib-Bur group) who took the Pyu girls as wives. (the later info was 'gleefully' given by my Chin friend, Dr. Twan) -- 120914
According to the Bible, the fire on the altar was lit directly by the hand of God [who I presumed is a deity - a Deva or a Rupa-Brahma] and was not permitted to go out ( Leviticus 6:12-13). No strange fire could be placed upon the altar. The burnt offerings would remain on the altar throughout the night before they could be removed ( Leviticus 6:9).
Go back Jew-Altar-note-b
Excerpt from Yajna, the Vedic sacrifice (offering) , by Octavian Sarbatoare -- http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/Sarbatoare2.html 120913
About the author: Octavian Sarbatoare (of Romanian origin) is a freelance writer (member of the Australian Society of Authors) based in Sydney, Australia. He has done research studies at Bihar Yoga Bharati (Yoga University) in India under the guidance of Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati the chancellor of the Yoga University. The main areas of subjects are: Yoga, Tantra, Veda, Yantra, Mantra, Kundalini, Bhakti, Sanskrit Terminology, Consciousness, East and West towards spiritual unity.
The shrauta rite was particularly attentive to what were the necessary objects and how they have to be used within the sacrificial arena. Particular attention was given to how the actions were to be performed or how the participants had to behave during the time of ritualistic activities. [UKT ¶]
The enclosure (vedi) of the sacrificial ground was systematically arranged in an arena suitable for that specific purpose according to what the ritualistic literature recommended. Some objects used were the woods sticks (arani or idhma) in order to help kindling the sacred fire by friction. Other objects were logs of wood (samidh) as fuel, the offering spoon as sacrificial instrument/ utensil (sruca or agnihotrahavani), the pressing-stone of soma stalks (gravan), the sacrificial vessel (camasa) holding soma and food offering, the list of objects being quite long. [UKT ¶]
Within the vedi there was an area known as antarvedi surrounding the fire-pit (kunda) in which the sacrificial fire (agni) has to burn various offerings. The antarvedi area has to be strewed with sacred grass (kusha) on which water was sprinkled according to specific rules. The fire sacrifice/ offering/ oblation (agnihoma) was patronized by the Vedic priests (ritvija) (vide intra) in charge with putting into the sacrificial fire articles consisting of nourishments (annahoma) like milk, clarified butter, cereals, fruits, various powders, vegetables and flowers, etc.
Go back kindling-fire-note-b
From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_rabbit 120912
The Moon rabbit in folklore is a
rabbit that lives on the Moon, based on
pareidolia [vague shapes that
suggest something] that identifies the
markings of the moon as a rabbit. The
story exists in many cultures,
particularly in Aztec mythology and
East Asian folklore, where it is seen
pounding in a mortar and pestle.
[1]
[2]
[UKT¶]
In Chinese folklore, it is often portrayed as a companion of the moon goddess Chang'e, constantly pounding the elixir of life for her; but in Japanese and Korean versions, it is just pounding the ingredients for rice cake.
UKT: The Rabbit on the Moon in Aztec mythology is not connected to the Elixir of Life. Neither is it connected to a mortar and pestle. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meztli 120912
In Bur-Myan folk-lore, the shapes on the Moon are those of an old man pounding unhusked rice grains with a pestle to remove the husk. He has a rabbit with him.
Go back Moon-Rabbit-note-b
-- UKT 130609, 130727, 130901
Whether the nickname Soup-plate was given to Queen Supayalat or her mother Queen Hsinbyumashin is immaterial. But the words "Soup-plate" and "Su-hpaya-lat" are quite close. Anyway both are quite notorious in history.
See also Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supayalat 130901. The following are my own notes.
There were usually four
chief queens, and under them were the minor
queens. The king also had concubines.
At the coronation, it was the custom for the king and the principal chief queen to be anointed, except in the case of King Thibaw -- the last king of independent Burmese kingdom, when the second queen, Supayalat (at the time age 19), out of line with the accepted custom posited herself in between the king (aged 20) and the principal chief queen.
The "queen-ship" just like "kingship" is an office which has official financial benefits, together with official residence, official dress and official jewelry to which the office holder is entitled. She may or may not have official duties assigned to her. A woman may be promoted to or demoted from an office. When a woman is dismissed, she went out empty handed and could only subsist by openly begging in public.
If
only King Thibaw had been a Hindu king of
{braah~ma.Na. poaN~Na:} religion, one of the principle duties of the principal
chief queen would be to go through a "mock" ceremony of having sexual
intercourse with the dead horse in Horse Sacrifice,
अश्वमेध «aśvamedhá», whilst all the
junior queens would be making lewd remarks for all the public to see. See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashvamedha 130902. I wonder what our dear
Queen Soup-plate would have done. She might then be too pleased to pass on
the "plate" to her elder sister!
King Thibaw like all Myanmar kings before him, had
For reasons of public order and security, a new king usually, reappoints the official queens from the previous king as his own queens, if she was not his mother or aunts in which case she and they would receive new titles and new benefits which are meagre compared to those of queen-ship.
Thus, in Burmese history there have been queens who had been appointed to a queen-ship by more than one king, e.g. Queen HpwaSaw of Pagan. According to Burmese customary law, a marriage must be consummated to be legal. Thus, the king must have sexual intercourse with his queen even though she might have been a very old woman - probably older than his own grandmother. Whether further sexual relationship took place was just the idle talk of the palace.
The principal chief queen could have official duties assigned to her, but whether a particular queen was a trusted advisor or not depended on individual cases. Many minor queens, usually daughters and sisters of under-kings and chieftains are held by the king as "hostages". She and her retinue, then, could very well be "spies" ready to do the bidding of her father the under-king.
Go back queen-soup-plate-note-b
{Za.}-Mon-Myan
UKT 130609:
I have always been intrigued by the strange
shape of r2c4 in Bur-Myan. It looks like
{sa.} with a
{ya.ping.}-sign. When I was creating fonts
for Romabama, I purposely made alterations
to show that it is not
+
{sa.}+{ya.ping.}:
{Za.}. At that time I did not know anything
about the Mon-Myan akshara.
Then came early 2013 when I started to
study the Mon-Myan language and I was
struck by the strange shape of r2c4. My
curiosity about this r2c4-akshara is fully
aroused. It looks like a
{za.} with a
{ya.ping.}-sign or {ya.ping.ha.hto}-sign.
Earlier, I had noticed that there are many
words in Skt-Dev with the conjunct
ज्ञ {z~ña.}
(= ज ् ञ) such as Jhana aka
{Zaan} with meanings similar to
what we would spell with
{Za.} in Pal-Myan. Note that there are words
in Bur-Myan spelled with
{Za.} such as
{Zé:} 'bazaar' which seems to be unrelated
to Pal-Myan. Then there are words such as
{Zaan} which you might say is derived from
Pal-Myan. This is the basis of my postulate that
Bur-Myan akshara is
not derived from anything Indic
but an independent script possibly from an
unknown script which had been used for
writing ideographs with supposedly magical
properties. This calls for a study of row#3
of Asoka script, particularly r3c2 which is
a full circle. See also: Jnana yoga
in Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jnana_yoga 130609
Jñāna yoga (ज्ञान योग; the pronunciation can be approximated by "nyaana yoga") or "path of knowledge" is one of the types of yoga mentioned in Hindu philosophies. Jñāna in Sanskrit means "knowledge".
UKT 130609: notice the remark about pronunciation "nyaana yoga" - which we would spell with r2c5. It high lights the pronunciation problems faced by the Ancients such as Panini who was codifying an ancient language (of Tib-Bur) into Classical Sanskrit for use by invading IE speaking tribes from the West.
Then there are English words ending in
<ism> in words such as <capitalism>
with phones that are similar to
{Za.}.
Now I am looking into Asoka or Brahmi script.
From the shapes, it seems that the ancients who devised the scripts of Asoka and Myanmar were of the same mind set. e.g. in r2c1 & r2c2, you see the same single circle and double circles.
Similarly, those who devised the Bur-Myan
and Mon-Myan were of the same mind set. e.g.
(Bur-Myan) and
&
(Mon-Myan). [Note: there are two versions
of shapes for Mon-Myan r2c4. The inset
on the right gives just one version.]
Now compare:
{ag~ya.} -->
{a.gya.} of row#1 to
{iz~ya.} -->
{a.zya.} and
{Za.}-Mon
I have another similar problems to look at:
¤ the strange case of words using the r2c4
in Pal-Myan and Skt-Dev. However this problem
would be better to look at only after more
study of the Skt-Dev corpus, and
¤ the problem of Bur-Myan r1c4, r1c5, and
r2c4, r2c5 in English and Sanskrit and
possibly in Pali as spoken in present day
Myanmarpré.
Go back ZZa1MonMyan-note-b
• Devotees of Devi :
Goddesses in India
The pagoda festivals are held in Myanmar on the Full-Moon days.
• Tipura-sundari
• Manner of Articulation (MOA)
UKT 130223:
See • देवी «devī»
UKT 130727: I am unable to pinpoint who this
{dé-wic~hsa.ra}, the celestial dancers (MLC MED2006-210) are not the same kind as
{mèý-tau} as an epithet for Mother Earth, which sustains all living creatures - without giving physical birth.
I am unable to get the Skt-Dev spelling
of [aghora-ghanta] which is
clearly a compound of [aghora]
{a.Gau:ra}, and [ghanta].
The first word is:
अघोर a-ghora
'not terrible' = {a.Gau:ra.}. The problem
is with the second word. I am assuming it
is घण्टा
ghanta [ ghantâ ]
= घ ण ् ट ा -->
{GûN-Ta} , -- f. bell. See Mac089c1.
So, is [aghora-ghanta] to be spelled:
अघोरघण्ट ?
If so, am I to translate the compound
word as "peaceful religionists
who uses the prayer bell in their
service". It reminds me of Bur-Buddhist
custom of sounding the large pagoda
bells.
See also:
http://www.lifepositive.com/Mind/Spiritual_Travel/Kashi_for_Devi_devotees52004.asp
130223
The Hindu religionists have taken hold of Devi or Shakti who was a Himalayan goddess. And so the present-day Hinduism is a conglomeration of three sects: Vaishnavism (वैष्णव धर्म), Shaivism (शैव पंथ «śaiva paṁtha»), and Shaktism (शाक्तं «śāktaṃ» , lit., 'doctrine of power' or 'doctrine of the Goddess') that focuses worship upon Shakti or Devi – as the absolute, ultimate Godhead. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu_denominations 120223.
I propose that, these sects had belonged to peoples of different linguistic groups, that had clashed some 4000 years ago:
¤ Vaishnavism (वैष्णव धर्म)
- IE (Indo-European) speakers who migrated into India from the north-west.¤ Shaivism शैव पंथ «śaiva paṁtha» = श ै व प ं थ -->
{shè:wa. pän-hta.}
- Dravidian speakers who migrated into India from the south,¤ Shaktism शाक्तं «śāktaṃ» = श ा क ् त ं -->
{shaak~tän}
- Tib-Bur (Tibeto-Burman) speakers, who were subjugated militarily primarily by IE speakers and made into servants or Shudra.
It is probable that many of the so-called "Goddesses" are natural phenomena and objects personified by Tibeto-Burman speakers. Such a practice is still prevalent in Myanmarpré where every object of importance was supposed to have a "spirit guardian" some of which are now classified as tutelary gods or {nût}. The following is from such a practice in Ancient India.
Goddesses in Ancient India
-- Prithvi Kumar Agrawala - 1983
-- http://books.google.ca/books/ 130610
Ashtaka, Ekashtaka Personifications Besides such personified lunar phases and the....day which comes in the beginning of the year, and the festival on this........
Besides such personified lunar phases and
the asterisms, we also find a tendency to
deify similarly an auspiciously held day
or some significant occasion. Of them
Ashṭakā (or Ekāshṭakā)
and Shashṭthī are the prominent
ones and often appear as personified goddesses.
Pix on right: Animation of the Moon as it cycles through its phases, as seen from the Northern Hemisphere. The apparent wobbling of the Moon is known as libration. From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_month 130727 .
lu·na·tion n. 1. The time that elapses between successive new moons, averaging 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes; a lunar month. -- AHTD
In AV III, 10-1-13 a goddess by the name Ashṭakā or Ekāshṭakā has been celebrated. According to the commentators this particular Eighth Day or Ekāshṭakā was the eight day after the full moon of Māgna, and as it marked the end of the year, or the beginning of the new year, the day was held in particular reverence.606 [UKT ¶]
Ashṭakā or this sole Ashṭakā was the eighth day after the full moon is clearly shown by the Atharvaveda.607 In the hymn dedicated to her praise this night is likened to a cow and addressed as the consort of the Year (sathvatsarasyapainī).608 She is asked to grant abundant happiness, children, wealth, cattle and the favour of the gods. Above all, she is lauded as the mother of Indra and Soma, and the daughter of Prajāpati.609 She is said to have brought forth her babe, the mighty and illustrious Indra, with whom the gods could subdue their adversaries and who killed in his might the Dasyus or Asuras.610
The Taimrīya Saṁhittā tells us that the Ekāshṭakā is the wife of the year, and on this night he dwells with her.611 In the Mantra Brāhmaṇa she is addressed as Night, the wife or counterpart of the year.612 Elsewhere she is equated with this earth613 and said to be sacred to Prajāpati.614
From the Tāṇdya Brāhmaṇa we know of a tradition according to which the twelve Ekāshṭakās (properly Ashṭakās, each eighth day following a full-moon day) had come to be believed as sacred.613 On the same lines the Grbyasūtras appear to enjoin more than one such day, i.e., three or even four Ashṭakās. 616 But the Ashṭakā par excellence or Ekāshṭakā seems to be held in special reverence and was celebrated in the month of Māgha. [UKT ¶]
V.M Apte has termed it as 'the middle Ashṭakā', of which the sacrifice of a cow or an animal (goat) was a distinct feature.617 As noted by Keith, "A very odd rite is prescribed by the Mānava school (VOJIV.211; MGS ii.9.1-3), for the evening before the last Astaka: at the cross-roads the sacrificer kills a cow, dismembers it, and divides the flesh among the passersby.618 It is interesting to note that in the Anvāshṭakya ceremony, or the rites following the Ashṭakā, the "Mothers" were offered their sacrificial share along with the Father. Agni and Soma, and they received particularly wine (surā) and the scum of boiled rice.619
Somewhat similar to Ashtakā is the personification of the full-moon night of the month of Margasirsha under the name Āgrahāyaṇī.620 It is in fact the fullmoon day which comes in the beginning of the year, and the festival on this occasion seems to make use of some of the mantras that were recited on the Ashṭakā festivals (i.e. AV III. 10.2-6; Taitt. Saṁ 5.7.2.1).621
More or less of the same type is the personification of Night, Rātrī, who seems to be hailed in one complete hymn as early as the Rgveda.622 She is called ... ...
Go back Devotees-Devi-note-b
-- UKT 140714
I wonder whether Tripura Sundari त्रिपुरा
सुंदरी is the
same as the Pyu Nat {þoän:pûn-hla.} and
her little daughter {ma.nhè:lé:} . It
seems that they were the original Mother
Goddesses, worshipped before the times
of the Buddhism and Hinduism, and could
not be called Dévis. See my edition of
Folk Elements in Burmese Buddhism
by Maung (Dr.) Htin Aung - --
flk-ele-indx.htm (link chk 140714)
and proceed to Thirty-seven Lords :
-
ch07-0408.htm (link chk 140714)
From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tripura_Sundari 140714
Tripurasundarī (त्रिपुरा सुंदरी - "Beautiful (Goddess) of the Three Cities") or Mahā-Tripurasundarī ("Great Beautiful (Goddess) of the Three Cities"), also called Ṣhoḍaśhi ("Sixteen"), Lalitā ("She Who Plays" [1]) and Rājarājeśvarī ("Queen of Queens, Supreme Ruler"), is one of the group of ten goddesses of Hindu belief, collectively called Mahavidyas or Dasha-Mahavidyas. She is the highest aspect of Goddess Adi Shakti Parvati / Durga.
As Shodashi, Tripurasundari is represented as a sixteen-year-old girl, and is believed to embody sixteen types of desire. Shodashi also refers to the sixteen syllable mantra, which consists of the fifteen syllable (panchadasakshari) mantra plus a final seed syllable. The Shodashi Tantra refers to Shodashi as the "Beauty of the Three Cities," or Tripurasundari. [2]
Tripurasundari is the primary goddess associated with the Shakta Tantric tradition known as Sri Vidya.The Goddess Who is "Beautiful in the Three Worlds" (Supreme Deity of Srikula systems); the "Moksha Mukuta".
UKT: More in the Wiki article
Go back Tri-Sundari-note-b
-- UKT 130907
From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manner_of_articulation 130907
UKT: [...] shows my additions.
In articulatory phonetics, the manner of articulation [MOA] is the configuration and interaction of the articulators (speech organs such as the tongue, lips, and palate) when making a speech sound. One parameter of manner is stricture, that is, how closely the speech organs approach one another. Others include those involved in the r-like sounds [{ra.kauk}- {ra.ric} sounds excluding "taps" and trills"] , and the sibilancy of fricatives [fricatives of hissing-sibilants & non-hissing-thibilants, and approximants].
The concept of manner is mainly used in discussion of consonants [of three kinds: plosive-stops, fricatives, & approximants -- TIL does not recognize affricates], although the movement of the articulators will also greatly alter the resonant properties of the vocal tract, thereby changing the formant structure of speech sounds that is crucial for the identification of vowels. [UKT ¶]
For consonants, the place of articulation [POA} and the degree of phonation of voicing [tenuis, voiceless, voided, deep-H] are considered separately from manner, as being independent parameters. Homorganic consonants, which have the same place of articulation, may have different manner of articulation. Often nasality [nose] and laterality [tongue flatness] [roundness of lips] are included in manner, but some phoneticians, such as Peter Ladefoged, consider them to be independent.
UKT: more in the Wikipedia article.
Go back MOA-note-b
,
,
-- UKT 110715,120529, 130527, 130618, 140708:
I have been on the problem of relationship of r2c4
{Za.},
{Ña.},
&
{ña.}
for 3 years. Here is a new observation from the relationship of Bur-Myan
{Ña.},
and Pal-Myan
{ña.}.
Though
{Ña.} is the basic akshara of cell r2c5, the basic akshara of this cell in
Pal-Myan is
{ña.}.
In Pal-Myan
{Ña.}
is a conjunct which breaks up on killing with a viram:
Bur-Myan :
{Ñ}
Pal-Myan:{ñ} +
The case of Bur-Myan
{Ña.}
is similar to {ya.}:
Bur-Myan :
{ya.} + viram -->
{ý}
Because of this, and also because of the vowel preceding the killed consonants
(I will leave this out of the discussion at present), I have identified
{Ña.}
to be the palatal approximant by the side of
{ya.}
the velar approximant. See Introduction to Romabama -
RBM-intro-indx.htm (link chk 140708)
The r2c4 akshara is interesting on the following accounts:
# 1. the shapes of various glyphs in Bur-Myan, Mon-Myan, and Skt-Dev
#2. the izza series
#3. the meanings of Bur-Myan words derived from this akshara.
UKT 130527: The akshara r2c4 seems to be missing at one time in all languages of Burmese, Mon, and Sanskrit. They seem to be been borrowed from the existing glyphs:
Bur-Myan:
{ya.ping.}-sign --?>
Mon-Myan:
Mon-Myan:{ha.hto:} --?>
Note: I am finding 2 versions in Mon-Myan: one with{ha.hto:} and another without. Which version is right is not my concern, for I am interested in
{ya.ping.} only for comparison to Bur-Myan.
Skt-Dev: ड + ा --?> झ
Skt-Dev, stand-in:{z~ña.} ज्ञ
There are two conjuncts which had confused me: क्ष & ज्ञ . I did not even realized that they are conjuncts, and I searched the basic Devanagari akshara table in vain.
From the meaning of words with क्ष ,
I realized that it takes the place of
{hka.} ख sometimes, e.g. in the
name of the ancient Pyu (Myanmar) city.
Not long after I differentiated the
palatal plosive-stop
{sa.} च from dental fricative
hissing sibilant
{Sa.} ष , I came to realize that
क्ष = क ् ष ,
i.e.
However the conjunct ज्ञ continued to trouble me for many months stretching to a year. Using the same technique with क्ष , I broke it up:
ज्ञ = ज ् ञ
i.e.Now, I am wondering if
-- UKT 120529, 130527
Coming back to p005 a second time after the lapse of many months, I am noticing a series which I have missed before, and which I have dubbed the Izza series:
{iz~za.} ,
{iz~Za.},
{iz~ña.} ,
{iz~ma.},
{iz~a.}
You'll notice that the sounds of this series is highly fricative and hissing (sibilant). I will try to find if there is a corresponding series in Pali, particularly Pal-Myan. -- UKT120529
I first came on
{iz~ña.} of this series on 120529.
The vertical conjunct,
{z~ña.}, reminds me of a series of English
sounds in words, <skin> /sk/,
<stingy> /st/, <spin> /sp/,
which which are not properly pronounced
by Bur-Myan.
I had expected a section header for
{Za.} . However, there is none in the
scanned pages. Instead of which,
Macdonell lists
{z~ña.} a vertical conjunct of
{za.} over
{ña.}. Instead of a vertical conjunct,
I find words spelled as horizontal conjunct
ज ् ञ -->
ज्ञ in Skt-Dev.
However, I have represented this conjunction
in Bur-Myan and Romabama as a vertical
conjunct between
We should note that this akshara
{Zaan} commonly understood as the 'ability to fly through air', and for
Since, in row #2, we have the order
{za.} ज ,
{Za.} झ ,
{ña.} ञ , I was expecting to see
{iz~Za.} before
{iz~ña.}. Macdonell Sanskrit-dictionary
does not list them, however Monier-Williams
Sanskrit-dictionary (Mon-Willi010) does. We
also find them in PTS Pali-dictionary
(PTS010 thru 013).
¤ ajjukā : ajjukā f. (in the drama) a courtezan
¤ ajjhaṭā : ajjhaṭā f. the plant Flacourtia Cataphracta (= ajaṭā and ajaḍā)
¤ ajjhala : ajjhala m. a burning coal
¤ ajña : a-jña mfn. (√jñā), not knowing • ignorant, inexperienced • unconscious • unwise, stupid
You'll note that
{iz~ña.} is more difficult to pronounce than
{iz~Za.}. This is one of the observations
I have made on pronouncing Pali and
Sanskrit words. Bur-Myan words being free
of highly fricative sounds are easier to
pronounce than Sanskrit words. Because
Pali is relatively free of such fricatives,
I conjecture that Pal-Myan was also a
Tibeto-Burman language.
{Za.}-- UKT UKT110719, 120106, 120529
{Za.} is connected to Pal-Myan
{Za-na.} (UHS-PMD0420) 'close observation'
implying 'close contact between mind and
matter', to bring on 'insight and wisdom'.
The Bur-Myan
{Zé:} 'bazaar' implying 'close contact
between people for commercial-interaction'
is probably related to this word.
- UHS-PMD0420
UKT 130527: The word
Words in section are spelled with the horizontal
conjunct ज ् ञ
--> ज्ञ in Skt-Dev. I will
represent this conjunction in Bur-Myan and
Romabama as a vertical conjunct of
{za.} over
{ña.} -->
{iz~ña.}. This reminds us of a very common
Bur-Myan word probably derived from a
horizontal conjunction between
{ña.} and another
{ña.} -->
{Ña.} 'night', implying 'darkness
-->absence of light --> ignorance'.
I am waiting for input from my peers.
Go back ak-ZZa1-note-b
UKT 130618:
The pythons are very large and strong snakes. It is reported that
they can grow to lengths of 100+ feet weighing several tons. Very large
pythons are said to be able to swallow a full grown water-buffalo or cow
with the horns of the victim intact. Of course the horns would stick out of
the belly of the snake with no obvious harm to the snake. They are
non-poisonous. There had been stories about big snakes from professional
hunters and the vets who had built the Ledo road across northern Myanmarpré,
but I could not get hold of them except:
http://www.defense.gov/News/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=25745 130728
The Burmese-python is well known in the West. The word
"Burmese-python" is a word by itself and you cannot change the prefix
'Burmese' to "Myanmar". Tongue-in-cheek you can say: it is one of the
species of Burmese, together with the Burmese-cat, and a wild creeper (a
plant), that is slowly taking
over the United States.
See Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burmese_Python 130618 , and,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burmese_Pythons_in_Florida 130618
Go back Bur-in-US-note-b
-- UKT 130728
If you go by the number of hymns sung in
Rig originally, the did not pay
much attention to the Deva-gods or Mahadevas
of the modern Hindus: the Brahma, Vishnu,
and Siva.
See Deities by Prominence in
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rigvedic_deities 130728
Manu is also an idea of the Hindu religionists.
I am wondering whether Rig had
belonged to the original inhabitants of
India -- the Tibeto-Burman speakers, who
had worshipped the Mother Goddess. The
following is from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_goddess 130728
"In Hinduism, the Mother of all
creation is called "Gayatri".
Gayatri is the name of one of the most
important Vedic hymns consisting of
twenty-four syllables. ..."
Of course, the Hindu-religionists took over Gayatri and identify her with their Mahadevas, the Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva.
From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manvantara 120110
Manvantara or Manuvantara [1], or age of a Manu [2], the Hindu progenitor of mankind, is an astronomical period of time measurement. Manvantara is a Sanskrit sandhi, a combination of words manu and antara, manu-antara or manvantara, literally meaning the duration of a Manu, or his life span [3].
Each Manvantara is created and ruled by a specific Manu, who in turn is created by Brahma, the Creator himself. Manu creates the world, and all its species during that period of time, each Manvantara lasts the lifetime of a Manu, upon whose death, Brahma creates another Manu to continue the cycle of Creation or Shristi, Vishnu on his part takes a new Avatar, and also a new Indra and Saptarishis are appointed.
Eventually it takes 14 Manus and their respective Manvantaras to create a Kalpa, Aeon, or a ‘Day of Brahma, according to the Hindu Time Cycles and also the Vedic timeline. Thereafter, at the end of each Kalpa, there is a period - same as Kalpa - of dissolution or Pralaya [4], wherein the world (earth and all life forms, but not the entire universe itself) is destroyed and lies in a state of rest, which is called the, Night of Brahma’.
After that the creator, Brahma starts his cycle of creation all over again, in an endless cycle of creation followed by Destruction for which Shiva, Hindu God of destruction, and also renewal, is invoked towards the end of each such cycle [5].
UKT: More in the Wikipedia article.
Go back Manvantara-note-b
-- UKT130619 , 130803
Who are the Apsara or Deva-apsara?
They are described in Bur-Myan as
{dé-wic~hsa.ra} 'female Nat'
{nût-þa.mi:} but different from
{dé-wi} who are also described as
'female Nat'. See UTM-PDD105. However,
both are differentiated from female
Ma'nes commonly described as 'green Nat'.
The word Deva-apsara being made up two
words can be compounded into
{dé-wic~hsa.ra}. They are described as
female Gandhava
गन्धर्व
«gandharva». They are present in both
Buddhist and Hindu religions. See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gandharva
130803 .
From: http://www.hinduismmythology.com/hindumythology/hinduGod/apsara.htm 130620
Apsaras are said to be able to change their shape at will, and rule over the fortunes of gaming and gambling. Urvasi, Menaka, Rambha and Tilottama are the most famous among them. Apsaras are sometimes compared to the muses of ancient Greece, with each of the 26 Apsaras at Indra's court representing a distinct aspect of the performing arts. Apsaras are associated with water; thus, they may be compared to the nymphs, dryads and naiads of ancient Greece. They are associated with fertility rites.
There are two types of Apsaras;
-- Laukika (worldly), of whom
thirty-four are specified, and
-- Daivika (divine), of which there
are ten.
From: http://www.shreedarshan.com/rambha-apsara.htm 110717
Apsara is the most beautiful, charming and supernatural celestial female being in the Heaven, among the Devlok ( Gods) and Rambha is the queen of all Apsaras.
Rambha is super talented and symbol of a ideal mesmerizing dancer. She is also expert in music and love-making. Apsaras entertain the demi-gods by their magical singing and dancing.
The king of gods, Indra requested her many times times to seduce the sages and break their meditation, so as to test their purity. Accordingly, Rambha was successful in breaking the concentration of Rishi Vishwamitra, who then cursed her to become a rock for ten thousand years.
Some texts say that there are 108 Apsara's in all where as other say that there are 1008 in all. However names of the 51 Apsaras are mentioned below in alphabetical order:
Alamvusha, Ambika, Anavadya, Anuchana, Aruna, Asita,
Budbuda,
Chandrajyotsna,
Devi,
Ghritachi, Gunamukhya, Gunuvara,
Harsha,
Indralaxmi,
Kamya, Karnika, Keshini, Kshema.
Lata, Laxmana,
Manorama, Marichi, Menaka, Mishrasthala, Mrugakshi.
Nabhidarshana.
Purvachitti, Pushpadeha.
Rakshita, Rambha, Ritushala.
Sahajanya, Samichi, Saurbhedi, Sharadvati, Shuchika,
Some, Suvahu, Sugandha, Supriya, Suraja, Surasa, Surata,
Tilottama,
Umlocha, Urvashi,
Vapu, Varga, Vidyutparna, Vishvachi,
Go back names-apsira-note-b
-- UKT 130729:
In the Judeo-Christian religion, their
chief god, is likened to a Shepherd,
whilst in Hinduism, one of their chief
gods in human-form, Krishna, was described
as a Goat-herd. Before we go further,
here are a few dictionary meanings that
might help us.
• Skt: मेष «meṣa»
- m. sheep -- SpkSkt.
* Bur:
- n. astrol. Aries, the first sign
of the zodiac. from Skt. MLC MED2006-359
¤ Pal:
- UHS-PMD0777
UKT from UHS: mfn. mix up of materials, (unnecessary) socializing with others, mixture
• Skt: अज «a-ja» - m.
he-goat Mac005c1
• Pal:
-
UHS-PMD0017
UKT from UHS: m. goat, a Myanmar goat.
UKT 130617: Why specify the goat as Myanmar or Burmese? The Burmese goats are sweeter while others are fatter, and we [the foreigners] deem it meeter to carry off the former. [Based on the War Song of Dinas Vawr - a poem by Thomas Love Peacock.From Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shepherd 130728
A shepherd or sheepherder, is a person who tends, feeds, or guards flocks of sheep. The word stems from an amalgam of sheep herder.
Shepherding is one of the oldest occupations, beginning some 6,000 years ago in Asia Minor. Sheep were kept for their milk, meat and especially their wool. Over the next millennia, sheep and shepherding spread throughout Eurasia. [UKT ¶]
Henri Fleisch tentatively suggested the Shepherd Neolithic industry of Lebanon may date to the Epipaleolithic and that it may have been used by one of the first cultures of nomadic shepherds in the Beqaa Valley. [1] [2]
UKT: More in Wikipedia article
From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goatherd 130728
A goatherd or goatherder is a person who herds goats as a vocational activity. It is similar to a shepherd who herds sheep. Goatherds are popular in countries where goat populations are significant; for instance, in Africa and South Asia. Goats are typically bred as dairy or meat animals, with some breeds being shorn for wool (see Goats in agriculture). The word capriculturist, which is derived from Latin, began to appear with some frequency in the late 1940s.
Ancient Farmers were goat-herders
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/1313016.stm
They say that the dog is man's best friend but it seems that in ancient times it was the goat that played this role.
New genetic evidence suggests that goats travelled around the world with early farmers, serving as a walking milk supply and a tool for bartering.
The animals probably helped our ancestors conquer new territory and develop early trade.
Modern-day goats still bear the genetic signature of the movement and mixing of animals 10,000 years ago.
Goats have often been dubbed the "poor man's cow" because they can survive in harsh conditions on meagre food.
In many countries, the world's 700 million goats now play second fiddle to the four major livestock species: cattle, buffalo, pigs, and sheep.
But a genetic analysis of more than 400 goats from 44 countries throughout Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East suggests that goats were once the favoured domestic animal.
Researchers have found that the goat's genetic history is different from other farm animals, such as cows and sheep.
This history shows more mixing between continents, suggesting that goats travelled with early farmers as they journeyed and colonised new land.
"We think humans were moving about with goats, and much more with goats than with sheep or cows," Pierre Taberlet, one of the co-researchers of the study, told BBC News Online.
They probably provided milk, said Dr Taberlet, of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Grenoble, France.
It seems that goats were "walking fridges", acting as a handy portable food supply as well as a trading tool.
The study reveals that all goats alive today are descended from three distinct lineages.
The first population arose about 10,000 years ago in the Fertile Crescent region of the Middle East, also where cattle came from. The other two arose more recently, probably in South eastern Asia and the Middle/Near East.
The work, which was carried out by a Swiss-French team, is published in the US journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
It is based on studies of mitochondrial DNA, the scrap of genetic material that is passed from mother to child.
Go back Shepherd-note-b
-- UKT 120110, 130730
I am surprised at the meaning for अजर a-jara given as the river Saraswati in Sanskrit-English Dictionary by Monier-Williams, 1899 ( MonWilli010c1 -- a1za1.htm : link ch 130730). The mighty river of is no more. Its bed now lies buried under the sands of the Thar Desert!
The Saraswati river was the mighty
river in the Rig Veda [
{I.roab~bé-da.} ? ], and is personified
as the Mother Thurathati
{þu-raþ~þa.ti mèý-tau} who is revered by
many in present day Myanmarpré. See
Dictionary of Pali-derived words,
by U Tun Myint, Univ. of Rangoon Press,
1968, 339
-- UHS-PMD0195
UKT from UHS: m.
UKT 130801: The above given meaning is not at all illuminating. Another that could give some implication is given below.
{I.ru.twi.za.} /
{I.roat~wi.za.}
-- UHS-PMD0195
UKT from UHS: m. the Braahmana-Poanna
-- UTM-PDD-339
UKT from UTM: dévi who attends to the lips (speech), mistress of music and fine arts.UKT 130730: UTM does not mention the dévi as the one who attends to the Tipitika - the Three Baskets of Buddhist Teachings. This is quite different from the popularly held view in which she is painted holding a hand-held pedestal with three palm-leaf manuscripts. UTM cites three Bur-Myan references. His view is in conformity with the views of the Hindu-religionists.
Thurathati
{þu-raþ~þa.ti} is also mentioned
by U Tun Myint in combination with
{sûn~di} citing a Bur-Myan poem dated
1103 BE (approx. 1741AD), by Imperial
Minister Padétha-razar
UKT 130730: The three Dévi-goddesses are:
{ma.Ni.mé-hka.la} : the Devi-goddess of the ocean who saved Buddha-to-be Mahajanaka -- See Buddha's birth story of Mahajanaka - the shipwrecked prince. e.g.
http://www.buddha-images.com/mahajanaka-jataka.asp 130730
My quest for her identity has led me to Rig Veda, and the oldest hymn in it, the Gayatri Mantra, which has its own poetic meter different from the Classical Sanskrit verses of later periods.
This has led me to speculate that Veda in its original form did not belong to the IE (Indo-European) speakers, but to the older inhabitants living in the foothills of Indian Himalayas extending into Myanmar Himalayas, and in the present day Myanmarpré -- the Tib-Bur (Tibeto-Burman) speakers. Now, let's see how the Véda was made up:
From Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vedas 130731
The Vedas , Skt-Dev: वेदाः
«véda» = व े द ा ः
<-- Pal-Myan:
{wé-da.}, 'knowledge', are a large body
of texts originating in ancient India. [UKT ¶]
UKT 130731: Since it is claimed that Sanskrit is "perfect" whereas Pali or Prakrit is the "proto-language", it is proper to assume that Pali preceded Sanskrit. However, later Hindu religionists claimed that Sanskrit was from the Creator himself and it preceded all languages. However, since it is my view that language-by-sound-waves is a means of communication between human individuals, when we go through this article all references to any religion should be looked upon as nothing but axiomatic. Remember, Theravada Buddhism in its basic laws such as the Four Noble Truths, and Anatta doctrine, is free from all axioms and is very scientific in the modern sense.
The second point I would have to highlight is Vedic and Classical Sanskrit are different linguistically. Classical Sanskrit is the codification of Vedic into a system which the IE speakers could handle, and ऌ /l/ phonemes had been replaced by ऋ /r/.
Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest scriptures of Hinduism. [1] [2] The Vedas are apauruṣeya ("not of human agency"). [3] [4] [5] They are supposed to have been directly revealed, and thus are called śruti ("what is heard"), [6] [7] distinguishing them from other religious texts, which are called smṛti ("what is remembered"). The Vedic texts or śruti are organized around four canonical collections of metrical material known as Saṃhitās, of which the first three are related to the performance of yajna (sacrifice) in historical Vedic religion:
1. The Rigveda, containing hymns to be recited by the hotar, or presiding priest;
2. The Yajurveda, containing formulas to be recited by the adhvaryu or officiating priest;
3. The Samaveda, containing formulas to be sung by the udgatar or priest that chants;
4. The fourth is the Atharvaveda, a collection of spells and incantations, apotropaic charms and speculative hymns. [8]
UKT 130731: "the spells and incantations, etc.", should be compared to the Eleven MahaParitta that are popularly recited (not sung) by Bur-Myan and Mon-Myan Theravada Buddhist monks. There is no music to accompany these recitations. See Eleven holy discourses of protection - Maha Paritta Pali by Sao Htun Hmat Win, Dept. of Religious Affairs, Rangoon, Burma, published 1981.
The individual verses contained in these
compilations are known as mantras
{mûn~ta.ra:}. Some selected Vedic mantras
are still recited at prayers, religious
functions and other auspicious occasions
in contemporary Hinduism.
UKT 130731: There is a world of difference between mantra
{mûn~tûn} (see MLC MED2006-356) and paritta
{pa.rait} (see MLC MED2006-252). Reciting a
-- UTM-PDD-258
UKT from UTM: the verse that is recited and blown over.
UTM cites 5 Bur-Myan sources.
The various Indian philosophies and sects
have taken differing positions on the Vedas.
Schools of Indian philosophy [Hinduism -
promoted by Brahmana-Poonas
{braah~ma.Na. poaN~Na:}] which cite the
Vedas as their scriptural authority are
classified as Orthodox
आस्तिक
«āstika». Other traditions, notably
Buddhism and Jainism - founded
by Ksatriyas] which did not regard the
Vedas as authorities are referred to by
traditional Hindu texts as "heterodox"
or Non-orthodox
नास्तिक
«nāstika» schools.
[9]
[10] [UKT ¶]
The Doctored Vedas
UKT 130731
The Vedas as presented by the present-day Hindu religionists are not the originals that had existed before the incursion into the Indian subcontinent by the IE speakers across the north-western borders, and the Dravidian speakers from the extreme south. The new comers had altered the originals to suit their ulterior motives -- to introduce their gods over the old Vedic gods of the original inhabitants - the Brass-Age Tib-Bur speakers .
The aim of the invaders was to subjugate the militarily conquered races and classify them into the Fourth Caste, the Sudras -- the servants. The new comers used the altered versions of the Vedas as their authority. This summary is the result of all I have read since going into the study of Sanskrit-Devanagari. The following is from: -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Āstika_and_nāstika 130731
"Āstika आस्तिक «āstika» 'it exists', and Nāstika नास्तिक «nāstika» "it doesn't exist" are technical terms in Hinduism used to classify philosophical schools and persons, according to whether they accept the authority of the Vedas as supreme revealed scriptures, or not, respectively."
Similar to the language of original Vedas being different from that of the Classical Sanskrit of Panini, the original hymns had been tempered with by the Sanskritists. It is said Gautama Buddha, accepted the original Vedas but not the tempered version. The tempered version could be seen as the attempt by the Braahmana-Poonas
In addition to Buddhism and Jainism, Sikhism [11] [12] and Brahmoism, [13] many non-Brahmin Hindus in South India [14] do not accept the authority of the Vedas. Certain South Indian Brahmin communities such as Iyengars consider the Tamil [language] Divya Prabandham or writing of the Alvar saints [UKT: a relatively modern movement] as equivalent to the Vedas. [15]
UKT 130731: There were many additions to the ancient Vedas after dividing them into four:
1. Rigveda -
2. Yajurveda -{ya.zoab~be-da.} See UHS-PMD0791
3. Samaveda.
4. Atharvaveda.Pal:
{ya.zu.}
-- UTM-PDD-260
UKT from UTM: one of the Vedic (astrological) treatisesUKT 130803: UTM lists three Bur-Myan sources from which I got the following Bur-Myan spellings (from verse form) :
--{I.þhyu.}
--
--{þa-ma.ta.htûp}
--{a-htûb~ba.Na.}.
Of the four astrological or esoteric treatises,यज्ञ = य ज ् ञ -->
{yiz} /
{yiz-pu-zau} .
The Myanmar layman (including the royalty) reveres the Hindu practices conducted by Braahmana-Poonas
Each of the main division of old Vedic was tempered by the Brahmana-Poonas
UKT: Continue reading in Vedanga - subdivisions
of Panini the beginning of Classical Sanskrit.
Vedanga is more important to us than the old
Veda, and the greatest of the Braahmana-Poonas
{brah~ma.Na. poaN~Na:} is more to us as a
phonetician -- in the modern sense
-- than all the other verbose philosophers
of Hinduism combined.
Go back veda-note-b
- UKT 130803
The old Veda, most probably the philosophical system of the original inhabitants of the Indian subcontinent and Myanmarpré, were adopted by Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism. Unless you are interested in the axiomatic vs. non-axiomatic philosophical systems, the old Veda is not important.
What is more important is the Classical Sanskrit divisions of Panini which were based on older works -- the grammar of Pali Prakrit. It is important to note that in Bur-Myan when referring to Sanskrit, I find only the Vedanga divisions and not the old Vedic divisions of Rig-, Yajur-, Sama-, and Atharva-veda.
This has raised the question: if the old Veda had been the work of original inhabitants of the land, before the IE speakers or the Dravidian speakers had come in, would we find the divisions into Rig-, Yajur-, Sama-, and Atharva-veda. Or, as being indicated by the elaborate system of Pali-grammar, would we find another type of division, perhaps like the Vedanga divisions of Panini.
From Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vedas 130731
Six technical subjects related to the Vedas
are traditionally known as «vedāṅga»
"limbs of the Veda"
{wé-dïn~ga.} . [UKT ¶]
-- UTM-Dict-Pal-derived-302
UKT from UTM: The six Vedic treatises. the six limbs of the Vedas
UKT 130801: UTM did not mention the four main divisions which had thrown me off. He listed the six citing two Bur-Myan sources. One of the limbs he mentioned was
{zau:ti.þût~hta.} - a treatise on mathematics leading to astrology.
V. S. Apte defines this group of works as:
"N. of a certain class of works regarded as auxiliary to the Vedas and designed to aid in the correct pronunciation and interpretation of the text and the right employment of the Mantras in ceremonials." [53]
These subjects are treated in Sūtra
literature dating from the end of the
Vedic period to Mauryan times, seeing
the transition from late Vedic
Sanskrit to
Classical Sanskrit.
The six subjects of Vedanga are:
UTM-Dict-Pal-derived-302, quotes the first KyawAung SanHta Sayadaw
{kyau-aung-sän-hta:}, 1746 AD .
1. Ritual (Kalpa) <--
{kûp~pa.}
2. Grammar (Vyākaraṇa) <--{bya-ka.ra.Na.}
3. Astronomy (Jyotiṣa) <--
4. Phonetics (Śikṣā) <--{þaik~hka}
5. Etymology (Nirukta) <--{ni.roat~ti.}
6. Meter (Chandas) <--{hsûn~dau:wi.si.ti.}
UKT note: notice how the Sanskrit words are changed from Pal-Myan.
UKT: There are more in the Wikipedia article
Go back vedinga-note-b
-- UKT 110804, 130825
Skt: अपभ्रंश «apabhraṃśa» = अ प भ ् र ं श --aks-to-aks-->
There are two things to be noticed in aks-to-aks transformation:
#1. you can get away with the
{ra.ric}-medial sound, because the Skt conjunct sound is only slightly more rhotic. If you want a really rhotic sound you use, the highly rhotic vowel, ऋ and its sign ृ .
#2. there is no /m/ sound in
{þé:þé:tín}: it has been introduced by IAST transliteration, and is not necessary
You should read about Pali the liturgical
language of Theravada Buddhism. One source is:
Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theravada 130827
"Buddhist [Theravada] revivalism
has also reacted against changes in
Buddhism caused by colonialist regimes.
Western colonialists and Christian
missionaries deliberately imposed a
particular type of Christian monasticism
on Buddhist clergy in Sri Lanka ...
[and in Burma. ]... ... The oldest
surviving Buddhist texts in the Pali
language come from Pyu city of Sri Ksetra
{þa.ré hkít~ta.ra} , the text which is
dated from the mid 5th A.D. to mid
6th A.D. is written on twenty-leaf
manuscript of solid gold.
[39]
. "
From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apabhramsa 110804, 130827
Apabhraṃśa
(Skt: अपभ्रंश
{a.pa. Brän-sha.}, Prakrit: Avahansa) is
a cover term used to refer a number of
dialects of various Middle Indo-Aryan languages.
[1:p.42]
[UKT ¶]
"The Ardhamagadhi language ("half Magadhi"), an archaic form of the Magadhi language which was used extensively to write Jain [
{ni.gûN~HTa.}] scriptures, is often considered to be the definitive form of Prakrit, while others are considered variants thereof. ... ... The Pali language (the liturgical Prakrit language of Theravada Buddhism) tends to be treated as a special exception from the variants of the Ardhamagadhi language, as Classical Sanskrit grammars do not consider it as a Prakrit per se, presumably for sectarian rather than linguistic reasons."
-- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prakrit 130827
UKT 130827, 160622: My view of Pali being put on an equal footing with Sanskrit is because the "Classical Sanskrit grammars do not consider it as Prakrit per se". I was under the impression that Pali was the original form of Magadhi spoken by Tib-Bur speakers, whilst Sanskrit was the dialect spoken by the new-comers the IE (Indo-European) speakers. However, I have found out that Pali of Lanka was an artificial language derived from Old Magadhi (Tib-Bur) and Lankan speech (Aus-Asi - the Austro-Asiatic language). Pali of Lanka was invented to serve the Theravada Buddhists in Lanka aka Ceylon. On the other hand Pali of Myanmarpré is direct descendant of Old Magadhi - the official language of northern-Myanmar - brought over from the northern parts of the Indian subcontinent. It was brought over by King Abiraza who founded the very first kingdom of Tagaung. Time-line of King Abiraza was hundreds if not thousands of years before the period of Gautama Buddha. The second influx from the Magadha Mahajanapada occurred during the lifetime of the Budddha when some of his relatives had to flee the wrath of Prince Vidudabha of Kosala kingdom who dethroned his father King Pasenadi.
I maintain that Pali-Myan was not Indo-European, but Tibeto-Burman with the same vowel-sounds as the modern-day Burmese and probably with the same vowel-sounds of Néwari (Tib-Bur) was aka
Nepali-Bhasa (नेपाल भाष {né-pa-la. Ba-þa.}).See Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newar_language 160119
My sources on Nepali Language aka Néwari - the Tib-Bur:
#1. A Comparative and Etymological Dictionary of Nepali Language by R L Turner
- http://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/turner/ (link chk 160119)
Downloaded pages in TIL SD-Library Turner-Néwari<Ô> / bkp<Ô> (link chk 160405)
On downloaded Turner-Nepali-Lang-Dictionary, p159, there are a few words beginning with {nga.}
#2. English to Nepal Bhasa Dictionary by Sabin Bhuju सबिन भुजु , 2005
- SBhuju-NewarDict<Ô> / bkp<Ô> (link chk 160221)
Being both Tib-Bur languages Bur-Myan and Newa-Dev have words beginning with {nga.} ङ,
e.g. for <fish> न्या ; ङा .
See also ¤ A Pali grammar on the basis of Kaccayano {kic~sæÑ:}
- PEG-indx.htm - update 150630
- by Rev. F. Mason, 1868
- on line: http://archive.org/details/apaligrammar... 130517
Downloaded versions of 251 pdf pages are available in TIL SD-Library
- Mason-Kicsi<Ô> / bkp<Ô> (link chk 151022) / - PDF (link chk151022)
- Kicsi-PEG-German<Ô> (German version link chk 151022)
- Mazard's Version of Mason's Pali Grammar,
- Francis Mason & Eisel Mazard (馬大影), 1st distribution in 2015
downloaded - PaliGrammar-Mason-Mazard.pdf /
PalGram-Mason-Mazard<Ô> / bkp<Ô> (link chk 160413)
These dialects were formed during the transition period [2] of Middle Indo-Aryan languages and Modern Indo-Aryan languages, spanning between the 6th and the 12th, 13th-15th centuries CE. The term "Apabhraṃśa" is used by Sanskrit grammarians since Patañjali [fl. 1st century B.C.]. Apabhraṃśa in Sanskrit literally means "corrupt" or "non-grammatical language". [UKT ¶]
"In the Vyakarana tradition, Patañjali is believed to have lived in the first century B.C. in [[Varanasi]].<ref name="arapv"/> The tradition holds Patañjali lectured on Paninian grammar at a place called "Nāgakūpa", which is identified with modern day "Nagakuan" (Hindi: नागकुआँ) <ref name="arapv"/> He lectured for 85 days, which resulted in the 85 "Āhnika"s of the Mahābhāshya.<ref name= "arapv"/> --- "
-- http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Patanjali&action=edit§ion=3 130826UKT 130527: The above passage is my search into the editorial link in Wikipedia 110804 article.
The term «apabhraṃśa» in Sanskrit literally means "corrupt" or "non-grammatical language". [UKT ¶]
UKT 120112, objection to the use of "corrupt" : From the last sentence it seems that the authors of Wiki article has translated «apa»
{a.pa.} as "corrupt". Read in my note Deeper meaning of a Bur-Myan word - based on Pal-Myan and Skt-Dev, on how I have translated the word
Why doesn't it follow the grammar of Panini? My explanation is Panini's work was the codification of Vedic which was a Tib-Bur language for IE (Indo-European) speakers. I hold that before the incursion of the IE, many local inhabitants of places in India particularly the extreme north, south of the Himalaya, extending east into the present day Bengal and Myanmarpré spoke Tib-Bur languages. And so when a person from Bengal tried to speak the language following the grammar of Panini, what he would doing would be 'not quite' Sanskrit - a hybrid. And that is not 'corrupting' the Sanskrit language.
Apabhraṃśa is used as a cover term for the dialects forming the transition between the late Middle Indic and early Modern Indic languages (e.g. Brij Bhasha), spanning the period between the 6th and the 13th centuries, though some scholars use it more narrowly to refer primarily to the transition period[1], leaving the earlier part to the Middle Indo-Aryan languages.
The term Prakrit (which includes
Pāli) is used for the popular dialects of India which were spoken until the
4th - 8th century, but some scholars use the term Prakrit throughout the Middle
Indo-Aryan period. Middle Indo-Aryan languages gradually transformed into
Apabhraṃśas
{a.pa. Brän-sha.} which were used until about the 15th century. Apabhraṃśas evolved
into modern languages which are equally today spoken by millions of people.
[UKT ¶]
Languages such as Hindi (337 million speakers), Bengali (232 million speakers), Marathi (90 million), Urdu (65 million speakers), Gujarati (46 million speakers), Oriya (45 million speakers), Punjabi (110 million speakers), Sinhala (15 million speakers) are all representative languages of large modern day states, unlike Sanskrit (>50 thousand speakers) which has fallen out of modern day use. The boundaries of these periods are somewhat hazy, not strictly chronological. The modern north Indian languages are often considered to have begun to develop a distinct identity around the 11th century, while the Apabhraṃśas were still in use, and became fully distinct by the end of the 12th century.
A significant amount of Apabhraṃśa
{a.pa. Brän-sha.} literature has been found in Jain [
{ni.gûN~HTa.}] libraries. While
Amir Khusro and
Kabir were writing in a language quite similar to modern Hindi, many poets,
especially in regions that were still ruled by Hindu kings, continued to write
in Apabhramsha. The Apabhraṃśa authors include Sarahapad of Kamarupa, Devasena
of Dhar (9th c.
CE), Pushpadanta of
Manyakheta
(9th c. CE), Dhanapal,
Muni Ramsimha,
Hemachandra of
Patan, Raighu
of Gwalior
(15th c. CE). [UKT ¶ ]
An early example of the use of Apabhraṃśa is in Vikramorvashiyam of Kālidāsa, when Pururava asks the animals in the forest about his beloved who had disappeared.
UKT: End of Wikipedia article.
Go back Apabhramsa-note-b
UKT: 110804, 130825
Bur:
3. supernatural agency -- MED2010-569
Bur:{a.pa.mhi} -- v. to be possessed by evil spirits -- MED2010-569
How would I translate the word
{a.pa.}
(MED2010-569) as given in #3 - not superficially, but with a deeper meaning, in Bur-Myan? I
have been intrigued by this word since childhood. From this word comes the
phrase
{a. pa. mhi} (pronounced as three separate syllables - not as a tri-syllabic
word). It describes a psychic/ psychological state of a person, which in
layman terms is 'someone possessed by the spirit of a human
who had recently died'. Such a state is beyond Western medicine and the victim
and his or her family would seek the help of a local healer who in Western
parlance is a "witch-doctor". If the ailment drags on for a period of time, the
person either turns completely mad or die.
From the two words, one Sanskrit and the other Pali,
{a.pín~ka.} 'mireless' and
{a.pín~ga.} 'corner of the eye', it
occur to me that Bur-Myan
{a.pa.} should be translated as 'not quite'. The word,
{a.pín~ka.}
is 'a bog that has gone dry' - not a piece of land that has always been dry, and
{a.pín~ga.}
is 'something very near the eye - not the eye itself'. Please note that I am NOT
suggesting that Bur-Myan is directly related to Skt-Dev or Pal-Myanmar. Bur-Myan
is just a language of a group of people of the general geographical area who
share the same beliefs and superstitions. The Bur-Myan
{a.pa.}
just sounds very similar to the Sanskrit and Pali words.
Thus, the common Bur-Myan
belief of 'someone being possessed by a spirit'
{a. pa. mhi} is to be interpreted as 'someone being possessed by the spirit of a human
who had recently died'. These spirits may be equated to Ma'nes (of Roman
pre-Christian belief), and to the
{nût-saim:} 'the green Nats' of Bur-Myan.
One way to placate them is to feed them -
{hkau:sa kywé:} (MED2010-058)
Possession and exorcism is a common belief in all religions from Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism through Islam. Personally, I have had a connection to a Buddhist group of the Right-Hand Path in Rangoon in the 1960s, and even had been inducted as a member as long as I abstain from alcohol. Since, I do drink in small amounts -- but not enough to make me senseless or distract me from my meditation, I no longer have connection to that group. The following is from Wikipedia:
From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exorcism 130825
Exorcism (from Greek ἐξορκισμός, exorkismos - binding by oath) is the practice of evicting demons or other spiritual entities from a person or an area they are believed to have possessed. [1] Depending on the spiritual beliefs of the exorcist, this may be done by causing the entity to swear an oath, performing an elaborate ritual, or simply by commanding it to depart in the name of a higher power. The practice is ancient and part of the belief system of many cultures and religions.
Requested and performed exorcisms had begun to decline in the Western world by the 18th century due to advancements in medical understanding, and occurred rarely until the latter half of the 20th century when the public saw a sharp rise due to the media attention exorcisms were getting. There was “a 50% increase in the number of exorcisms performed between the early 1960s and the mid-1970s”. [2]
UKT: More in the Wikipedia article.
Go back deeper-meaning-note-b
UKT 130930, 160701:
is spelled with the Palatal non-hisser
{sa.}/
{c} च , and not with Dental-hisser
{Sa.}/
{S} ष
Skt-Dev ष «ṣa» looks like having
been borrowed from
{pa.} प and a "diagonal"
written inside. We find the same trick being
used in Pal-Myan, where a "dot" has
been inserted to give:
Compare the derivation of the glyph for hissing-dental {Sa.) in Skt-Dev and Pal-Myan:
{Sa.} ष
Since Bur-Myan speakers do not have to
start their articulation from
{pa.} -->
{Sa.}, there is no reason, why Romabama
should follow the method used by old
Myanmar Sanskritists. Instead of coining
a new glyph, I retain
{Sa.} changing only the transcription
from {sa.} --> {Sa.). I refuse to use
«ca» for the Palatal non-hisser in the
onset. However, I do use «c» in the coda:
{c} .
Palatal-onset:
Dental-hisser onset:
Note the importance of
{a.þût} or the Virama ् in the
Akshara system of writing.
From Dental-hisser
and no longer use{þhya.}.
We can now transcribe{rhi.} which has a rhotic
{ra.}-sound as
{shi.} which is purely non- rhotic.
It came as a surprise to me find that my Hindi-speaking friends born and educated in India, now residing in Deep River, Canada, think that the Virama may be dropped. It seems that they only have the Alphabetic system of writing in their heads.
Go back Development-Akshara-note-b
UKT 110718, 130528:
The word "hunt" needs an explanation. When the king or a high official was out to hunt [not for pleasure, but as a duty to get rid of a man-eating tiger for instance], he would be at one end of the jungle, and would have villagers from neighbouring villages as "beaters" at the other end. The beaters would be beating drums, and metal objects wildly, and shouting at the top of their voices to drive the animal onto the waiting hunter who would then be able to shoot. Usually he would have only one chance, and could be killed himself by the wild rushing animal and other animals.
Against this "civilized hunt" is the "wild hunt" of deva-gods and goddesses of polytheistic religions. See Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunting_god 130528
Go back hunt-note-b
-- UKT 110718:
As a child in the early 1930's in Kungyangon,
Hanthawaddy Dist, Burma (now spelled Myanmar),
I remember how elders used to frighten very
young children into submission (especially
when a child was crying) with the word
{dé-wau:}: "Stop crying: Dewau is
coming". Compare {dé-wau:} to the
etymology of Rudra given below.
From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudra 110718
Rudra (रुद्र = र ु द ् र) is a Rigvedic God, associated with wind or storm, [1] and the hunt. The name has been translated as "The Roarer", [2] [3] or "The Howler". [4]
Pal:
{road~da.}
-- UHS-MED0818
UKT from UHS: mfn. rough and cruel. m.
The theonym Shiva originates as an
epithet of Rudra, the adjective
shiva "kind" being
used euphemistically of the god who
in the Rigveda also carries the
epithet ghora
{Gau:ra.} 'terrible'.
[5] [UKT: ¶]
UKT 130802:
To look for deeper meanings of the theonym "Shiva", I have looked into Pal-Myan sources taking note that there are two closely related words which I have tranliterated into Skt-Myan,
- शिव «śiva»{shi.wa.} and
सिव «siva»{þi.wa.}.
The second word is casually pronounced as{þi-wa.}.
• Skt: शिव «śiva» - adj. benign, kind, friendly, favorable, benignant, gracious -- SpkSkt
• Skt: सिव «siva» - m. stitcher, one who sews or stitches -- SpkSkt
Pal:
-- UHS-PMD1038
UKT from UHS: mfn. being rich. n. prosperity. m.You will note that the Pal-Myan
UKT 130226:
In the above para,{Gau;ra.mûn~ta.} as Vishnu, we have a problem. See what has Mac089c3 has to say:
¤ घोर ghora [ gho-rá ]
-- a. [√ghu] awful, sublime; terrible, dreadful; violent (pain, etc.); n. horror, terror; magic; spell. -- Mac089c3Gawra-manta
{Bu.ra: ko:hsu}. See TIL version of Folk Elements in Burmese Buddhism by Maung (Dr.) Htin Aung. Printed and published by U Myint Maung, Deputy Director, Regd: No (02405/02527) at the Religious Affairs Dept. Press. Yegu, Kaba-Aye P.O., Rangoon, BURMA. 1981. FLK-ELE/ch02/ch02.htm (link chk 130728)
Usage of the epithet came to exceed the original theonym and by the post-Vedic period (in the Sanskrit Epics), the name Rudra is taken as a synonym for the god Shiva and the two names are used interchangeably.
Sanskrit Theonyms
UKT 130527: Hindu religionist are great at expansion into other religions by claiming that the gods of other religions are the same as their gods. In that way, the names and epithets of their principal gods have become many. They went as far as to claim that Gautama Buddha (whose religion is based on Anatta{a.nût~ta.}) was a reincarnation of Hindu Deva-god Vishnu (the embodiment of Atta
{ût~ta.} -- the exact opposite of Anatta). And therefore, we shouldn't be surprised by Hindu-religionists of the post-Vedic 'grab-goddists' -- an epithet I am using on them -- when they claim that Rudra is their god Shiva. I have come across many uneducated Christians, especially of Roman Catholic denomination who believe that because of the word
{Bu.ra:}, that Gautama Buddha {who had a human father), and Jesus Christ (who did not have a human father) were the same. They cite as evidence the names of the mother of Gautama Buddha, {ma-ya}, to be the same as that of the mother of Jesus "Mary". They have been led astray by their preachers, who like their Hindu counterparts are just 'grab-goddists'.
The etymology of the theonym Rudra is somewhat uncertain. [6] It is usually derived from the root rud- which means "to cry, howl." [7][8] According to this etymology, the name Rudra has been translated as "the Roarer". [9] An alternate etymology suggested by Prof. Pischel derives Rudra ("the Red, the Brilliant") from a lost root rud-, "to be red" [3] or "to be ruddy", [10] or according to Grassman, "to shine". [11] Stella Kramrisch notes a different etymology connected with the adjectival form raudra, which means wild, of rudra nature, and translates the name Rudra as "the Wild One" or "the Fierce God". [12] R. K. Sharma follows this alternate etymology and translates the name as "Terrible" in his glossary for the Shiva Sahasranama. [13]
The commentator Sāyaṇa
[ सायण
{þa-ya.Na.}, with honorific
Sāyaṇācārya ;
died 1387 ] suggests six possible
derivations for rudra.
[14]
However, another reference states that
Sayana suggested ten derivations.
[15]
The adjective shivam in the sense of "propitious" or "kind" is applied to the name Rudra in RV 10.92.9. [16] [17] According to Gavin Flood, Shiva used as a name or title (Sanskrit śiva, "the kindly/ auspicious one") occurs only in the late Vedic Katha Aranyaka [18] Axel Michaels says Rudra was called Shiva for the first time in the Śvetāśvatara Upanishad. [19]
Rudra is called "The Archer" (Sanskrit: Śarva) [20] and the arrow is an essential attribute of Rudra. [21] [UKT ¶]
UKT 130802: If Rudra were the god of thunder & lightning, then what he would be holding in hand would be thunder-bolts - not arrows. I always imagine a thunder-bolt to be something like a a short javelin which can be thrown by hand: you do not need a bow to shoot.
शल्य «śalya» n. javelin -- SpkSkt
Riders of horses and elephants usually used spears or javelins, whereas those in a chariot could use a bow and arrows.
Warriors in places like Myanmarpré, southern India, SriLanka and Thailand, where there are no large open spaces for war-chariots to operate, usually use hand-held spears and javelins, whereas warriors in northern India with large open spaces use war-chariots, bows and arrows. Rudra the original northern-Indian god may be an archer, but his later form, Shiva originating in southern-India need not be an archer.
This name appears in the Shiva Sahasranama, and R. K. Sharma notes that it is used as a name of Shiva often in later languages. [22] The word is derived from the Sanskrit root śarv- which means "to injure" or "to kill" [23] and Sharma uses that general sense in his interpretive translation of the name Śarva as "One who can kill the forces of darkness". [22] The names Dhanvin ("Bowman") [24] and Bāṇahasta ("Archer", literally "Armed with arrows in his hands") [24] [25] also refer to archery.
In other contexts the word rudra can simply mean "the number eleven". [26]
The word "rudraksha" (Sanskrit: rudrākşa = rudra + akşa "eye"), or "eye of Rudra", is used as a name both for the berry of the Rudraksha tree, and a name for a string of the prayer beads made from those seeds. [27]
UKT: More in the Wikipedia article.
Go back Rudra-note-b
-- UKT 130728:
A bogeyman for Bur-Myan children is
{dé-wau:}: "Stop crying: Déwau
is coming".
Déwau is nothing but personification of thunder, lightning, and gusts of wind which are very fierce and dangerous to people who have to travel on water -- not only on the ocean but on very large and deep rivers of the Irrawaddy delta where I was born. These came regularly at the onset of the monsoon and at the close of the monsoon.
In the 1930's, my father, U Tun Pe, then the Public Health Inspector of two very large townships in Hanthawaddy district had to do his rounds in small river-crafts powered by a single rower and sometimes by wind. Waves could be very high and once a boat was lost, there was almost no chance of survival for the crew -- not only by drowning but by being eaten by crocodiles. Ever since I could remember, I have always hated to be frightened, but there was real danger, and I was always concerned.
Looking further into Eleven Rudras, I came across the Thirty-three deva-gods who took over the Kingdom of Déva (usually described as Deva-world) from the Asuras. The chief of the déva-gods then made the daughters of Asura-king his queens.
From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirty-three_gods 130728
The Thirty-three gods is a pantheon of Hindu deities [and of Buddhists], some of which were of Vedic origin and some developed later. It generally includes a set of 31 deities consisting of 12 Ādityas, 11 Rudras, and 8 Vasus; the identity of the other two deities that fill out the 33 varies, though their roles are generally a creator deity, presiding over procreation and protector of life and the 33rd is an all powerful supreme ruler. [UKT ¶ ]
UKT 130801: The Kingdom of Dévas, ruled by Sakka, seems to be peaceful according to the Theravada Buddhists. The Buddha even chose to give his Abhidamma sermon there, and not to the humans. Undaunted the Mahayana Buddhists, states that the Buddha gave his sermon on the Lightning Sutra, or the Diamond Sutra in the Kingdom of the Nagas. We the proud humans should be ashamed that we are inferior compared both to the Nagas and the Dévas!
Now where was (or is) the Kingdom of Nagas? Is it under the sea or on land? We should note that Sri Lanka was supposed to be called Nagadipa, so is it SriLanka? See http://www.buddhanet.net/sacred-island/nagadipa.html 130801
According to the Hindus, the Kingdom of Dévas, ruled by Indra, is full of intrigue, sex, and drinks. Continue reading below on the Hindu pantheon.
The [Hindu] 31 are:
Twelve Ādityas (personified deities) – Mitra, Aryaman, Bhaga, Varuṇa, Dakṣa, Aṃśa, Tvāṣṭṛ, Pūṣan, Vivasvat, Savitṛ, Śakra, Vishnu (Different from Lord Vishnu). This list sometimes varies in particulars.
Eleven Rudras, consisting of:
¤ Five abstractions – Ānanda
"bliss", Vijñāna
"knowledge", Manas
"thought", Prāṇa
"breath" or "life",
Vāc "speech",
¤ Five names of Śiva –
Īśāna "ruler",
Tatpuruṣa "that person",
Aghora "not terrible",
Vāmadeva "pleasant god",
Sadyojāta "born at once"
¤ Ātmā "self"
Eight Vasus (deities of material elements) – Pṛthivī "Earth", Agni "Fire", Antarikṣa "Space", Vāyu "Wind", Dyauṣ "Sky", Sūrya "Sun", Nakṣatra "Stars", Soma "Moon"
Other sources similar to the Vedas include the two Aśvins (or Nāsatyas), twin solar deities.
• Indra also called Śakra,
lord of the gods, is the First of the 33
followed by Agni
• Prajāpati "Master of
creatures", a creator god Brahma
The generic title, though not the particular names of the deities, was borrowed in Buddhist sources as a name for the heaven "of the Thirty-three gods" (Trāyastriṃśa).
UKT: End of article.
Go back Thirty-three-note-b
- UKT 110804, 140719
Ma'nes pl.n. 1. The spirits of the dead, regarded as minor supernatural powers in ancient Roman religion. 2. used with a sing. verb The revered spirit of one who has died. - AHTD
"Ashtaka" simply means the "the eighth". Here it means the "eighth day of waxing or waning moon". There are two "fortnights," each consisting of 15 "lunar days" in a Hindu luni-solar month, (see http://veda.wikidot.com/hindu-calendar 140720). For Bur-Myanmar Buddhists, there are 4 "holy" days in each month: 1. the ashtaka of the waxing moon, 2. the full-moon day, 3. the ashtaka of the waning moon, and 4. the new-moon day (when there is no moon in the sky). The following day is the first of the new luni-solar month. So the "no-moon day" is not the "new-moon day".
In my child-hood Myanmar-Buddhists keep Sabbath on these four days. However, at present keeping Sabbath is no longer fashionable.
The Hindus hold the Ashtaka Festivals
on the akstakas of waning-moon of the
four winter months. These festivals may
be compared to
¤ Ancient (pre-Christian) Roman religion,
and
¤ Cupid's attempt to make Siva-Déva fall in
love (or have sex) to procreate
It seems that Ashtaka is the forerunner
of Halloween, and of the Nat festivals
in the month of Nat-taw
{nût-tau-la.}.
From: The Grihya Sutras, Part 2 (SBE30), by Hermann Oldenberg, 1892, at Sacred-Texts.com
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/sbe30/sbe30032.htm 110803
01. 1 The Ashtakâ (is a festival) sacred to the night.
02. It procures prosperity.
03. It is sacred to Agni, or to the Manes, or to Pragâpati, or to the Seasons, or to the Visve devâs — thus the deity (to which the Ashtakâ is sacred), is investigated (by different teachers).
04. 4 There are four Ashtakâs in (the four months of) the winter;
05. These all he should endeavour to celebrate with (offerings of) meat;
06. Thus says Kautsa.
07. (There are only) three Ashtakâs (in the winter), says Audgâhamâni,
08. And so say (also) [Rishis] Gautama and Vârkakhandi.
09. The eighth day of the dark fortnight after the Âgrahâyanî is called Apûpâshtakâ (i.e. Ashtakâ of the cakes).
10. 10 Having prepared grains in the way prescribed [{p098}] for Sthâlîpâkas, he cooks (those grains and prepares thus) a karu.
11. 11 And (besides he prepares) eight cakes, without turning them over in the dish (in which he bakes them);
12. (Each) in one dish;
13. Without Mantras, according to Audgâhamâni;
14. 14 Of the size of the (cakes) sacred to Tryambaka.
15. After he has baked them, he should pour (Âgya) on them, should take them from the fire towards the north, and should pour (Âgya) on them again.
16. 16 In the way prescribed for Sthâlîpâkas he cuts off (the prescribed portions) from the mess of boiled grains and from the cakes, and sacrifices with (the words), 'To the Ashtakâ Svâhâ!'
17. 17 The rest (should be performed) according to the Sthâlîpâka rite.
18. 18 (At the second Ashtakâ, on) the eighth day after the full-moon day of Taisha, a cow (is sacrificed).
19. Shortly before the time of junction (of day and night, i.e. before the morning twilight) he should place that (cow) to the east of the fire, and when (that time) has come, he should sacrifice (Âgya) with [{p099}] (the verse), 'What, O beasts, you think' (MB. II, 2, 5).
20. And after having sacrificed, he should recite over (the cow the verse), 'May thy mother give leave to thee' (ibid. 6).
21. Let him sprinkle (the cow) with water in which barley is, with (the words), 'Agreeable to the Ashtakâ I sprinkle thee.'
22. Let him carry a fire-brand round it with (the verse), 'The lord of goods, the sage (goes) round' (Sâma-veda I, 30).
23. Let him give it water to drink.
24. The remainder of what it has drunk he should pour out under (the feet of) the beast with (the formula), 'Away from the gods the Havis has been taken' (MB. II, 2, 7).
25. They then walk in a northerly direction (from the fire) and kill (the cow),
26. The head of which is turned to the east, the feet to the north, if the rite is sacred to the gods,
27. The head to the south, the feet to the west, if the rite is sacred to the Manes.
28. After it has been killed, he should sacrifice (Âgya) with (the verse), 'If the beast has lowed' (ibid. 8).
29. And (the sacrificer's) wife should get water and should wash all the apertures of the cow's body.
30. They lay two purifiers (i.e. grass-blades) on (the cow's body) near its navel, cut it up in the direction of its hairs, and draw the omentum out.
31. He should spit it on two pieces of wood, on one (simple) branch and on another forked branch, should besprinkle it (with water), and should roast it. [{p100}]
32. 32 When it has ceased to drop, he should say, 'Hew the (cow) to pieces —
33. 'So that the blood does not stain the ground to the east of the fire.'
34. After he has roasted (the omentum), he should pour (Âgya) on it, should take it from the fire towards the north, and should pour (Âgya) on it again.
35. 35 After he has cut off (the prescribed portions from) the omentum in the way prescribed for Sthâlîpâkas, or in the way prescribed for the Svishtakrit (oblation), he sacrifices with (the words), 'To the Ashtakâ Svâhâ!'
36. 36 The rest (should be performed) according to the Sthâlîpâka rite. The rest according to the Sthâlîpâka rite.
End of the Third Prapâthaka.
97:1 10, 1 seq. The Ashtakâ festivals; Khâdira-Grihya III, 3, 28. Comp. Sâṅkhâyana-Grihya III, 12, 1 note (S.B.E. XXIX, 102).
97:4 4, 7. As to the difference of opinion regarding the number of Ashtakâs, comp. Weber, Naxatra, second article, p. 337. Gobhila himself follows the opinion of Audgâhamâni, for he mentions only three Ashtakâs in the winter season, the first following after the Âgrahâyanî full moon (chap. 50, 9), the second after the Taishî (10, 18), and the third after the Mâghî (IV, 4, 17).
97:10 See above, I, 7, 2 seq.
98:11 Grihya-samgraha II, 71: prithakkapâlân kurvîta apûpân ashtakâvidhau.
98:14 Regarding the Traiyambaka cakes, comp. Kâtyâyana Srauta-sûtra V, 10, 1 seq.; Vaitâna-sûtra IX, 18, &c.
98:16 See above, I, 8, 5 seq.
98:17 Comp. chap. 7, 20 note.
98:18 With the following paragraphs the Srauta rites of the animal sacrifice should be compared; see J. Schwab, Das altindische Thieropfer (Erlangen, 1886).
100:32 In the text we ought to read visasata, as Dr. Knauer has observed.
100:35 The regulations concerning the Avadânas are given for Sthâlîpâkas, I, 8, 5 seq., and for the Svishtakrit oblation, I, 8, 11 seq.
100:36 Comp. III, 7, 20 note.
UKT: The following scanned copy is from
The Goddess in India, by
P. K. Agrawala
The digitization of the scanned piece
by Daw Khin Wutyi and Daw Thuzar Myint
is also given.
Goddesses in Ancient India
-- Prithvi Kumar Agrawala - 1983
Ashtaka, Ekashtaka Personifications:
Besides such personified lunar phases
and the ... day which comes in the
beginning of the year, and the festival
on this ...
UKT 140720: I still have to go over the following digitization checking with the printed book
(p109begin)
Besides such personified lunar phases and
the asterisms, we also find a tendency to
deify similarly an auspiciously held day
or some significant occasion. Of them
Ashṭakā
(or Ekāshṭakā) and
Shashṭhī are the prominent ones
and often appear as personified goddesses.
In AV III, 10.1-13 a goddess by the name Ashṭakā or Ekāshṭakā has been celebrated. According to the commentators this particular Eighth Day or Ekāshṭakā was the eight day after the full moon of Māgha, and as it marked the end of the year, or the beginning of the new year, the day was held in particular reverence. (ref 4.606) [UKT ¶]
UKT 140717: Full-Moon of Māgha (Hind-Dev माघ maagh) known as {ta.po.twè: la.præÑ.} for the year 2014 falls on Feb 14. For the year 2013 it falls on Feb 25.
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magha_Puja 140717
It was my birthday - at the exact time of birth at early dawn, the Moon was just a few degrees short of fullness. Because of which I have the full blessing of Goddess Sarasati - the Goddess of Knowledge and was predicted to be a life-long teacher ever in search of knowledge. Even at age 80, I still thirst for knowledge.
An Ashṭakā or this 'sole Ashṭakā' was the eighth day after the full moon is clearly shown by the Atharvaveda. (ref 4.607) In the hymn dedicated to her praise this night is likened to a cow and addressed as the consort of the Year (saṁvatsarasya painī). (ref 4.608) She is asked to grant abundant happiness, children, wealth, cattle and the favour of the gods. Above all, she is lauded as the mother of Indra and Soma, and the daughter of Prajāpati. (ref. 4.609) She is said to have brought forth her babe, the mighty and illustrious Indra, with whom the gods could subdue their adversaries and who killed in his might the Dasyus or Asuras. (ref 4.610)
The Taittirīya Saṁhitā tells us that the Ekāshṭakā is the wife of the year, and on his night he dwells with her. (ref 4.611) In the Mantra Brāhmaṇa she is addressed as Night, the wife or counterpart of the year. (ref 4.612) Elsewhere she is equated with this earth (ref 4.613) and said to be sacred to Prajāpati. (ref 4.614)
From the Tāṇdya Brāhmaṇa we know of a tradition according to which the twelve Ekāshṭakās is (properly Ashṭakās, each eighth day following a full-moon day) had come to be believed as sacred. (ref 4.615) On the same lines Grbyasūtras appear to enjoin more than one such day, i.e, three or even four Ashṭakās. (ref 4.616) But the Ashṭakā par excellence or Ekāshṭakā seems to be held in special reverence and was celebrated in the month of Māgha. [UKT ¶]
V.M Apte has termed it as 'the middle Ashṭakā', of which the sacrifice of a cow or an animal (goat) was a district feature. (ref 4.617) As noted by Keith, "A very odd rite is prescribed by the Mānava school (VOJ IV.211; MGS ii.9.1-3), for the evening before the last Astaka: at the cross-roads the sacrificer kills a cow, dismembers it, and divides the flesh among the passers by. (ref 4.618) It is interesting to note that in the Anvāshṭakya ceremony, or the rites following the Ashṭakā, the "Mothers" were offered their sacrificial share along with the Fathers, Agni and Soma, and they received particularly wine (surā) and the scum of boiled rice. (ref 4.619)
Somewhat similar to Ashṭakā is the personification of the full-moon night of the month of Margasirsha under the name Āgrahāyaṇī . (ref 4.620) It is in fact the full moon day which comes in the beginning of the year, and the festival on this occasion seems to make use of some of the mantras that were recited on the Ashṭakā festivals (i.e. AV III. 10.2-6: Taitt. Saṁ 5.7.2.1).621
(p108 contd)
More or less of the same type is the
personification of Night, Rātrī,
who seems to be hailed in one complete
hymn as early as the Ṛgveda. (ref 4.622) ;
She is called
(p109end)
---
Go back Astaka-note-b
-- UKT 130806
Based on Thudda Byuhar of Khingyi Byaw (in Burmese-Myanmar)
-- by Saya Magha aka U Tha Tin, WKT (Wunna KyawHtin), Rangoon, 1971
and the preface written by a writer with the pen-name "Paragu".
Sayadaw Khingyi Byaw
{hkïn-kri:hpyau} was born in Taungdwingyi
{taung-twïn:kri:}, in the heartland
of Myanmarpré
{mrûn-ma-præÑ} in BE 1084 and died in
BE 1752 (addition of the usual 638 gives
AD which may be off by one year.). His
given common name was Maung Hpyaw
{maung-hpyau}.
On becoming a fully-ordained monk at the
age of 20, he was renamed Shin Nyana
{ña-Na.}. Even then he was still known as
{hking-kri:hpyau} after his childhood
name Maung Hpyaw
{maung-hpyau} combined to the older prefix
for a monk: Khingyi.
His birthplace is almost completely surrounded by the hills of Pegu Yoma -- the
central mountain range that extends from north to south except for an access
road from the west. Completely cut off from major arterial highways by river, by
road and by rail I have never been to the place. Being in the rain shadow of the
higher Western Yoma, the place suffers from drought, a severe one occurring
while Maung Hpyaw
{maung-hpyau} was growing up. He and his parents had to seek refuge in areas near
Mount Popa.
Though Sayadaw Khingyi Byaw was born in the reign of
Mahadhammaraza Dipadi
{ma.ha-Dûm~ma.ra-za-Di.pa.ti.} of Ava
of Bayinnaung's descent, it was probable
that he had never studied in the capital.
He
was sent at the age 10, to the monastic school of
{mro.lu.lïn kûn-ro:kyaung:} Sayadaw in
his birthplace. It is said that
he finished mastering the Burmese akshara
principles
{þïn-poan:kri:} in a single day.
UKT 130808: It is becoming unknown that every Theravada Buddhist monk in Myanmarpré, regardless of his age, has to be engaged in either one or both of the two activities: to be learning the literature of Buddhism or to be engaged in Buddhist yogas leading to enlightenment. It is because of this requirement that every monastery even to this day is a teaching institution, and every boy entering the monastery either as a lay student or novice-monk has to study. The very first lesson is to write a perfect rounded-circle on which Myanmar akshara is based. The second lesson is invariably
Even during the hard times while the
family was in areas near Mount Popa,
his education had never suffered thanks
to the monastic schools ran by the
Buddhist monks in almost every village.
At the age 20, he was ordained as a
full fledged monk by the Abbot of Turwindaing-taungcha monastery. I must
remark that the village of Turwindaing
{tu-rwïn:teïn} was one of my paternal
ancestral villages.
In a short life span of 39 years,
Sayadaw Khingyi Byaw wrote profusely
on every subject known in his day. Because
of his profound knowledge he is known as
{ma.ka-ra.lau:pa.} 'one for which
{ma.} the negative does not apply'.
UKT 130804: Unlike English or Sanskrit, the negation prefix is
Ava, the capital of
{ma.ha-Dam~ma.ra-za-Di.p.ti.} was no
more. The capital was destroyed by the
Mon-Myan speakers and the king had been
taken captive to Pegu. The Bur-Myan speakers
had rallied under a new leader, a
village-headman, U Aung Zeya, and his two
elder sons. U Aung Zeya was then crowned
as King Alaungpaya
{a.laung:Bu.ra:}. They now had a new
capital in Shwébo. After King Alaungpaya's
death, his eldest son
{naung-tau-kri:} ascended the throne. He
then moved the capital to a place near
the old Ava. The new capital was again
known as Sagaing
{sic-keïn:}.
The reader should note that there was an older capital city with the name Sagaing
UKT 130807: As a note to history, I must add that King Alaungpaya, and his two elder sons King Naungdawgyi, and King Hsinbyushin, became the avengers of Banyinaung empire which was planned to be a federated kingdom. They went after every one who had destroyed the work of Banyinaung.
The above is simply my view which I expect to be rejected by the historians, that
{Bu.rïn.naung} had planned the area to become a federated kingdom, because, he after training the Thai crown-prince in Burmese martial arts together with his own sons, had sent him back to Thailand to rule the country. The Thai prince, now king, was true to his adopted father, but after the father's death, broke away killing the eldest son of
Reference:
1. Thudda Byuhar of Khingyi Byaw
(in Burmese-Myanmar)
-- by Saya Magha aka
U Tha Tin, WKT (Wunna KyawHtin),
Rangoon, 1971
UKT 130805: WKT aka
{wuNNa.kyau-htïn} is an honour awarded by the Burmese Government in recognition of a person's achievements. Various Myanmar governments since the days of the monarchy award such honourific titles.
The practice was continued by the British-Burma governments with titles such as ATM aka {a.mhu.tau-htûm:kaung:ming:} 'a noble one whose work is an honour to the British Majesty', and KSM aka {a.kyo:tau-hsaung-ming:} 'a noble one who has done good service for the British Majesty". A heavy solid gold coin strung from a broad silk ribbon was ceremonially put around the neck of the recipient by the Governor General himself. (I need to get the correct spellings). The awards were given out every year.
The practice was continued after independence from Britain in 1947, and is still being carried out. Of course, the names of the titles have been changed from time.
Go back KhingyiByaw-note-b
-- UKT 130812, 140709, 160504
Notes on Third Eye is based on my own experience and from various sources.
The Pal-Myan entries have an unusual conjunct
- one inside another:
.
It could have been explicitly drawn as a
vertical conjunct:
.
Why the ancient Bur-Myan scribe had opted
to draw the glyph in this way is a mystery.
Maybe, the ancients back in the days of Asoka
(see r3c4 in the Asoka akshara-matrix) had
treated the akshara r3c4 as a sacred phoneme.
And the Bur-Myan had followed suit and
had placed it in a prominent place in their
glyph. Whatever the case may be, because one
akshara is inside another, it is not easy to
decide which is the top (killed) and which
is the bottom (normal).
Mysteries are always fertile grounds for wild speculation and
imagination. I admit that my suggestion that r3c4 akshara is related to the
mark on Buddha's head - the place of the mysterious Third Eye -- is nothing but
pure speculation! But then everything is possible in Myanmarpré, when we as
children, were told to respect every akshara as a
{Bu.ra:}.
'Every akshara is a Buddha'.CAUTION: Don't translate 'Buddha' as 'god'. In Theravada Buddhism, the term is applied to a human being of supreme intellect. This intellect can be acquired by any person by practicing clear thinking, and meditation. There is no hidden secret in Theravada teachings. You don't have to a Buddhist to access them - you can be a Christian, a Hindu, a Muslim, or even a Communist. By trying hard enough, you and I, male or female, can acquire the supreme intellect. You don't have to be Allah, God, or YHVH, or the chosen prophet, or being born by immaculate conception, to acquire this supreme intellect!
I started to practice Buddhist meditation for a few days under the instruction of Sayagyi U Ba Khin who at that time was Accountant General (A.G.), Govt. of Burma, at Rangoon. It was in 1951, and I was just 16 working as a Lower Division clerk in A.G., Pension branch, under Superintendent U Thaung Tin. It was my cousin U Boon Shain, a Superintendent at A.G., who took me to the little room on top of the Auditor General office to do the practice. All the assistants of Sayagyi mentioned in the following Wikipedia article were known to me.
"Sayagyi Ba Khin (1899-1971) was the first Accountant General of the Union of Burma. He is principally known as a leading twentieth century authority on Vipassana meditation. --- ten members of the Vipassana Research Association assisted Sayagyi in his teaching, and in particular, Mother Sayama Daw Mya Thwin, U Chit Tin, U Tint Yee, U Ba Pho, and U Boon Shain. -- Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ba_Khin 130910
The Theravada Buddhist meditation is in two parts: the concentration of mind, and Vipassana or "insight meditation". During the first part, experiences attributed to the Third Eye can be realised. My father, U Tun Pe, who had gone through the experience in his youth objected to my picking up the practice. My father's guru was (Arakanese) U Kyaw Dun (Lecturer, Govt. Technical Institute, Insein, Rangoon) who had warned him about the first part which if left unchecked could make a person go mad.
My father objected because of my age and because I still lacked enough "Sila" or "good-conduct" which would be safe-guards against the diversions of the mystic experience. I had to discontinue. I again picked up the meditation practiced after several more years when I was already an Assist. Lecturer, Rangoon University, Rangoon. I already had two university degrees -- one from the U.S. I was married and was already a father. And so I was mentally stable.
Meditation the second time was under SunLun instructions. Here again my meditation master, Sayadaw U Winiya, warned me about the excesses of the first part - the concentration of mind. At one stage he asked me to stop the first part and do more of the second part, because in his estimate I had already acquired enough experience of the first.
Myanmar Theravada meditation masters are dead set against excessive practice of the first part. They insist that you need only just enough to successfully go on to the second part.
You can view an excellent video on the
Third Eye experience by a non-Theravada
master:
--
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewapKUCHXyc
130910
However, there are other videos warning
against opening the Third Eye:
--
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3asla65nvfs 130910
From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_eye 130813
The third eye aka inner eye) is a mystical and esoteric concept referring to a speculative invisible eye which provides perception beyond ordinary sight. [1] In certain dharmic spiritual traditions such as Hinduism, the third eye refers to the ajna, or brow, chakra. [2] In Theosophy it is related to the pineal gland. [3] The third eye refers to the gate that leads to inner realms and spaces of higher consciousness. In New Age spirituality, the third eye often symbolizes a state of enlightenment or the evocation of mental images having deeply personal spiritual or psychological significance. The third eye is often associated with religious visions, clairvoyance, the ability to observe chakras and auras, [4] precognition, and out-of-body experiences [OBE]. People who are claimed to have the capacity to utilize their third eyes are sometimes known as seers.
UKT: More in the Wikipedia article.
Go back Mystery-third-eye-note-b
-- UKT 130806
I was not interested in the history of
Myanmarpré after the breakup of the
Bayinnaung's (originally Taungoo)
Empire soon after his death. It was
the period of fratricidal war between
the Burmese, Mon, Rakhine and Shan
language-dialect speakers who used
the Myanmar akshara as the
common script, dressed alike and by
faith Theravada Buddhists. Yet because
of my present interest in the Myanmar
akshara and Romabama alphabet, and
the Burmese pronunciations of rows 1
(velar), 2 (palatal), & 3 (retroflex)
of consonants, I have no choice but look
into the times when Sayadaw Khingyi Byaw
{hkïn-kri:hpyau} (1722-1762 AD) had
flourished.
From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahadhammaraza_Dipadi 130806
Maha Dhammaraza Dipati
{ma.ha-Dam~ma.ra-za-Di.p.ti.}
(1714–1754), was the last king of
Toungoo dynasty of Myanmarpré from
1733 to 1752. The young king inherited
a kingdom already in severe decline,
and his inexperience only made the
decline faster, finally resulting
in the end of House of Toungoo and
the collapse of the kingdom over his
18-year reign.
[2]
The future king was born in 1714 to Prince Taninganway and his chief queen Thiri Maha Mingala Déwi. He was the fifth child and fourth son of the couple. He was given Singu in fief in his youth. He became the heir presumptive because all three elder brothers died young. [1] He was made the heir apparent on 6 May 1727 (1st waning of Kason 1089 ME). [3]
In 1733, the armies of Manipur invaded and plundered the Burmese territories and again in 1735. The invaders, however, were unable to cross the Irrawaddy. [UKT ¶]
UKT 130806: From about the time of founding of Taunggoo dynasty in Myanmarpré, the Catholic Portuguese were meddling in the affairs of South East Asia and East Indies. They had armed and sent mercenaries to both sides in a local conflict, and probably King Thalun saw that Pegu
{pè:hku:} or Hanthawaddy being near the sea was not safe and moved his capital to the Burmese heartland on the bank of the Irrawaddy river near Mandalay. To read about the Portuguese incursions, read The Grand Peregrination by Maurice Collis, 1949.
Since the move of capital from
Pegu
{pè:hku:} to Ava by King Thalun in 1635,
Pegu had become the rallying point for
the Mon revival and insurgency. The
Burmese governors were readily hatred
due to heavy corrupted taxation. Taking
the advantage of weak royal authority
after the Manipur invasions, a Burmese
governor rebelled and proclaimed himself
the King of Pegu in 1740. The Mons,
unwilling to have a Burmese king in Pegu,
rioted and murdered the new king.
Mahadhammaraza Dipati
{ma.ha-Dam~ma.ra-za-Di.p.ti.}
then installed his uncle as the new
governor of Pegu.
Yet the Mons were still unsatisfied and
went on to kill Burmese officials in Pegu.
The king was then enraged at the Mons and
ordered a massacre of the Mons at Pegu.
The Gwe Shans (the Shans who were taken
as captives from their northern homelands
to Pegu
{pè:hku:} by King Bayinnaung in the 16th
century) took this opportunity to stage
their own rebellion. The Shan armies
with supports from the Mons took Pegu
in 1740. A popular monk of Shan origin
was proclaimed Gwe Min the
King of Pegu.
As Ava was largely distracted by another Manipur invasion. The Peguan armies invaded Prome and Ava but failed yet were able to take Toungoo. Thado Minkhaung, the viceroy of Prome and Mahadhammaraza Dipati’s brother, hurried south and took Syriam but was soon repelled. Prome eventually fell to the Mons in 1745. The Mons tried to take Ava again without success.
In 1747, Binnya Dala was proclaimed the
King of Pegu. The two sides were unable
to overcome each other until 1751 when
the crown prince of Pegu (Binnya Tala’s
brother) marched the Peguan armies into
Upper Irawaddy and laid siege on Sagaing
and Ava. Ava fell to the Mons on 23 March
1752 (8th waxing of Old Tagu 1113 ME) and
Maha Dhammaraza Dipati
{ma.ha-Dam~ma.ra-za-Di.p.ti.} was
taken as captive down to Pegu.
[4]
Mahadhammaraza Dipati had survived for
another two years before being executed
in 1754 due to a suspected rebellion.
UKT 130806: When Ava fell to the Mons on 23 Mar 1752, and Maha Dhammaraza Dipati
UKT: The above Wikipedia article is
based on two references;
1. Hmannan Vol. 3
2. Htin Aung 1967
End of Wikipedia article.
Go back dhammaraza-note-b
-- UKT 130806
Naugdawgyi
{naung-tau-kri:}, literally meaning
'eldest brother', was the eldest son
of U Aungzeya
{U:aung-zé-yya.}, a mere village
headman of {moat-hso:hkroän}-village,
near the town of Shwébo. The village
headman later became King Alungpaya
{a.laung:Bu.ra:} - the founder of the
last dyanasty -- the Konbaung dynasty.
From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naungdawgyi 130806
Naungdawgyi
{naung-tau-kri:} (10 August 1734 –
28 November 1763) was king of Konbaung
Dynasty of Burma (Myanmar) from 1760
to 1763. He was a top military commander
in his father Alaungpaya's
{a.laung:Bu.ra:} reunification campaigns
of the country. As king, he spent much
of his short reign suppressing multiple
rebellions across the newly founded
kingdom from Ava (Inwa)
{ïn:wa.} and Toungoo (Taungoo)
{taung-ngu} to Martaban (Mottama)
{moat~ta.ma.} [the British Raj changed
the name to Amherst after the First Anglo
Burmese War] and Chiang Mai
{zïn:mèý}. [UKT ¶]
The king suddenly died less than a year
after he had successfully suppressed
the rebellions. He was succeeded by his
younger brother Hsinbyushin
{hsïn-hpru-rhïn}.
Naungdawgyi was born Maung Lauk
{maung-lauk} lit. 'the little maggot' to Daw
Yun San and U Aung Zeya (later
King Alaungpaya) on 10 August 1734
(Tuesday, 11th waxing of Wagaung 1096 ME)
in a small village of Moksobo,
about 60 miles northwest of Ava (Inwa)
{ing:wa.}.
[2]
[UKT ¶ ]
UKT Personal note 130806: I was born in 1296 BE, and so I am exactly 200 years younger than
He was the eldest child of the couple's
nine children. In 1736, his father
became the chief of Moksobo, and the
deputy chief of the Mu valley
{mu:mric-whûm:}, their home region.
Maung Lauk
{maung lauk} grew up during the period
in which the royal authority of the
king at Ava had largely dissipated
across the kingdom. [UKT ¶]
UKT 130806: Burmese names are almost always disyllabic. So, a name with a single syllable must always be accompanied by Maung, Ko, or U in case of males, and Ma, or Daw in case of females. Thus to refer to
He watched helplessly as the Manipuris
ransack his home region year after year,
and could not understand why the king
could not prevent these repeated raids.
[3]
Their sense of helplessness only
deepened in 1740, the
Mon of Lower Burma broke away, and
founded the
Restored Hanthawaddy Kingdom centered in
Pegu (Bago)
{pè:hku:}. Throughout his teens, Maung Lauk
{maung lauk} and his fellow Upper
northern Burmans [the speakers of Bur-Myan]
watched how Pegu
{pè:hku:} [or Mon-Myan speakers] was
increasingly winning the war against Ava
{ing:wa.}.
UKT: More in the Wikipedia article.
Go back naungdawgyi-note-b
- UKT 110802, 120112, 140712
The Godavari River is one of the
principal rivers in Madras Presidency
(pre-WWII-name). Whatever we used to
know about India was from the British
of pre-WWII. With new name changes,
we lost track of what we used to know.
The people from the northern part are
known as Madrasee, and those from the
southern part are Tamils or
{ka.lèý}. The peoples from that area,
from the valley of Godavari river had
been coming to southern Myanmarpré
and many Burmese in the Irrawaddy delta
can trace their ancestry to the southern
Indians.
Madras Presidency in Imperial Gazetteer or India, vol 9, 2nd ed., by W. W. Hunter, 1886. 556 pdf pages in TIL library -- madras-imperial...pdf 140711 . No Internet link. The following are excerpts:
(p001, pdf 013)
The Presidency of Fort Saint George,
as officially styled. It occupies
with its dependencies, and with the
State of Mysore, the entire south
of the Peninsula of India. Its extreme
length from north-east to south-west
is about 950 miles ; its extreme
breadth about 450 miles. The Madras
Presidency consists of three classes
of territory — (1) the 22 British
Districts within the Presidency;
(2) the Agency Tracts of Ganjam,
Vizagapatam, and Godavari ,
under a special administration; and
(3) five Native States in political
dependence on the Madras Government,
namely, Travancore, Cochin, Pudukota,
Banganapalli, and Sandiir.
(p003, pdf015)
The three principal rivers of Madras
are the Godavari , Kistna or
Krishna, and Kaveri (Cauvery), each
with a large tributary system of its
own. All of these rivers have the same
uniform features. They rise in the
Western Ghats, and run right across
the peninsula in a south-easterly
direction into the Bay of Bengal. They
drain rather than water the upper
country through which they flow, and are
here comparatively valueless either for
navigation or irrigation. ... ... ... The
Tamil country in the extreme south,
to which the name of Dravida is
alone strictly applicable, is traditionally
divided between the three kingdoms of
Pandiya , Chola, and Chera ; ...
(p010, pdf022)
Greek accounts, chiefly based on
Megasthenes (300 B.C.), speak of
the kingdoms of Kalinga,
Andhra, and Pandiya, the last in
the extreme south, the two first
in the north of the present Madras
Presidency, Kalinga on the coast and
Andhra inland. To these may be added
Chola and Kerala (Chera?), in the
time of Asoka (250 B.C.).
(p012, pdf024)
Vasco da Gama , the pioneer
of maritime adventure, cast anchor
off Cahcut on the 20th May 1498.
For a century, the Portuguese
retained in their control the commerce
of India, especially along the
western coast. The Dutch began to
establish themselves on the ruins
of the Portuguese at the beginning
of the 17th century, and were quickly
followed by the English, who opened
places of business at Calicut and
Cranganore as early as 1616.
Edited excerpt from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godavari_River 110802
The
Godavari
(Marathi: गोदावरी,
Telugu: గోదావరి)
is a river that runs from western
to southern India and is considered
to be one of the big river basins in
India. With a length of 1465 km, it is
the second longest river in India
(only after the Ganges), that runs
within the country. It originates ...
Maharashtra state and flows east across
the Deccan Plateau into the Bay of
Bengal ... in ... Andhra Pradesh.
[2]
UKT 110802, 120112: The reader should note that the names of the rivers in a country are rarely changed throughout history. You should compare Godavari
There had probably been a very close connection between the peoples of Godavari basin and the peoples of southern Rakhine. In the approach to Rakhine lies the Myanmar island of Man-aung
{maan-aung} aka Cheduba. It is situated in Kyaukpru district and is about 60 miles from the Rakhine coast. The following is my edited stub from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheduba_Island 110802
" Cheduba Island ... is an island in the Bay of Bengal close to Ramree Island belonging to Burma. It has an area of approximately 523 km² and a population 63,761 as of 1983 which is composed chiefly of Burmans and Arakanese peoples."UKT: According to one Arakanese connected to Man-aung no Indian is allowed to settle on the island by the local population. Maurice Collis, the British writer, wrote about a legend connected to a hill by the name Taung-ni 'the Red Hill' on the island. The very soil of the hill is supposed to be scented with a sweet smell. (I'm writing this note from memory and the reader is urged to read 'Trials in Burma' by Maurice Collis who had been a District Commissioner of Arakan before the Second World War.) - UKT110802
From
The Godavari River is a major waterway in central India, originating in the Western Ghats ... flowing eastwardly across the Deccan Plateau through the state of Maharashtra. It is known as dakshin ganga (Southern Ganges). ... . While passing through Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh it touches a small village called Dharmapuri which is a pilgrimage village with many ancient Hindu temples and river Godavari serving as spiritual place in true sense for bathing in Godavari river spread over rocks and sand. While crossing the Deccan Plateau and then turns to flow in a southeast direction until it empties into the Bay of Bengal through two mouths. [3] Basara, on the banks of Godavari in Adilabad District, is home to a famous temple for Goddess Saraswati and is the second temple for the Goddess in India.
... ... ...
Although the river arises only 80 kilometres from the Arabian Sea, it flows 1,465 km to empty into the Bay of Bengal. Just above Rajamundry, there is a dam that provides water for irrigation. Below Rajahmundry, the river divides into two streams that widen into a large river delta which has an extensive navigable irrigation-canal system, Dowleswaram Barrage that links the region to the Krishna River delta to the southwest. [4]
The Godavari River has a drainage area of 342,812 km² that includes more than one state which is nearly one-tenth of India and is greater than the areas of England and Ireland put together. The Pravara, Indravati, Wainganga [UKT: the river mentioned in the Mowgli stories in the "Jungle Book" by Rudyard Kipling.], Wardha, Pench, Kanhan and Penuganga rivers, discharge an enormous volume of water into the Godavari system. Its tributaries include Indravati, Manjira River, Bindusara River and Sabari River. [5]
UKT: More in the Wikipedia article.
Go back Godavari-note-b
-- UKT 130325 , 130825
Daksha दक्ष = द क ् ष -->
{dak~hka.}
• Pal:
-- UHS-PMD0456
UKT from UHS: intelligent, accomplished
I believe that many of the old fairy
tales, related in Puranas, are based
on historical accounts, and the story
of Daksha & Hamavat , Vishnu &
Krishna, and Shiva & Ganesha
represented the struggle between the
three linguistic groups in Ancient India.
Daksha & Hamavat represented the Tibeto-Burman speakers - the peoples of the original brass civilization, Vishnu & Krishna the newcomers through the north-western frontier, and Shiva & Ganasha from the the south. The newcomers were iron-age peoples and they easily defeated the Tibeto-Burmans who were made slaves, and a few survived just south of the Himalayas. However, the majority is still in northern Myanmarpré which itself was populated by the ancient Pyus - a group of Tib-Bur speakers - who were taken over by the Burmese - another group of the same linguistic group.
The story of the sacrifice of Daksha, and the demise of Sakti - the Mother Goddess of the Tib-Bur was one such story. Please note this is just a hypothesis of mine after nearly a decade and a half of study of the BEPS languages.
From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daksha 130825
According to Hindu legend, Daksha is one of the sons of Lord Brahma. {UKT ¶]
[Deva-god] Brahma, after creating the
ten Manas Putras, created Daksha,
Dharama, Kamadeva
[
{ka-ma.dé-wa.}
कामदेव] and
Agni from his right thumb, chest,
heart and eye-brows respectively.
[1]
Besides his noble birth, Daksa was
a great king. Pictures show him as
a rotund and obese man with a stocky
body, protruding belly, and muscular
with the head of an ibex-like creature
with spiral horns.
Excerpt from: The Vishnu Purana, translated by Horace Hayman Wilson, [1840], at sacred-texts.com http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/vp/vp043.htm 130325
Foot note 1. of p.61:
The sacrifice of Daksha is a legend of
some interest, from its historical and
archeological relations. It is obviously
intended to intimate a struggle between
the worshippers of Śiva and of
Vishńu, in which at first the
latter, but finally the former, acquired
the ascendancy. [UKT ¶]
It is also a favourite subject of Hindu sculpture, at least with the Hindus of the Śaiva division, and makes a conspicuous figure both at Elephanta and Ellora. [UKT ¶]
A representation of the dispersion and mutilation of the gods and sages by Vírabhadra, at the former, is published in the Archæologia, VII. 326, where it is described as the Judgment of Solomon! a figure of Vírabhadra is given by Niebuhr, vol. II. tab. 10: and the entire group in the Bombay Transactions, vol. I. p. 220. It is described, p. 229; but Mr. Erskine has not verified the subject, although it cannot admit of doubt. The groupe described, p. 224, probably represents the introductory details given in our text. [UKT ¶]
Of the Ellora sculptures, a striking one occurs in what Sir C. Malet calls the Doomar Leyna cave, where is "Veer Budder, with eight hands. In one is suspended the slain Rajah Dutz." A. R. VI. 396. And there is also a representation of 'Ehr Budr,' in one of the colonades of Kailas; being, in fact, the same figure as that at Elephanta. Bombay Tr. III. 287. [UKT ¶]
The legend of Daksha therefore was popular when those cavern temples were excavated. The story is told in much more detail in several other Puráńas, and with some variations, which will be noticed: but the above has been selected as a specimen of the style of the Váyu Puráńa, and as being a narration which, from its inartificial, obscure, tautological, and uncircumstantial construction, is probably of an ancient date. The same legend, in the same words, is given in the Bráhma P.
Go back Sacrifice-Daksha-note-b
- UKT 140717
Lonar crater is mentioned in Notes explanatory of a collection of Geological Specimens from country between Hydrabad and Nagpur in The Madras Journal of Literature and Science, ed. Robert Cole, vol. IV, July-October 1836, p218, pdf255/567 (downloaded copy is in TIL library - no Internet link) (Note: The publication was 99 years before I was born. Such a lake in Myanmarpré would be described as an entrance to the Naga kingdom. Notice its vicinity to Nagpur which means the 'city of Naga'.).
Belief in the existence of Naga is
still prevalent in present day
Myanmarpré. As an example we refer to
the mud volcanoes of Minbu as
'hills of Naga bubbles' {naga:pwak
taung}. See my edition of
¤ Folk Elements in Buddhism --
flk-ele-indx.htm (link chk 140717)
and proceed to ¤ Cult of Naga -
ch07-cult-naga.htm
(link chk 140717)
See a video on mud bubbles http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmzU614T-8Y 140717
From: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v120/n3025/abs/120586a0.html 140717
Mud Volcanoes of Minbu, Upper Burma, by V. V. Sohoni,
Abstract of letter to Nature, Nature 120, 586-586 (22 October 1927) | doi:10.1038/120586a0
THE accompanying photographs of the mud volcanoes of Minbu in Upper Burma may be of interest to readers of NATURE. Minbu is on the Irrawaddy, near the oil-fields of Yenangyaung. The volcanoes are small hillocks of grey mud or clay. The hills begin as holes, from which mud oozes and forms continually growing cones. Inflammable gases are also exuded with the mud. The local people associate superstitious ideas with the volcanic activity.
From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lonar_crater_lake 140717
Lonar Lake (Marathi: लोणार सरोवर) is a saline soda lake located at Lonar in Buldana district, Maharashtra, India, which was created by a meteor impact during the Pleistocene Epoch. [1] This lake, which lies in a basalt impact structure, is both saline and alkaline in nature. Geologists, ecologists, archaeologists, naturalists and astronomers have reported several studies on the various aspects of this crater lake ecosystem. [2] Lonar Lake has a mean diameter of 1.2 kilometres
UKT: More in the Wiki article.
Go back Lonar-note-b
- UKT 160616
Who were the ancient Telugu language speakers of southern India? How were they related to a group of Mon-Myan speakers who were derisively termed {ta.leing:} by the Bur-Myan speakers of northern Myanmarpré who called their language {ba.ma}? Please remember, the basic aim of my study is purely linguistic without any reference to history, politics and religion, and if I appear to be stepping out of line it is purely accidental and I beg to be forgiven.
From Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telugu_language 160619
Telugu తెలుగు telugu, IPA: [t̪el̪uɡu] is a Dravidian language native to India. It stands alongside Hindi, English and Bengali as one of the few languages that predominate in more than one Indian state; [6] it is the primary language in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, as well as in the town of Yanam where it is also an official language. It is also spoken by significant minorities in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, and Puducherry, and by the Sri Lankan Gypsy people. It is one of six languages designated a classical language of India by the Government of India. [7] [8] Telugu ranks third by the number of native speakers in India (74 million, 2001 census), [9] fifteenth in the Ethnologue list of most-spoken languages worldwide [10] and is the most widely-spoken Dravidian language. It is one of the twenty-two scheduled languages of the Republic of India.[11]
In loans from Sanskrit, Telugu retains some of the features that have subsequently been lost in some of Sanskrit's daughter languages such as Hindi and Bengali, especially in the pronunciation of some vowels and consonants. [12]
UKT: more in the Wikipedia article
Antarvedi village (Telugu: అంతర్వేది)
See also Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarvedi 160621
- UKT 120111140713, 160621: I am now quite familiar with Skt-Dev which means I am somewhat familiar with Hindi. But Tamil & Telugu speeches written in their own scripts are beyond me. However, because I am including Mon-Myan (an Austro-Asiatic language) in my study I started to learn Tamil - the most important Austro-Asiatic language in India. However, I soon found out that I should be learning Telugu instead.
The peoples of southern Myanmarpré, at one time the Pyus, later the Mons, and recently Burmans have always had contact with peoples from southern India: from Talangana (Buddhists and Hindus), from Madras (some Buddhists and mostly Hindus), and from Tamil Nadu (Hindus). People from the area where I was born, ethically Dala-Mons aka Peguans, built houses known locally (when I was young) in "Madras style" and "Talaing style". Translation from one language to another was on pure linguistic grounds -- without any politics. It is the politicians with their own interests who messed up the translations and now the word "Talaing" is a politically tainted word!
Antarvedi village is in Godavari district
{gau:da-wa.ti}-district in Madras Presidency - the name we are familiar with.
From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarvedi 110803
Antarvedi (Telugu: అంతర్వేది) is a village in Sakhinetipalle mandal located close to Narsapur near the Bay of Bengal coast and Vasistha River, in East Godavari district, Andhra Pradesh, India. Actually the place Antarvedi is at the tip of the confluence of the Vasistha River with the Bay of Bengal.
Antarvedi is famous for the
Laxmi Narasimha Swamy temple
constructed between the 15th and
16th centuries. A temple of lord Siva
is also present which is older than
narasimha swamy temple ,the idol of
lord Siva was installed by lord srirama.
UKT 140719: Half-man half-lion images, known as
{ma.noaþ~þi-ha.} 'man-headed lion', are usually placed at the four corners of a Myanmar-Buddhist pagoda enclosures. When viewed from one side, you can see only one body with the face looking away, and when viewed from another side you can see the other body. It is a perfect corner piece and the two bodies may be just an ingenious way to show an animal guarding the corner. In Hindu iconography, it is 'lion-headed man'. We must take the two to be different.
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laxmi_Narasimha_Swamy 140719
UKT: More in the Wikipedia article.
You should also look up
¤ Godavari River,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godavari_River
120111,
¤ Talangana,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telangana
120111, and,
¤ History of Andhra-Pradesh
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Andhra_Pradesh
120111.
My conjecture [mind you - it is only
a conjecture] is: the Telegu speakers
or their ancestors from Talangana who
were called Talaings
{ta.leing:} came over to ancient
Myanmarpré. Unable to settle on the
Arakan coast because of the hostilities
of the Arakanese, they had sought
refuge in the mangroves of the
Irrawaddy river in areas near the
present-day Bassein to Pegu area. At
that time before the Christian era,
the Irrawaddy-Sittang river mouths
were still rapidly filling and a delta
was beginning to be formed. The Talaings
eventually mixed up with the Mons who
were also settling in the area.
A thousand years or so later, the northern Myanmar (Burmese) kings who were hostile to the southern Myanmar (Mon) kings came to call the Mons the Talaings. Language wise Telegu is a southern Indian or Dravidian language, whereas the Mons speak a language related to Kmer of the eastern regions all the way day to Cambodia.
Please remember, I have Mon ancestry on my mother side, and I will in no way belittle my ancestors who hailed from ancient Dala City - the area of present day Kungyangon. -- UKT120111
Go back Telugu-note-b
End of TIL file
