abhishekam, dvarapalas and "Jambudvipa"

[RABE at vaxd.sxu.edu]

Re: Sadhunathan Nadesan's overhearing "because the Lord likes it" at the
Mahasivaratri abhishekam:

Reminds me of the time I was measuring a deserted South Indian cave-temple when
a middle-class family drove up to see it.
A young child asked, 
        "Mommy, Mommy, what are the door guardians for?"

        "To keep the Lord from leaving," was the dead pan reply.

While showing slides of cosmological mandalas in a class this afternoon, I
realized I didn't know why the middle earth is called Jambudvipa.  So I told
the class that probably some who were exchanging citations on Indian herbals
and ayurvedic texts recently could probably tell me what a Rose-apple is, and
the reason for its application to the inner continent.

Michael Rabe
Saint Xavier University
Chicago