Amrtam

[Dr. S. Kalyanaraman]

This subject of death in ancient India, brings to mind one nagging lexical issue:
amrtam.

amrtam has alchemical overtones; it seems to refer
to the imperishable nature of gold as the early seekers
found means to smelt rocks, extract and purify the metal.
And hence, extension of the concept of imperishability
to the body...??

Regards, Kalyanaraman.


At 12:53 AM 1/31/97 GMT, you wrote:
>
>In April 1994, Prof. Lance Nelson posted the following references to
>INDOLOGY, re: death and dying in advaita vedanta. They should be useful. 
>
>R. Balasubramanian, "The Advaita View of Death and Immortality," in Death
>and Immortality in the Religions of the World, ed. Paul and Linda Badham
>(New York: Paragon House, 1987), 121ff.
>
>Debabrata Sinha, "On Immortality and Death--Notes in a Vedantic
>Perspective" in Perspectives on Vedanta: Essays in Honor of Professor P.
>T. Raju, ed. S. S. Rama Rao Pappu (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1988), 170-181.
>
>S. Vidyasankar
>
>
>
>