decipering a colophon

thayashi at mail.doshisha.ac.jp thayashi at mail.doshisha.ac.jp
Fri Mar 7 01:13:34 UTC 1997


At  8:56 AM 97.3.6 +0000, Pierre Filliozat wrote:
>There is a consecrated list of six moral enemies of man.That is probably
>the source of interpreting ripu and synonyms as referring to "6". The list
>is found in the following subhaa.sita
>kaama.h krodha"s ca lobha"s ca maano har.so madas tathaa /
>ete hi .sa.d vijetavyaa nitya.m sva.m deham aa"sritaa.h //
>For references see Sternbach, Mahaasubhaa.sitasa.mgraha.
>With regards,
>P.-.S. Filliozat

A similar list of six enemies is said to occur in Bhaaravi's
Kiraataarjuniiya according to Apte's dictionary (s.v. ari), though I
cannnot confirm the context as I do not have the work at hand.  
By the way, common word numerals for "6" in Indian mathematics and
astronomy are aGga, Rtu, and rasa, and the word ari and its synonyms are
very rare.  For example, they do not occur in Varaahamihira's
PaJcasiddhaantikaa (ca. AD 550), Bhaaskara I's comm. (629) on the
AaryabhaTiiya, Mahaaviira's GaNitasaarasaMgraha (ca. 850), and Bhaaskara
II's Liilaavatii (1150), which all utilize bhuutasaMkhyaas in their suutras
and udaaharaNas.  But their actual use in that sense can be confirmed in
the following astronomical text, in which ari and ripu are employed for
"6".
VaTezvara, _ VaTezvarasiddhanta _ (AD 904), ed. with an English translation
and his own comm. by K. S. Shukla, New Delhi: Indian National Science
Academy, 1985 (Part 2) and 1986 (Part 1).
Best regards, Hayashi







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