Question on bhRgus

[John Smith]

On Thu, 6 Nov 1997, Sudalaimuthu Palaniappan wrote:

> In the Buddhist texts, the term "bhaggava" is used to denote "potters".
> Pali-English Dictionary gives the Sanskrit equivalent as "bhArgava" derived
> from "bhRgu". Apparently, the Sanskrit form in this meaning occurs in MBh.
> 1.190.47; Saddhp. 191 sq.,  and MVastu III.347. Obviously the MBh reference
> is not from the critical edition. Are there other references where bhArgavas
> are linked to potters? Thanks in advance.

The MBh ref. in the critical edition is 1.182-185. The Pandavas return
after Draupadi's svayamvara to tell Kunti what has happened: they enter
"bhArgavasya nivezanam"/"bhArgavakarmazAlAm" and say "Look what we got!",
and Kunti replies without looking up, "Make sure you all share it!". The
commentator Nilakantha (on the variant reading "bhArgavavezma tat" at
crit. ed. 1.181.40) glosses this as "kulAlagRham" - "potter's house" - and
this has been accepted by the translators Ganguli and van Buitenen.

John Smith

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