potter, angiras and gold purification in fire

[S.Kalyanaraman]

Hi,

Prof. Krishnamurthy's suggestion for more discussion is excellent.

Is 'vELvi' sacrifice (Tamil) explained as a semantic expansion or
're-borrowing' from 'vEdi' altar (RV)?

The word 'angIras' is a Sanskrit compound: agni (metathesis)+rasa;
rasa-vaadam in Tamil refers to alchemy. vEta-iyal also refers to alchemy.
 I have elsewhere argued (Indian Alchemy: Soma in the Veda, in Press:
Munshiram) that soma referred to 'electrum' or 'assem' of
the ancient Egyptians. somnakay in Gypsy means gold (Turner's CDIAL).

soma-maNal in Tamil refers to sand containing silver ore.
The electrum is a quartz (mAkSikAh or pyrite ore) containing
silver and gold compound and other baser metals.

The task of an angIras was to purify the ore, by a pavitram (purificatory,
filtering process), oxidising, in an intense fire of the yajna,
the baser metals using bones and kSAra (from
plants) and adding vasaTivari waters from the SarasvatI river which is
said to offer pannier gold.

Rigveda is, in significant parts, a metallurgical allegory related to the
industry of the peoples living on the SarasvatI river
(or on what Dr. Rafique Mughal refers to
as 400+ 'industrial sites'  in his Ancient Cholistan).
Rigveda is ecstatic about only one river: the SarasvatI,
the river associated with gold.

Prof. Gonda refers to the impotance of 'gold' in the vedic rites,
from the Rigveda to the brAhmaNas.

Palaniappan's note on AcAri is also apposite. Sanskrit AcAryA is a teacher.
Tamil AcAri is a goldsmith.

We seem to be on the threshold of reinventing a major economic activity
of the vedic civilization with particular reference to 'sapta-dhAtu' and
'panca-jAtA' (RV 6.61.12), in the context of the discovery of the millennium:
the SarasvatI river from Har-ki-dun glacier(Tons river, Bandarpunch massif)
to the Gulf of Khambat.(with 1200 archaeological sites on the banks of this
river)
and the Sarasvati River Valley Project taking shape today in India
(More on this later).

Regards,

Dr. S. Kalyanaraman
19 Temple Avenue, Chennai 600015, India
Tel. +91 44 2354640; Fax. 4996380
mdsaaa48 at giasmd01.VSNL.net.in



At 09:51 PM 10/5/97 +0500, you wrote:
>palaniappan's etymology of aggiras has nothing to do with Dravidian. It is
>his imagination running riot. So it needs no more discussion. Bh.
>Krishnamurti.
>
>