Epic DAIVAM

[Sudalaimuthu Palaniappan]

In a message dated 98-12-03 11:02:48 EST, jfitzge1 at UTK.EDU writes:

<< The characters do talk
 about action a great deal in the course of the MBh, and one of
 the recurring themes of those discussions juxtaposes human
 initiative (karman, puraSakaara, utthaana ["energetic effort,
 exertion;" mistranslated by van Buitenen as "resurrection" at
 3.33.6 & 7]) to various "agencies" beyond human ken and
 control--daiva, diSTa, vidhaatr, yadrcchaa, haTha, krtakarman (at
 MBh 12.56.14-15 Arjunamisra glosses daiva with "pre-existing
 karma," ["daivam praagbhaviiyam karma"; and I might add, he here
 glosses "utthaanena puruSakaareNa"]). >>

The following is not from Sanskrit sources. But it is from the Tamil didactic
work, tirukkuRaL. It occurs in a section of ten verses dealing with effort
(ALvin2ai uTaimai).

teyvattAn2 AkAtu en2in2um muyaRci tan2
mey varuttak kUli tarum                              (kuRaL 62.9)

My translation: Even if it will not succeed (fully) because of teyvam
(Sanskrit daiva) , effort will give reward in relation to the physical effort.

Uzaiyum uppakkam kANpar ulaivu in2Rit
tAzAtu ujnaRRupavar                                  (kuRaL 62.10)

My translation:Those who tirelessly exert effort will even turn back Uz.

While some have translated Tamil Uz as karma, according to Dr. R.
Vijayalakshmi, Uz corresponded to the concept of 'destiny' of Ajivikas.

vaLLuvar, the author of kuRaL, may have been juxtaposing the benefit of
voluntary effort against agencies which tend to impede the fruition of those
efforts.

Regards
S. Palaniappan