AW: 'Siva and Avalokitezvara

[Tibor Kovacs]

  Concerning the form avalokita-Izvara, this compund, on the other hand,
looks more odd to me. Because almost all compounds having Izvara as the
second member are genitive tatpurushas, like  gaNezvara, nandIzvara,
yogezvara etc. But what should *avalokitasya/avalokitAnAm Izvara mean? Is
it not easier to assume that the name was changed (after the prestige of
the god Brahman had declined and 'Siva had risen to the most prominent
place) so that the name reminded more of this latter god? Because Izvara
like Iza are indeed often used to designate 'Siva.
Georg v. Simson
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Avalokita Izvara could mean "The Lord of the Percieved (World)" The unpercieved or unpercievable
in that case would be nirvANa. Note that Avalokitezvara is also often called Lokezvara, where loka
can mean world. All the lokas as parts of saMsAra are percievable for beeings having some kind
of senses and 'kaya'. As bodhisattvas are enlightened beeings that renounce to nirvANa and stay in
 saMsAra, Avalokitezvara would be the Izvara of all but nirvANa.

best regards
T. Kovacs
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