Kashmir, Tamilnadu, Panini, Abhinavagupta, etc.

[DEVARAKONDA VENKATA NARAYANA SARMA]

At 09:19 AM 2/19/99 PST, you wrote:

>  Just curious:
>  Have you done your homework to identify Potala(ka) as
>  Tirupati or Nagarjunakonda or Ceylon or Amaravati?
>
>

I have never identified Potala as  Tirupati.
That is misquoting me. Neither I have identified it with Amaravati.
I identified it with Nagarjunakonda because first of all it is a mahayanic
buddhist center. Close to it there is a water fall that is called "etti
potala". The word potala could have been used by bhikkus and laymen to
distinguish it from the other mountains in the range. Further the two great
centers
vajrayana buddhism are Nalanda and Dhanyakataka (Amaravati) and most of the
buddhists have come to these places to learn about mahayana and
vajrayana. It is definitely more logical to expect Potala to be
situated in a region which is a hot bed of vajrayana and abounds in
temples for Tara and Avalokitesvara (Dhanyakataka) than in Malaya Mountains
which do not have this tradition. This identification to my mind is more
logical than depending upon the similarities between Siva and Avalokitesvara.
As a matter of fact Dhanykataka was subsequently was known as Dharanikota
because of its association with dhAraNis of vajrayana. Taranatha's
History of Buddhism I feel supports this view. In my view there can
be more than one Potala just we have many Kashis all over India.

There is a tradition in Buddhists that at present Potala is situated in
an island because the land route has got submerged in sea .
Now if a Potala existed in the southern extreme of India it cannot
be attached to the southern portion of India now. Therfore to claim that
it is still in the Malaya mountains will not be correct. I mentioned
the Abhayagiri of Ceylon because it is a sacred place for Buddhists
and N.Ganesan mentioned that mahayana existed in Ceylon for sometime.
The Adams bridge could be the submerged land route. Ceylon has been
mentioned as a place where Avalokitesvara is there according to
Lankavatarasutra.(lankAgiryAm)

Mr.Iyer, all this is guess work. First of all, the documents on which
we depend upon are unreliable and any equivocation will be stupidity.
We can talk only of probabilities.  There are hearsays, interpolations,
and may be downright lies also. But I think a place of pilgrimage
for generations of Buddhists should be basically a buddhist center is
not too much to ask.

For further information please read the postings. We have a sort of
regime on the number and length of postings.

regards,

sarma.