Kashmir, Tamilnadu, Panini, Abhinavagupta, etc.

[N. Ganesan]

Reading Prof. Aklujkar, Interpreting VP 2.486 historically
(Part 3), UMich, 1991

parvatAd Agamam labdhvA ...

Because the Mountain is referred by a very general term
'parvata' in the South, could it be the well known
Malaya mountain occuring in many Sanskrit texts?
(eg: dakSiNAcala in Monier Williams, dakSiNAdri in
kAvyAdarza etc.,
dakSiNApathe potalako nAma parvata (GaNDavyUha, p. 158,
ch. 29, line 20 in P. L. Vaidya, 1960, Buddhist Sanskrit texts,
The Mithila Institute, Dharbhanga)

The first two parts in this posting; the last two
parts immediately follow in another posting.

Regards,
N. Ganesan

Notes:
--------------

Part I:
G. S. Ghurye "Kalidasa speaks ... The capital of the
Pandya king was the town known as Uraga, which as the
great commentator Mallinatha tells us, was situated
on the coast of Kanyakubja, ie., Kanyakumari"

This "uraga" refers to Madurai, the capital of Pandyas.
Periplus Maris Erythraei calls it as Argaru.
The Periplus mentions pearls (K. H. Menges derives
this term from tamil 'paral'.) and a fine muslin
called Argaritic ( < Argaru < uragapura ?) as Pandya exports.
Compare "HAlAsya" to "Uraga". HAlAsya is the well-known
Sanskrit name for Madurai.

S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Some contributions of
South India to Indian culture, U. Calcuuta (Reprint: 1981)
p.338
"along the coast towards the South "paralia"
generally taken as equivalent to Pural or Coast;
the first port in this coast region is what he calls
Balita, identified with Varkkali or Janardanam. Then comes
KumAri. It is also referred to as a holy bathing place, and the
coast region is then described as extending eastwards till it
reaches Korkai "where the pearl fisheries are" and the
Periplus offers the interesting piece of information, "
that they are worked by condemned criminals". Then
follows another coast region with a region inland called
acc. to the Periplus [1] ...
The exports from this region acc. to the Periplus are
the pearls collected from part of what was gathered
each season in the appointed pearl fields, and a kind
of fine muslin called Argaritic."

p.338
"[1] Is this not more correctly Uragapura (HAlAsya or Madurai),
the capital of the Pandyas? URaiyUr, the Chola capital
and the country dependent thereon must have begun far north
of this region- somewhere about ToNDi in the Ramnad District now."

p.339
"Pliny says (McCrindle's Ancient India, Ch. IX, p.54-58):
  Our ladies glory in having pearls suspended from their fingers,
or two or three of them dangling from their ears, delighted even
with the rattling of the pearls as they knock against each other;
and now at the present day, the poorer classes are even affecting them,
as
people are in the habit of saying that `a pearl worn by a
woman in public is as good as a lictor walking before her.'
Nay, even more than this, they put them on their feet, and that,
not only on the laces of their sandals but all over the shoes;
it is not enough to wear pearls, but they must tread upon them and
walk with them under foot as well.

  I once saw Lollia Paulina, the wife of the Emperor Caius - it was
not at any public festival, or any solemn ceremonial, but only at
an ordinary betrothal entertainment - covered with emeralds and
pearls, which shone in alternate layers upon her head, in her
hair, in het wreaths, in her ears, upon  her neck, in her
bracelets, and on her fingers, and the value of which amounted
in all to 40 million sesterces. .. Such are the fruits of
plunder and exploitation."

p. 358
"Apart from the complaints of Petronius that fashionable Roman
ladies exposed their charms much too immodestly by clothing
themselves in the "webs of the woven wind" as he called
the muslins imported from India, Pliny says that India drained
the Roman empire annually to the extent of 55 million
sesterces sending in return goods which sold at a hundred
times their value in India. He also says in another place
that this is the price we pay for our luxuries and our
women."
----------------------


In Many instances, malaya mountains are connected to
nAgAs. Is it why Uraga is used as Pandya king's capital, Madurai??!

a) Hsuan Tsang says the natives locate Sandalwood trees,
by spotting snakes in pairs entwine them to mitigate summer heat.
Thry do this in the Malaya mount, shoot an arrow to
mark that they are sandalwood trees to be harvested later.
(K. A. Nilakanta Sastri, Foreign notices of South India)

b) bodhisattvaavadaana kalpalataa:
  JImUtavAhana took shelter on the Malaya mountain after renouncing
  his sovereignty. The famous story of JiimuutavAhana is related
  in the kathaa-sarit-saagara(by a Kashmiri 'saivaite author) and the
  bodhisattvaavadAna kalpalataa (by Kshemendra of Nepal), and
  is dramatized in HarSa's play, Naagaananda.JiimuutavAhana
  was a prince, who lived in the forest with his aged father.
  He was married to a princess, Malayavtii. As he was walking about,
  he saw on a certain occasion that a boy, named zaGkhacUDa,
  was followed by an attendant, who carried two red garments.
  The boy belonged to the Naga tribe and was chosen as the
  victim for GaruDa, who claimed such a bloody sacrifice
  every day. His mother was weeping and wailing in the neighborhood.
  Jiimuutavaahana offered to give his own life. In spite of
  the boy's protests, he donned the red garments and sat on
  the stone of sacrifice. GaruDa came, began to devour him.
  Jiimuutavaahana looked happy and contented. Garuda was
  astonished and soon learned his mistake. He expiated his error
  by repenting for his cruelty, restored all Nagas back to life.
  In HarSa's play, the goddess Gaurii also appears on the
  scene and Jiimuutavaahana is restored to life.

c)The DhvanyAloka of Aanandavardhana with the Locana of Abhinavagupta,
Harvard univ. press, 1990, p. 343 gives

2.27f

"Anandavardhana: An example of the poetic suggestion of fancy
(utprek.saadhvani) is this:

       In spring the Malabar wind,
       swollen by the breathing of snakes
       that encircle sandalwood trees,
       makes travelors swoon.

For in this example the capacity of the Malabar wind to cause
travelors to swoon in spring is [actually] due to its stimulation
of love. But this capacity is fancied (utprek.sita) to be due to
the swelling of the wind by the poisonous breath of snakes wrapped
around the sandalwood trees [of Malabar]."

d) Giitagovinda:

> From B. S. Miller, Love song of the Dark Lord, ColumbiaUP,

GG 4th song verse 10

Winds from sandalwood mountains
Blow now toward Himalayan peaks,
Longing to plunge in the snows
After weeks of writhing
In the hot bellies of ground snakes.
......

GG. 8th song verse 1
She slanders sandalbalm and moonbeams-weariness confuses her.
She feels venom from nests of deadly snakes in sandal mountain winds.
   Lying dejected by your desertion, fearing Love's arrows,
   She clings to you in fantasy, mAdhava

Part II:
---------

Not only Kalidasa in Raghuvamsam says Pandyas wear
Indra's neclace.

CilappatikAram says something like:
"tEvar-kOn2 maNiyaaram ten2n2ar-kOn2 mArpin2avE!"
 The ruby necklace of the King of Devas is
 on the chest Pandya, the King of Southerners.

Also, five centuries later, when Cholas defeat Pandyas
in their meykkIrtti/pracAsti sections of inscriptions,
Cholas proclaim they took away Pandyas' priced possession-
Indra's necklace.
-------------------------------

Parts III and IV are given in the next posting.

Regards,
N. Ganesan




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