Kashmir, Tamilnadu, Panini, Abhinavagupta, etc.-4

[Sudalaimuthu Palaniappan]

In a message dated 1/8/99 8:52:25 PM Central Standard Time,
narayana at HD1.DOT.NET.IN writes:

> The word "parvata" to mean Malaya mountain is worse than
>  aprasiddha. For a North Indian reader who does not know dravidian it
>  does not convey the meaning of Malaya mountain at all. It tells him that
>  vyAkaraNAgamA was obtained from some mountain.

parvata will become meaningful if VP 2.485 and 2.486 are considered together.
According to Aklujkar, VP 2.485 says," vyAkaraNAgamaH dAkSiNAtyeSu grantha-
mAtre vyavasthitaH" meaning "The traditional knowledge (which would include
the oral tradition) of grammar remained among the Southerners only in book
form" and  VP 2.486 runs thus: parvatAD Agamam labdhvA bhASya-bIjAnusAribhiH |
sa nIto bahuzaktvAM candrAcAryAdibhiH punaH ||  meaning "Having required the
traditional knowledge from parvata, candrAcArya and others, who followed the
indications in the bhASya, again made it (i.e., the traditional knowledge)
many-branched".

If the parvata is considered in light of the dAkSiNAtyeSu, then it becomes not
any mountain but the Southern Mountain or dakSiNAcala or malaya. In his notes
to the viSNUpurANa reference of kulaparvatas, H. H. Wilson writes (viSNu
purANa, p. 141), "Malaya is the southern portion of the western Ghats:...Sahya
is the northern portion of the western Ghats, the mountains of the Konkan" .
According to Aklujkar, bhartRhari was from the Nasik area. If bhartRhari were
referring to western Ghats, writing from the northern portion, it should be
natural for him to write about the southern portion of the Ghats as parvata as
dAKSiNAya.

Regards
S. Palaniappan