dakSiNAmUrti story

[Swaminathan Madhuresan]

Dear Ramakrishnan,

What do you mean by DK in the following?

Swaminathan Madhuresan


---Ramakrishnan Balasubramanian <ramakris at EROLS.COM> wrote:
>
> Sudalaimuthu Palaniappan wrote:
>
> > I would very much like to know the following details regarding the
> > dakSiNAmurti story in which ziva teaches four disciples/sages
under the banyan
> > tree.
> >
> > 1.The Sanskrit text that mentions this story for the first time
and the date
> > of the text
> >
> > 2. The subject that ziva taught these four disciples/sages
> >
> > 3. The names of these four disciples/sages
> >
> > 4. The earliest iconographic representation of this story
>
> A very late, but hopefully not totally useless reply. Apart from the
> information given by Dr. Ganesan, the following sources may be useful.
>
> It is not been researched very well when the name daxiNAmUrti (DM)
first
> occurs (if it is at all possible) in Sanskrit texts. The earliest
seems
> to be in the shaiva Agama-s.
>
> For iconographic representations of DM, refer to Elements of Hindu
> Iconography, by T.A.Gopinatha Rao, Vol 2, part 1 and Vol 2, part 2. He
> has given Sanskrit quotes from the utatarakAmikAgama,
vishhNudharmottara
> purANa (which is mentioned by Al-Beruni), a.nshumadbhedAgama, etc.
There
> are also various photographs of different forms of DK. As Dr Ganesan
> mentioned, all these are from South India and I think it's a good
> hypothesis that shiva as DK originated in Tamil Nadu.
>
> However, the idea of shiva as teacher seems to be much older. But, not
> in the form of DK. See "Siva as Promulgator of Traditional Learning
and
> Patron Deity of the Fine Arts", J. Bruce Long, ABORI, Vol 52, pp.
67-80.
> He gives quotes from the mahAbhArata and also points out that the idea
> can be found in the R^ig veda itself. Also the shvetAshvatara
Upanishhad
> (usually dated 4-5th century BC) and a shaiva upanishhad, comes
close to
> making the identification of shiva with the teacher.
>
> Dr Ganesan mentioned the DK stotra ascribed to sha.nkara, but the
> ascription has been doubted. See for eg, Encyclopedia of Indian
> philosoiphies, Karl Potter, Vol III, pp. 317-318. However, Gussner has
> tried to show by stylometric analysis that it is indeed a genuine
> composition, "A Stylometric Study of the Authorship of Seventeen
> Sanskrit Hymns Attributed to Sa.nkara", JAOS, pp. 259-267, 1976.
> Whatever be the case, the hymn is 2-3 centuries later than the Tamil
> Hymns of the shaivite saints.
>
> The tantric text, prapa.ncasAra tantra attributed also to sha.nkara
has
> a chapter on DK. See chapter 28 in that text, Prapa.casAra tantra,
Ed A.
> Avalon. This attribution is also doubtful. Padoux in his book "vAc",
> classifies this as a non-sectarian tantra and hypothesizes that it is
> the work of Vidyasha.nkara tIrtha, the head of the Sringeri Mutt in
the
> 1200s. However, as pointed out by Avalon, there are earlier references
> to this text.
>
> Thanks to Dr Ganesan for the references from the Tamil texts. I was
> planning to post a question on that myself!
>
> Rama
>

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