Kashmir, Tamilnadu, Panini, Abhinavagupta, etc.

[Madhav Deshpande]

I believe this discussion of 'parvata' = 'zriiparvata' has been most
interesting.  Are there any similar inscriptional or literary references
that take us closer to Bhart.rhari's date (appr. 5th century A.D.)?  The
reference to 'parvata' combined with the reference to 'daak.si.naatye.su
granthamaatre ...' makes the zriiparvata the best candidate.  The question
is are there other contemporary references to zriiparvata by the term
parvata.
                                Madhav Deshpande

On Sun, 24 Jan 1999, DEVARAKONDA VENKATA NARAYANA SARMA wrote:

> PARVATA-2
>
> I need not mention that zrIsailam is a great zaivate
> center. In "zivAnandalahari" of Adisankara the only kSEtra
> that is mentioned by name is zrIsaila. The slokAs are the ones
> starting with "sandhyArambha" and "bhRGgIcchAnatanOtkataH".
> Perhaps he has composed it in zrIsailam. KaJci PeriyavAl
> is of the view that Adisankara did tapasya there.
>
> In common people the usage without the honorific "zrI"
>
> 1. Even today people in the neighbourhood of zrIparvata call it
>    as "parvata" only.
>
> 2. In the telugu country even today people are named as "parvatAlu",
>    where "lu" simply indicates plural.
>
> 3. These practices are there even earlier can be seen from the
>    following.
>
>         i) In the 12 th century the great zaivate preacher
>            mallikhArjuna paNDitArAdhya wrote a composition on
>           zrisailaM by the name "parvata gadya".
>                                  ^^^^^^^
>       ii) pAlakuriki sOmanAtha in his biography of mallikhArjuna
>            paNDitArAdhya i.e., "paNDitArAdhya caritra" names the
>            chapter pertaining to zrIsailam simply as "parvata prakaraNa".
>                                                      ^^^^^^^
>            He  belongs to the 13th century.
>
>      iii) The ruler of rajahmundry in the same period has the name
>           "parvata mallu".
>            ^^^^^^^
>
>       iv) An inscription in telugu of the latter half of 14th century
>            obtained in zrIsailaM concerning the steps carved from kriSNA
>            river says
>
>            "... yadagaMga parvatamu sObhanAlu sEyiMcina puNyamu..."
>                          ^^^^^^^^^                Epigraphia Andhrica vol.1
>
>        v) An inscription of virUpAkSarAya of vijayanagar of 1465-66 A.D.
>
>            "...zrIman parvata mallikhArjunamahAdEvasya.........
>                         ^^^^^^^                        EI vol XV, p.20.
>            Here  srIman is for mallikharjuna and not
>            for parvata.
>
>       vi) A telugu inscription of 1525 A.D.
>
>           "... parvatabhaktuni kumAruNDu cinavIrAbhaktuMdunnU..."
>                ^^^^^^^                                  SII, vol 16, p.92
>                                                    Inscription 77, line 153
>           Here "parvatabhaktudu" is the name of a person.
>
>      vii) A telugu inscription of 1545 A.D.
>
>           ".....anaMtaya(gAru) paravatayagAru dAravOsi iccina..."
>                                ^^^^^^^^                SII, vol 16, p.164
>                                                    Inscription 156, line 14
>            "paravataya" is the name of a person.
>
> One would like to see even earlier inscriptions. But all the inscriptions
> in zrIsailam are from 14th century, the time of pratAparudra of kAkatIya
> dynasty. It appears that renovation done to the temple at his time has
> destroyed the earlier inscriptions.
>
> "paNdithArAdhya caritra" itself gives a mythological story for the
> name parvata. The great devotee zilAda had three sons. The eldest is
> nandikEswara who became the vehical of Lord ziva by his tapasya. The
> second one is "parvata". He also did tapas and asked lord ziva as a boon
> to reside always on his head . So he became the mountain and Lord ziva
> resided oon him.
>
> We are not interested in the veracity of this mythological story which
> is good or as bad as that of any mythological story. The point to note
> here is that the name of the person is "parvata" and not zrIparvata.
> Thus the proper name of person corresponds to the proper name of the
> mountain.
>
> This shows that along with zrIparvata (used for formal occassions)
> simply "parvata" meant zrIparvata.
>                                                 - to be continued
>
> regards,
>
> sarma.
>