Skt vocabulary for: Hail

[Jonathan Silk]

Actually, I have a question about hail in Classical Skt.

In the KAzyapaparivarta, we have the word azani. Now, in Skt we have
the term azaniprapAta, in which context the term seems to mean
"lightning/thunderbolt." However, Tib and Chin translations of the
KAzyapaparivarta all point to the sense of "hail", and a similar
sense is found in the Abhidharmakoza and  in the Bodhisattvabhumi
(Chin corresponding to Skt), but in the last however Tib seems
uncertain, once translating hail, once lightning (thog vs. ser ba)!!

Usually azani refers to something dangerous which falls to the ground
and injures crops. M Yano once suggested to me that it might mean
thunderbolts which fall to the ground, but I wonder about this. Any
thoughts??


Jonathan Silk

jonathan.silk at yale.edu

Dept. of Religious Studies
Yale University
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