query: jodi.mga

[Madhav M. Deshpande]

I see the word jo.dia listed in the sense of a hunter in the Jain Prakrit
dictionary AbhidhAnarAjendra (vol. 4, p. 1651).  The other possibly related
word may be jho.ti.mga attested from old to modern Marathi in the sense of
a goblin or a kind of ghost.  This may be related to the Marathi verb
jho.da.ne "to beat, to batter, to whack" and the related word jho.dii in
the sense of a beating, see A Dictionary of Old Marathi, S.G. Tulpule and
Anne Feldhaus, p. 272.  The word jodi.mga may be possibly related to such
Prakrit sources.  I would check other Prakrit sources.  Best,

Madhav Deshpande

--On Wednesday, August 01, 2001, 2:21 PM -0500 Sara McClintock
<mcclint at FAS.HARVARD.EDU> wrote:

> Dear Colleagues,
>
> I have a query concerning a Sanskrit term from the
> Tattvasa.mgrahapa~njikaa of Kamala'siila (8th century Buddhist 'saastric
> work). The term is jodi.mga, a word which does not appear in the
> Sanskrit-English dictionaries available to me here. The Tibetan
> translation has ro sreg mkhan, which would seem to indicate a person
> whose job is burning corpses. The term occurs twice, both in the same
> context but differing slightly with regard to syntactical relations to
> other words in the sentence.
>
> The context in which the phrase appears is one in which the author is
> trying to establish that mental qualities such as compassion and so on
> are capable of an extraordinary degree of perfection
> (praka.r.saparyanta). An example is then given:
>
> First instance (TSP ad TS 3409-3412): yathaa
> 'srotriyajodi.mganairgh.r.nyam Second instance (TSP ad TS 3437-3412):
> 'srotriyasya jodi.mganairgh.r.nyavat
>
> In both instances, the Tibetan indicates a dvandva relation between the
> terms 'srotriya and jodi.mga. I am especially confused by the genitive
> 'srotriyasya in the second instance, and I am at a loss as to how to
> account for it.
>
> My tentative translation of the first instance is: "like the cruelty of
> brahmins and jodi.mgas." The idea is that just as compassion can be
> cultivated to an extraordinary degree, so too can cruelty. Remember, this
> is a Buddhist text which at points is quite critical of Brahmanic
> religion (especially animal sacrifice), so the idea that brahmins are
> cruel fits the overall tenor of the work.
>
> One possibility that comes to mind is that the 'srotriyajodi.mga is a
> particular kind of brahmin. Or perhaps jodi.mga is an alterative for
> jo.ti.mga, which Monier-Williams identities as an ascetic who subjects
> himself to severe penances. Or perhaps I am overlooking something
> relatively obvious. In any case, I would appreciate any insight or ideas
> that Indology list subscribers might have.
>
> Thank you very much in advance.
> Sara McClintock



***************************************************************
Madhav M. Deshpande
Professor of Sanskrit and Linguistics
Department of Asian Languages and Cultures
3070 Frieze Building
The University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1285, USA
***************************************************************