GosvAmi

[Ven. Tantra]

>From: "N. Ganesan"

>In Bengali, when is the name gosAyi first attested?
>Approximately like 16th century??
>Today, we hear both gosvAmi and gosAi.


Bhadraiah Mallampalli chimed in:

<<The popular "hanumAn chAlIsA" in Hindi has the word
gosAi.>>


Are we talking here bull, literally? It has been said
that Indians tend to retrace everything to their
particular background. Or was someone not implying a
Tamil origin? Never mind.

AC Bhaktivedanta in his multi-volume _CC_ trans. with
commentary gives an admirable exegesis on gosvami. But
then you can bet it is slanted to his own particular
party.

Books tell us that go-swami is Sanskrit for
"Cow-Master", a honorific term for a holy man, or
denoting the Supreme Being; another version is
"gosain". It's one of countless terms that contain go-
(which is the origin of English cow and German Kuh,
you know that).

"Go-dhuli" (cow-dusting) is Hindi for dusk, i.e. "when
the cows go home and raise a lot of dust"; Go-pal =
Cow-keeper, also Krishna Go-dan = the gift of a cow
(to a Brahmin) Go-dhan = wealth in cattle Go-kul = a
herd (literally clan) of cattle, etc.

There was even a measure of distance called go or gau
(short for go-ruta = "cow-call"), which was supposed
to denote the distance that a cow's mooing could be
heard. Depending on era and place (India, Sri Lanka,
Nepal), a go was 2 1/4 to 10 miles; an exaggeration?

of data migration?

VT

[Concerning something else: I also find it odd that I
don't even own a camera after so many episodes.]






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