agnidaNDa

[John C. Huntington]

Dear Dr. Pant

We do not have a direct reference to agnidaNDa . But it seems
possible that your agnidaNDa might somehow refer to the actions of
the priest as in the "shaft of fire" produced by the priest when he
places the small wooden offerings into the kundas

On the other hand we have found the spellings in Newar and Nepali
manuscripts to be frequently a bit off. If it is mis-spelling  for
agnidana it might be a clear reference to the gifts offered at the
service

At the Agni math  in Agni math tole in Patan, a Brahmin keeps the
fires burning and where offerings are made to Vishnu, Brahma and Siva
through the fires in the Yajnakundas

>From our field notes

People come to this shrine to offer a special puja on birthdays. The
shrine is said to have a pair of nagas (male and female), that was
brought physically from Sankhu and was put in the well, that in
inside the temple. The officiating priest must perform his puja with
his wife: always is a married priest with wife present. There is a
belief that if something happens to one of the nagas, then it is an
omen that something will happen to either the priest or his wife,
depending on the gender of the snake.
Priest is a Newar Brahamin (Joshi), but devotees to the shrine are
both Buddhist and Hindu.
Annual Festival: Magh Sankranti (1st day of Magh)

Informed by the priest and his wife at the site.


John C. Huntington




>Dear List members
>
>I came across a term, namely agnidaNDa in a royal decree from Nepal dated
>1805. This document empowers a Brahmin to have the revenue acquired from the
>agnidaNDa, which previously was enjoyed by another Brahmin. I wonder what
>actually means the agnidaNDa in that context.
>Interestingly, agnidaNDa is attested once in the Arthashasta (II.36.16).
>Kangle translates the term as ‘the fine for (kindling) fire’.
>I am pretty sure of other occurrences of the same term in various
>disciplines of Sanskrit and related literature.  I hope my learned
>colleagues can enlighten me in this matter.
>
>Mahes Raj Pant
>
>
>Dr Mahes Raj Pant
>Asien-Afrika-Institut
>Abteilung fuer Kultur und Geschichte Indiens und Tibets
>Universitaet  Hamburg
>Neue Rabenstrasse 3
>D-20354 Hamburg
>Germany
>
>
>
>_________________________________________________________________
>Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp