stem (?) of munja grass

[Yaroslav Vassilkov]

Many thanks to Prof. Ashok Aklujkar for Sanskrit quotations
and other valuable data referring to the munja grass and its stem.
I wonder, by the way, should we really call it a grass: I have read somewhere that
this plant could reach sometimes 3 meters in height.

                                                Yaroslav Vassilkov

Thu, 28 Mar 102 21:37 +0300 MSK Ashok Aklujkar wrote to INDOLOGY at liverpool.ac.uk:

> Vidyaara.nya's Pa;cada;sii (7th NSP edn, 1949), verse 1.42:
> yathaa mu;njaad i.siikaivam aatmaa yuktyaa samuddh.rta.h /
> ;sariira-tritayaad dhirai.h para.m brahmaiva jaayate //
>
> Commentator Raamak.r.s.na on this:
>
> yathaa yena prakaare.na mu;njaad etan-naamakaat t.r.na-vi;se.saad i.siikaa
> garbhastha.m komala.m t.r.na.m yuktyaa bahir-aavarakatvena sthitaanaa.m
> sthuula-patraa.naa.m vibhajana-lak.sa.nopaayena samuddhriyate, evam aatmaapi
> yuktyaa anvaya-vyatireka-lak.sa.nopaayena ;sariira-tritayaat
> puurvoktaac-chariira-tritayaat dhirai.h brahmacaryaadi-saadhana-sa.mpannair
> adhikaaribhi.h samuddh.rta.h p.rthak-k.rta;s cet sa para.m brahmaiva
> jaayate.
>
> I do not know where a picture of mu;nja grass can be found. However, the
> references in literature indicate that the grass must have been in common
> use for girdles of boys undergoing initiation and for making of  ropes,
> mats, footwear, nooses  etc.  See An Illustrated Ardha-magadhi Dictionary,
> vol. 4, pp. 181-82, in addition to Sm.rti literature in general under
> mau;njii.
>
>---
Yaroslav Vassilkov (yavass at YV1041.spb.edu)
Institute of Oriental Studies
Sat, 30 Mar 102 15:26 +0300 MSK