Pancakanyaa

[Jan E.M. Houben]

Yes, you're right, naa is of course N.Sg. of n.r,
a form which the .RV in any case carefully avoids
(for obvious reasons of functional ambiguity);
the employment which is found, though rarely, in
later Sanskrit (Renou notes Kir. 15.14 and jaina
texts studied by Bloomfield) must be explained
out of artificiality and/or analogy with -t.r
stems (moreover, the functional ambiguity reduces
when .Rgvedic metrical lengthening is
restricted).

The contrast between the male n.r and the five
ladies is striking, as is the label kanyaa for
epic heroines who knew more than one man/male god
(in some versions kuntii instead of siitaa).

According to Apte "one is recommended to repeat
it in the morning"; searching for some context in
acc. with Hiltebeitel's question: I could not
find it in Shri Chandra Vasu's the Daily practice
of the Hindus which gives some Vedic and Tantric
material.

J.H.

--- Harunaga Isaacson <harunaga at SAS.UPENN.EDU>
wrote:
> naa is nom. sg. of n.r 'a man', 'a person'. In
> other words 'one should always
> remember/be mindful of this set of five:
> Ahalyaa etc.'


__________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Shopping - Send Flowers for Valentine's Day
http://shopping.yahoo.com