he.dhra?

[Robert Zydenbos (by way of Robert Zydenbos <zydenbos@lrz.uni-muenchen.de>)]

Am 13 Feb 2003 um 9:12 schrieb fsmith:
> I have a lexical question: the 12th century Tantric text from Kerala,
> Iizaanazivagurudevapaddhati 42.1,15ab has the word he.dhra /he.dhraga
> in its account of bhuutavidyaa. 15ab reads: One possessed by a
> he.dhraga graha stands on his knees, keeps his head down, smiles, and
> holds his hands in a fist. I am unable to find this word elsewhere.

If it is not Sanskrit (or otherwise Indogermanic, e.g., Prakrit) then it
could be a Sanskritised Dravidian word. Kannada has a word he.d.da, "a dull,
stupid man, a fool" (Kittel's dictionary, Madras 1971 edition, vol. 4, p.
1755), with related a derived words like he.d.datana / he.d.du "stupidity,
foolishness", he.d.daa.ta "stupid, foolish behaviour". Perhaps this is a
description of a person's behaviour when he is possessed by a certain kind
of bhuuta?

RZ
Prof. Robert J. Zydenbos
Institut für Indologie und Iranistik
Universität München