New EJVS, 12-3: SSN Murthy: numbers in Rgveda
Michael Witzel
witzel at FAS.HARVARD.EDU
Sun Sep 25 13:27:10 UTC 2005
This is to announce a new issue of EJVS, vol.12-3:
Number Symbolism in the Vedas
by S. S. N. Murthy
It is availabe as pdf on our web site:
http://users.primushost.com/~india/ejvs/issues.html
Brief intro:
... in the Vedas, one finds numbers such as 1, 3, 7 and 10 as the most
used numbers... The symbolism associated with the single digit
numerals was very well established in virtually all cultures, since
counting began on the ten fingers... The Vedic Rsis also used large
compound numbers like 21, 33, 34, 99, and 100 etc. very frequently ...
but no serious attempt has been made far to see whether there is any
hidden symbolism in these numbers...
I have tabulated almost all the compound numbers mentioned in RV ...
Keeping in mind that the Vedic Rsis followed the decimal system and
were acquainted with some basic arithmetic operations like additions
and multiplications etc. of smaller numbers (at least!), the first
thing that strikes our mind ... is that there is a pattern or method
in the use of numbers ...
Michael Witzel
Department of Sanskrit and Indian Studies, Harvard University
1 Bow Street , 3rd floor, Cambridge MA 02138
1-617-495 3295 Fax: 496 8571
direct line: 496 2990
http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/mwpage.htm
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