[Fwd: "Ten pomegranates" in Dharmakirti's Pramanavarttika]

[Ashok Aklujkar]

The example is almost certainly quoted from Pata;njali's Mahaabhaa.sya under
Paa,nini 1.1.1 and 1.2.45 (Kielhorn edn pp 38 and 217).

ashok aklujkar


> From: "Christian K. Wedemeyer" <wedemeyer at UCHICAGO.EDU>
> Organization: University of Chicago Divinity School
> Reply-To: Indology <INDOLOGY at liverpool.ac.uk>
> Date: Mon, 04 Aug 2008 14:57:53 -0500
> To: <INDOLOGY at liverpool.ac.uk>
> Subject: [Fwd: "Ten pomegranates" in Dharmakirti's Pramanavarttika]
> 
> Dear Friends,
> 
> I received the following query last month, but am unable to come up with
> anything to help this very worthy person with their uncertainty.
> 
> Does any of this ring a bell to anyone else on the list? I will pass on
> any replies to the person who sent the question.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Christian
> 
> 
> 
> -------- Original Message --------
> 
> I am writing with regard to a passing reference in Dharmakīrti's
> /Pramāṇavarttika /to what may be a Vedic ritual. In his commentary to a
> verse on the subject of /āptavādaḥ /he makes the remark: "statements
> like the one containing the words 'ten pomegranates'"
> (/daśadāḍimādivākyāni/)/. /A subcommentary by Karṇakagomī provides a
> fuller description of the reference: “the phrase ‘ten pomegranates,
> etc.’ is such statements as ‘ten pomegranates, six cakes, a bowl, a goat
> skin, and straw (?)” (S: /daśa dāḍimetyādi daśa dāḍimāni ṣadpūpāḥ kuṇḍam
> ajājinaṃ palalam ityevam ādīni vākyāni/). Still, neither writer
> identifies the source or meaning of this reference. The passage is cited
> as an example of statements that lack "consistency" (/asambandha//ḥ/) or
> "coherence" (/anupasaṃhāraḥ/). One further piece of the puzzle is a
> Tibetan translation of a verse that appears in a commentary by a later
> Indian Buddhist scholar named Śāntarakṣita which also mentions this "ten
> pomegranates" passage. Although the exact meaning of the end of the
> verse is uncertain it may contain a reference to a type of ritual called
> /sparakratu /(The Tibetan contains what seems to be a transliteration of
> the Sanskrit words but is probably a distortion of the correct
> spelling). My best read of the line is that it says something like "the
> false daughter's (? anṛtaduhitṛ) cow, [which was the object] of a
> /sparakratu /ritual, died." It sounds like this list of items may appear
> in some Vedic ritual that is intended to save sick cows. I have
> virtually no knowledge of Vedic literature at all and cannot seem to
> locate any material that even verifies the existence of this type of
> ritual, much less provides any explanation of what it may involve.
> 
> I would very much appreciate any clarification you might be willing to
> offer. 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Christian K. Wedemeyer
> Assistant Professor of the History of Religions
> University of Chicago Divinity School
> 1025 E 58th Street
> Chicago, IL 60637 USA
> http://divinity.uchicago.edu/faculty/wedemeyer.shtml
> http://home.uchicago.edu/~aryadeva