AW: Request for help with manuscript

[Peter Bisschop]

The beak-faced figure in the Narasi.mhavadha.h picture is the  
"Sarabha, a form of "Siva or Viirabhadra who puts an end to the man- 
lion incarnation. For a study of some aspects of this episode in the  
Puraa.nas, see:

Phyllis Granoff, Saving the Saviour: "Siva and the Vai.s.nava  
Avataaras in the Early Skandapuraa.na, in: H.T. Bakker, Origin and  
Growth of the Puraa.nic Text Corpus. With Special Reference to the  
Skandapuraa.na, Delhi 2004, pp.111-138.

Best wishes,
Peter Bisschop

---
Dr Peter Bisschop
Asian Studies
University of Edinburgh
7/8 Buccleuch Place
Edinburgh EH8 9LW
Scotland, U.K.

e-mail: Peter.Bisschop at ed.ac.uk
phone: +(0)131 650 4174
http://www.asianstudies.ed.ac.uk/staff/bisschop.htm


On 29 Sep 2008, at 09:19, Gruenendahl, Reinhold wrote:

> Here is a summary of comments, via list and private, on the drawings:
>
> - The ms. was probably designed as a leporello. After its assumed
> disintegration the loose leaves seem to have been stitched together  
> at both
> ends (best visible on some of the scans I didn't upload), with  
> occasional
> confusion of sequence.
> - It is probably a sketch book that served as a model for  
> artistic / ritual
> drawings.
> - Similar designs can be found, e.g., in the Kubyauk-gyi at  
> Myinkaba in Pagan
> (see Claudine Bautze-Picron, "Buddhist Murals of Pagan", Bangkok  
> 2003, pls
> 184 & 185. Pl. 185 [not available to me at present]).
> - The Bujimol script indicates Nepalese (or North-east Indian?)  
> origin.
> - Consequently, allowance has to be made with regard to spelling,  
> beyond the
> most obvious deviations (e.g., "vada" for "vadha").
>
> Many thanks to all contributors!
>
>
> I have to admit that I'm still puzzled by these drawings. To give  
> one further
> example:
>
> http://www.sub.uni-goettingen.de/ebene_1/fiindolo/temp/1_06.jpg
>
> "Naadasi.mhavada.h" probably stands for "Narasi.mhavadha.h", as  
> suggested by
> the attributes of the loosing party: lion's head, gadaa, cakra. But  
> who is
> the beak-faced figure that is about to tear Narasimha apart? What  
> is known
> about an assault on Narasimha? And what to make of the erotic  
> aspects of some
> of the drawings?
>
> Help much appreciated!
>
>
> Many thanks in advance
> Reinhold Grünendahl
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________________________
>
> Dr. Reinhold Gruenendahl
> Niedersaechsische Staats- und Universitaetsbibliothek
> Fachreferat sued- und suedostasiatische Philologien
> (Dept. of Indology)
>
> 37070 Goettingen, Germany
> Tel (+49) (0)5 51 / 39 52 83
>
> gruenen at sub.uni-goettingen.de
>
> FACH-INFORMATIONEN INDOLOGIE, GOETTINGEN:
> http://www.sub.uni-goettingen.de/ebene_1/fiindolo/fiindolo.htm
> In English:
> http://www.sub.uni-goettingen.de/ebene_1/fiindolo/fiindole.htm
>
> GRETIL - Goettingen Register of Electronic Texts in Indian Languages:
> http://www.sub.uni-goettingen.de/ebene_1/fiindolo/gretil.htm
>
> GRETIL e-library:
> http://www.sub.uni-goettingen.de/ebene_1/fiindolo/gr_elib.htm
>
>
>


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