"samsara" meaning "life"

jkirk jkirk at SPRO.NET
Tue Feb 3 00:30:59 UTC 2009


Madhav Deshpande wrote: The word samsara has this meaning in
Marathi.

It's also the case for Bengali. 
I found such a use of the term in Rimli Bhattacharya's book on
the famous actress Binodini, 1863-1941, titled  _Binodini Dasi :
My Story and My Life as an Actress_. New Delhi: Kali for Women,
1998. 
Reflecting on the sudden death of a comrade actor, Umichand,
suddenly dead from heat stroke after boarding a train carrying
the theater company to their next performance stop, she wrote:
"Such things happen regularly in the theater of our everyday
life, the natyashala of sansar. Nothing stops for anybody, only
he who is gone is gone." (p.150)

Best wishes,
Joanna Kirkpatrick
==========================================



-----Original Message-----
From: Indology [mailto:INDOLOGY at liverpool.ac.uk] On Behalf Of
Allen W Thrasher
Sent: Monday, February 02, 2009 3:31 PM


In some modern Indian language samsar(a) can mean something like
"one's personal world" or "family life."  For instance there are
the novel and movie Apur sansar of Bibhutibhushana Bandhopadhyaya
and Satyajit Ray, and the Maharashtra State Family Planning
Bureau's magazine Sukhi sansar.  How widespread is this usage,
and how far back does it go, I wonder?

Allen


Allen W. Thrasher, Ph.D.
Senior Reference Librarian
Team Coordinator
South Asia Team, Asian Division
Library of Congress, Jefferson Building 150
101 Independence Ave., S.E.
Washington, DC 20540-4810
tel. 202-707-3732; fax 202-707-1724; athr at loc.gov The opinions
expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the Library of
Congress.





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