"Saisha" as the name of a goddess?

[Michael Witzel]

Naciketas / Naciketā  <   na ciketa,  --  well he learned something...

sāman = sā + ama   : sā = eye,  ama = mind   (in Brahmana texts,  
ChU 1.7.1)

...

MW

On Mar 8, 2010, at 11:22 AM, Dominik Wujastyk wrote:

> ko jānāti?
>
>
> On 8 March 2010 15:39, Deshpande, Madhav <mmdesh at umich.edu> wrote:
>
>> Dear Indologists,
>>
>> Recently I met a Brahmin family from Karnataka who have a newborn  
>> daughter
>> named "Saisha".  They asked me what the word means.  I could not  
>> think of a
>> Sanskrit word close to "Saisha."  Then the grandfather said that  
>> this is a
>> name of goddess Lakshmi used in a Sanskrit stotra popular among  
>> followers of
>> Ramanuja.  The line from the stotra he recited was:  saiṣā devī
>> sakala-bhuvana-prārthanā-kāmadhenuḥ.  It was immediately  
>> apparent to me that
>> the "Saisha" was simply sā eṣā, and not a name of the goddess,  
>> but I was not
>> able to convince the grandfather of the child, who fervently  
>> argued that
>> "Saisha" was an authentic name of the goddess.  I wonder if others  
>> have come
>> across similar examples.
>>
>> Madhav
>>
>> Madhav M. Deshpande
>> Professor of Sanskrit and Linguistics
>> Department of Asian Languages and Cultures
>> 202 South Thayer Street, Suite 6111
>> The University of Michigan
>> Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104-1608, USA
>> ________________________________________
>> From: Indology [INDOLOGY at liverpool.ac.uk] On Behalf Of Alexander von
>> Rospatt [rospatt at BERKELEY.EDU]
>> Sent: Friday, March 05, 2010 3:42 PM
>> To: INDOLOGY at liverpool.ac.uk
>> Subject: Update: Berkeley Summer Program: Words of Wisdom: Toward  
>> a Western
>> Terminology for Buddhist Texts
>>
>> Dear Colleagues,
>>
>> there are still a few free places on the 2010 Berkeley Summer  
>> Program:
>> Words of Wisdom: Toward a Western Terminology for Buddhist Texts.
>>
>> I would be grateful if you could remind potentially interested  
>> students of
>> this special opportunity. The announcement can now also be found  
>> online at
>> http://mangalamresearch.org/summer.htm.
>>
>> With many thanks (and apologies for cross-listing with H-Buddhism),
>>
>>
>> Alexander von Rospatt
>>
>> ------------
>>
>> Mangalam Research Center for Buddhist Languages
>> Center for Buddhist Studies, University of California
>> Ho Center for Buddhist Studies, Stanford University
>>
>> Summer Program: Words of Wisdom: Toward a Western Terminology for  
>> Buddhist
>> Texts
>> Berkeley, CA, USA. June 14-July 2, 2010
>> Core Faculty: Luis Gomez, Michael Hahn
>> Associate Faculty: Paul Harrison, Alexander von Rospatt, Carmen  
>> Dragonetti,
>> Fernando Tola
>>
>> Putting the Dharma into the words of a new culture is a task that has
>> traditionally unfolded over several generations. In the West,  
>> where the
>> languages of educated discourse are sophisticated and rich with  
>> layers of
>> meaning, the challenges of being able to convey the Buddhist  
>> teachings as
>> faithfully as possible are especially daunting.
>> This intensive three-week program, intended primarily for graduate  
>> students
>> in Buddhism, Indology, or allied fields, is a small step toward a  
>> clear and
>> consistent terminology or (more modestly) developing skills and  
>> strategies
>> for finding the best translation equivalents in contemporary English.
>> The text for the program is the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa-sūtra. We  
>> will read the
>> Sanskrit together with the Tibetan and Chinese translations. This  
>> close
>> reading will address problems of interpretation, as well as the  
>> technical
>> and stylistic challenges faced by the translator of classical  
>> Buddhist
>> texts. Students should have facility in Sanskrit; knowledge of  
>> Tibetan or
>> Chinese will be helpful.
>> Format and Facilities Guided by distinguished faculty, students  
>> will meet 5
>> hours a day, five days a week to work with the challenges posed by  
>> the text.
>> Sessions will be held from 9:30 am – 12:30 pm and 3:30 pm –  
>> 5:30 pm. Meals
>> are provided, and housing is an easy walk. Students will have  
>> access to the
>> libraries of the Mangalam Research Center and the University of  
>> California
>> at Berkeley (a 10-minute walk). Rapid Transit to San Francisco is
>> half-a-block away.
>> Focus The focus will be on key terms of the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa- 
>> sūtra in the
>> context of the profound Mahayana vision it sets forth. We will  
>> examine
>> vocabulary choices in  both source and target languages, sensitive  
>> to subtle
>> shifts in meaning between languages with different philosophical
>> underpinnings. Among the topics to be explored and skills to be  
>> honed:
>> •  Sanskrit roots, etymology, and the relation of Buddhist  
>> Sanskrit to
>> other forms of Sanskrit
>> •  Issues of context and intertexuality.
>> •  comparison with the Tibetan and Chinese, with reference to  
>> commentaries.
>> •  stylistic choices and terminology in existing translations in  
>> both
>> canonical and modern languages
>> •  general issues in the theory and practice of translation as  
>> they arise
>> in rendering a classic Buddh ist text into a modern idiom.
>> Costs: Tuition: $1,200 (includes lunch daily). Food and lodging:  
>> $1,350.
>> Total cost: $2,550.
>>
>> Applications The program is intended for advanced graduate  
>> students, but
>> applications from all qualified candidates will be considered.  
>> Please submit
>> an application by March 15, 2010 to  
>> summerprograms at mangalamresearch.org.
>> Include a short statement of purpose, a description of language  
>> skills and
>> how acquired, and a 1–2 paragraph letter of endorsement from your  
>> principal
>> adviser. Students completing the program will receive a formal  
>> letter from
>> the Buddhist Studies program of the University of California,  
>> Berkeley,
>> certifying that the course corresponds to a semester long graduate  
>> seminar
>> of fifteen weeks with five hours of instruction per week."
>>
>>  Maximum number of participants is 15. Applicants will be notified  
>> by April
>> 10, 2010.
>>

============
Michael Witzel
witzel at fas.harvard.edu
<www.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/mwpage.htm>

Dept. of Sanskrit & Indian Studies, Harvard University
1 Bow Street,
Cambridge MA 02138, USA

phone: 1- 617 - 495 3295, 496 8570, fax 617 - 496 8571;
my direct line:  617- 496 2990