eighteen

[J L Brockington]

Dear Colleagues,

There is also some treatment of 18 in several articles on numbers as a  
whole, e.g. Siegfried Lienhard, "Lucky Numbers in Ancient Indian  
Literature", Langue, style et structure dans le monde indien:  
Centenaire de Louis Renou, ed. Nalini Balbir et Georges-Jean Pinault,  
Champion, Paris, 1996, pp. 523-36, and S.S.N. Murthy, "Number  
Symbolism in the Vedas", Electronic Journalof Vedic Studies 12.3,  
2005, pp. 87-99, also my own "Meaningful Numbers?", Research Bulletin,  
Vishveshvaranand Vedic Research Institute 4 & 5, 2006, pp. 21-64.

John Brockington


Professor J. L. Brockington
Secretary General, International Association of Sanskrit Studies
Asian Studies
7-8 Buccleuch Place
Edinburgh EH8 9LW


----- Message from pwyzlic at UNI-BONN.DE ---------
Date: Mon, 18 Oct 2010 23:30:21 +0200
From: Peter Wyzlic <pwyzlic at UNI-BONN.DE>
Subject: Re: [INDOLOGY] eighteen
To: INDOLOGY at liverpool.ac.uk


> Am 18.10.2010 um 22:57 schrieb Herman Tull:
>
>> I apologize if this question is a terribly ignorant one, but I was   
>> wondering if there is any scholarly literature or any discussion of  
>>  the significance of the Indic "18" (dominant in the   
>> Mahabharata--books, days of war, etc., etc., and then reiterated in  
>>  the Puranas in the so-called "major" and "minor" books  
>> denotation).   This has long seemed to me to be some sort of  
>> convenient fiction  used to tie up loose ends (not unlike the  
>> twelve disciples of Jesus  recalling the twelve tribes of Israel).   
>> However, as I sat in an  introductory Buddhism lecture today, and  
>> was reminded about the  famed 18 schools of the Mahasanghika(s), I  
>> started to think, there  might be a bit more (or, perhaps no more  
>> at all).  Thanks.
>
> There is an older article by Otto Stein:
> Stein, Otto: The numeral 18, in: Poona Orientalist 1 (1936), p. 1-37  
>  and a short sequel, Stein, Otto: Additional notes on the numeral  
> 18,  in: Poona Orientalist 2 (1937), p. 164-165 (both repr. in Otto   
> Stein: Kleine Schriften / ed. by Friedrich Wilhelm. - Stuttgart :   
> Steiner, 1985, pp. 515 seqq.).
>
> Hope it helps
> Peter Wyzlic
>
> --
> Institut für Orient- und Asienwissenschaften
> Bibliothek
> Universität Bonn
> Regina-Pacis-Weg 7
> 53113 Bonn

----- End message from pwyzlic at UNI-BONN.DE -----



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