Re: [INDOL OGY] an ām alakī in t he palm of the hand

[Jean-Luc CHEVILLARD]

Greetings from Pondicherry,

the comparison is apparently also found in the Teevaaram,
a collection of Tamil hymns to Siva,
possibly dating back to the 7th and 8th centuries.

See:
"http://www.ifpindia.org/ecrire/upload/digital_database/Site/Digital_Tevaram/U_TEV/VMS5_072.HTM#p2"
<http://www.ifpindia.org/ecrire/upload/digital_database/Site/Digital_Tevaram/U_TEV/VMS5_072.HTM#p2>

The text reads:
"kaiyil aamalakak kan_i okkumee"
(teevaaram, 5-72, 2)

The normal Tamil name of that fruit is "nelli"

-- Jean-Luc Chevillard (EFEO/CNRS)


On Fri, 29 Apr 2011 00:11:36 -0700
  DiSimone Charles <spootland at HOTMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> Hi Ryan,
> 
> A cursory google search reveals a similar phrase in the Bhāgavata 
>Purāṇa at 2.5.3: karāmalakavadviśvam, or something like 'everything 
>is just like an āmalaka fruit in hand.'  So, at least the this fruit 
>appears to be a known object of comparison.  I can't speak for the 
>translucent qualities of this particular fruit however.  Skyu ru ra 
>seems to mean 'something that is perfectly clear in front of the 
>eyes,' whether perfectly clear refers to vegetal translucence or 
>visibility is a matter of some opaqueness it would seem...
> 
> Charlie DiSimone
> Stanford University
> 
> 
> 
> Date: Thu, 28 Apr 2011 20:47:23 -0700
>From: rdamron at BERKELEY.EDU
> Subject: [INDOLOGY] an āmalakī in the palm of the hand
> To: INDOLOGY at liverpool.ac.uk
> 
> 
> 
>  
> 
> 
>    
>  
>  
>    Dear all,
> 
>    
> 
>    I recently came across a reference to the āmalaki fruit in the
>    Buddhist Mahāmāyātantra and in its commentary, the Guṇavatī
>    by Ratnākaraśānti.  The citations are as follows:
> 
>    
> 
>    First from the root tantra, in Tibetan (there is no extant 
>Sanskrit
>    manuscript):  lag tu skyu ru ra bzhag bzhin.
> 
>    
> 
>    Which Ratnākaraśānti glosses with: svahaste sthitamekamāmalakam
>      yathetyarthaḥ
> 
>    
> 
>    I initially took this to mean simply that the referent was as 
>clear
>    to the subject as a fruit placed in one's own hand.  However, two
>    Tibetan colleagues both asserted that the āmalakī fruit, as
>    understood in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition at least, is a
>    translucent fruit which reveals its inner structure to the 
>subject
>    (not my personal experience with the contemporary version of 
>Amalaki
>    fruit).  Thus for a situation to be "like an āmalakī fruit
>    in one's own hand" means one is able to see the referent inside 
>and
>    out, that is, in totality.  My question then is this:  is this
>    analogy common in Indic traditions and, more importantly, are 
>there
>    any known references to these properties of the āmalakī in
>    Sanskrit works?
> 
>    
> 
>    Much thanks,
> 
>    
> 
>    Ryan
> 
>    
> Ryan Damron
> Graduate Student 
> Department of South and Southeast Asian Studies
> University of California, Berkeley