Vai.s.navaantara"suudraa.h and the like

Lubin, Tim lubint at WLU.EDU
Mon Mar 7 15:21:21 UTC 2011


Dear all,

Reading the (unpublished) Kaa"syapottarasa.mhitaa (adhyaaya 18), I have been puzzling over the precise implications of some categories of "Suudra described therein, categories including the suffix -antara, as follows (in descending rank order):
Vai.s.nava vs. Vai.s.navaantara,
"Saiva vs. "Saivaantara,
Saamaanya vs. Saamaanyaantara,
Sa.mkara vs. Sa.mkaraantara.

An initial round of searches has not yielded any parallels that would suggest what distinguishes, e.g., a 'Vai.s.navaantara"suudra' from a 'Vai.s.nava"suudra'.  The text itself is not really explicit, except to suggest that the Vai.s.navaantara is a lower status.  In this case, the lower status may be implicitly attributable to association with "Saivas (despite having received the sa.mskaaras taught in the Puraa.nas and Paa~ncaraatra "saastras, noted in the preceding stanza): "saivaagamoktasa.mskaarisambandha.m samavaapya ca | svaya.m ced vai.s.navas ti.s.thed vai.s.navaantara iirita.h || 

Have others encountered similar status-titles in other works?  Does 'X-antara' simply imply 'a lesser' or 'not quite an' X?

Tim Lubin
 





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