Another bit of black anti-rakshas PR?

[Artur Karp]

Dear Louis,

> As for taking antaka to mean "the end of the world," there is no context for such a reading here.

Right. Agreed. But - note please - there is no reading of the sort you
quote in my first message.
What I suggested is: "the one who ends [the world]", antaka. Maybe
"Finisher" or "Destroyer" would have been more appropriate.

In the sentence:

abhyadhāvat susaṃkruddhaḥ prajāḥ kāla ivāntakaḥ

kāla can be taken as representing kālaḥ (Nom.), or kāle (Loc.). M-W
favors the Nom., Pollock, clearly, the Loc. In other words, M-W
identifies kāla with antaka: Time (kāla) as Destroyer (antaka).
Pollock has Death (antaka) in the fated hour (kāle).

As I see it, Pollock's reading obscures the deeper meaning of the
Viradha episode - as a deliberate (and dehumanizing) satire. Which
ridicules the attempts at un-regulated, aggressive acculturation: they
may (and do) produce only worthless, garbled imitations, and
conceptual monstrosities.

Thank you for both the links.

Some ramblings of mine re time in the Mahabharata can be found in my
paper on the concept of time and time reckoning in Indian tradition:
_W poszukiwaniu doskonałości: czas i kalendarz w tradycji indyjskiej_
(In search of perfection: time and calendar in Indian tradition),
[in:] Izabela Trzcińska (ed.), _Tajemnica czasu i religie_, Aureus,
Kraków 2005, pp. 78-99. If anyone would want to read the Polish text,
I can gladly send them pdf copies off-list.

Regards,

Artur