NS? (Re: [INDOLOGY] What about thirty-seven?

[Lyne BANSAT-BOUDON]

Dear Jean-Luc,

My apologies for answering quite (quite) late to your question. I  
wonder whether it is still a topical subject for you…

At least, I can give an element of answer : according to the  
Abhinavabhaaratii, Abhinavagupta's commentary on the Naa.tya"saastra   
—  see, especially,  the mangala of the commentary on the first  
chapter —the number 36 is justified by, and correlated with, the  
number of the tattvas in the nondualistic "saivism of Kashmir  (where  
there are 36 tattvas, the system adding a superstructure of 11  
tattvas to the 25 tattvas of the Saa.mkhya).

Nevertheless, some editions of the texts present a 37th chapter, also  
commented by Abhinavagupta!

On those questions, allow me to refer to my work:  Poétique du  
théâtre indien. Lectures du Naa.tya"saastra. Paris, École Française  
d’Extrême-Orient (« Publications de l’EFEO », 169), 1992, p.  27, and  
notes 39 and 40.



Lyne Bansat-Boudon
Directeur d'études,
Ecole pratique des hautes études, Vème section
Le 20 oct. 10 à 19:10, Jean-Luc CHEVILLARD a écrit :

> Dear Matthew Kapstein,
>
> thanks for your comment (and thanks for forwarding Jonathan Silk's  
> comment)
>
> Adding one more brain-storming style question, I would be  
> interested in hearing from you or from others about the logic  
> hidden behind the division of the /Nātyaśāstra/ into  
> 36 chapters or into 37 chapters.
>
> Is it known who preferred having 36 chapters and who preferred  
> having 37?
>
> Did the preferrence have anything to do with the religion of the  
> "editor/transmitter"?
>
> Sorry if all these questions appear idle but I believe that in some  
> contexts the only way to (discreetly) "make a statement" was to  
> chose a different number :-)
>
> -- Jean-Luc Chevillard (planet Earth)
>
>
>
> On 20/10/2010 14:57, mkapstei at UCHICAGO.EDU wrote:
>> In my recent posting on 37 I was subject to
>> an error of memory (thanks to Jonathan Silk for
>> discretely pointing it out to me). The group
>> of Buddhas of contrition according to the
>> Triskandhakasuutra numbers 35, not 37, and it
>> was this that Wayman sought to explain.
>> 37 is nevertheless numerologically important
>> in Buddhism: it is the number of the
>> bodhipak.sadharma-s, the "factors allied with
>> awakening."
>> Matthew T. Kapstein
>> Numata Visiting Professor of Buddhist Studies
>> The University of Chicago Divinity School
>> Directeur d'études
>> Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris



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