[INDOLOGY] Maxim

[Klaus Karttunen]

Dear Patrick,
it is true that cakora is not only drinking moonbeams, but also deriving pleasure gazing at the moon. But it is also claimed that in the proximity of a poison cakora's red eyes become discoloured (e.g. KAŚ 1, 20, 8; Suśruta Kalpa 1, 30–33). Could this explain your case? I have discussed the poison-detecting animals in my article, “Monkeys kept in Royal Stables”, Traditional South Asian Medicine 6, 2001, 51–61.

Best,
Klaus

Klaus Karttunen
South Asian and Indoeuropean Studies
Asian and African Studies, Department of World Cultures
PL 59 (Unioninkatu 38 B)
00014 University of Helsinki, FINLAND
Tel +358-(0)9-191 22674
Fax +358-(0)9-191 22094
Klaus.Karttunen at helsinki.fi





On Dec 6, 2013, at 5:47 PM, Patrick Olivelle wrote:

> Dear All:
> 
> Can anyone enlighten me about the significance of the comparison of a man abandoning his own dharma and taking up that of someone else to the two eyes of a partridge?
> 
> svadharmaṃ yaḥ samutsṛjya paradharmarucir bhavet |
> cakoranayane cauraḥ sa śūdraś candrasaṃnibhe || 
> 
> cited by Aparārka (p. 17) and ascribed to the Skanda Purāṇa.
> 
> Is this a reference to the eyes of the partridge drinking the moonbeams, thus stealing it? Or is there more to it?
> 
> Thanks.
> 
> Patrick
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