[INDOLOGY] question about scene in Malay text from Sumatra

[Dipak Durgamohan Bhattacharya]

Perhaps the sea of fire in the Indonesian myth should not be the Vaḑavā of
Indian mythology. Vaḑavā is rather the fire that resides in water which is
its fuel. Cf., *abindhanaṃ vahnim asau bibharti *Raghu 13.5 said of the
sea. The fire residing in the deep sea seems to have been referred to in
also in Yašt 19.46-53. Long ago (2005) I merely speculated that the related
ideas might have their origin in the sight of natural fire produced in
mineral oil by the undivided Aryans. This cannot be pressed I admit. But
the sea of fire is missing both in Indian and Iranian versions.

Best wishes for all

DB


On Wed, Jan 8, 2014 at 11:42 PM, rajam <rajam at earthlink.net> wrote:

> 1. Re: King Śibi and the bird
>
> A few Old Tamil poems, from the Purananuru, contain references to the
> incident about a king giving his own flesh to save a pigeon/dove (“puṟā”)
> form its predator (vulture). Puranaanuru 43 has some details.
>
>
> 2. Re: *vaḍavānala *
>
> I remember the reference to this fire being present in the form of a horse
> in the deep ocean and would emerge at the time of a deluge. Kambaramayanam
> has references to this fire. There are references to it in some literature
> of the Parani genre as well; see the following entries in the Madras Tamil
> Lexicon:
>
> வடவனம் vaṭa-vaṉam
>
> , *n*. < *vaṭa வடவனல் vaṭa-v-aṉal*
>
> *, n. < வட +. See வடவாமுகாக்கினி. வெள்ளத்திடைவாழ் வடவனலை (கம்பரா. தைலமா.
> 86).*
>
> *வடவனலம் vaṭa-v-aṉalam, n. < id. +. cf. vaḍavānala. See வடவாமுகாக்கினி.
> கடுகிய வடவனலத் தினைவைத்தது (கலிங். 402).வடவாக்கனல் vaṭavā-k-kaṉal, n.
> < vaḍavā வடவாக்கினி vaṭavākkiṉi, n. < vaḍavāgni. See வடவாமுகாக்கினி. (சங்.
> அக.)… … … *
>
> *வடவாமுகம் vaṭavā-mukam, n. < vaḍavā- mukha. 1. See வடவாமுகாக்கினி.
> வடவாமுகத்தழ லொடே (பிரபோத. 19, 1). 2. The nether region. See நாகலோகம்².
> (உரி. நி.)வடவாமுகாக்கினி vaṭavāmukākkiṉi, n. < id. + agni. Submarine fire
> in the shape of a mare's head, believed to consume the world at the end of
> a yuga; பெண்குதிரை முகத்தின் வடி வோடு கடற்குள் தங்கியிருந்து யுகாந்தத்தில்
> மேலே கிளம்பி உலகத்தை எரித்து விடுவதாகக் கருதப்படும் தீ. (தக்கயாகப். 67,
> உரை.)… … … *
>
> *வடவானலம் vaṭavāṉalam, n. < vaḍavā- nala. See வடவாமுகாக்கினி. மண்ணு மின்றி
> வடவானலமு மின்றி (தக்கயாகப். 408).*
> ++++++++++++++
>
> Regards,
> Rajam
>
>
>
> On Jan 8, 2014, at 4:10 AM, Tieken, H.J.H. <H.J.H.Tieken at hum.leidenuniv.nl>
> wrote:
>
> Dear list members,
>
>
> I post the following question on behalf of a friend. It concerns the
> following scene from a Malay adventure story from Sumatra, the Hikayat
> Bahram Syah, dated in the first half of the 19th century:
>
> On the back of a bird the hero flies across a sea of fire. To prevent the
> bird from falling down he feeds it with pieces of flesh from his own leg.
> After they have safely arrived at the other shore the bird vomits, giving
> up the piece of flesh which attaches itself to the hero's leg again.
>
> The scene contains at least two elements otherwise known from India,
> namely the *vaḍavānala* at the bottom of the sea and the a hero giving
> his own flesh to a predator (King Śibi). What my friend wants to know if
> the story as a whole occurs in Indian literature.
>
> If you wish, you may reply directly to Marije Plomp (marijeplomp at gmail.com
> .
>
>
> With the best wishes, Herman Tieken
>
>
> Herman Tieken
> University of Leiden
> The Netherlands
> website: hermantieken.com
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