[INDOLOGY] Aditya-varna

[dermot at grevatt.force9.co.uk]

Dear Howard,

Thanks. Sorry to have been pedantic, but it's good to know we reach agreement in 
the end.

With best wishest,

Dermot

On 23 Jan 2014 at 9:17, Howard Resnick wrote:

> Thanks Dermot. We fully agree on this.
> Howard
> 
> On Jan 23, 2014, at 7:55 AM, dermot at grevatt.force9.co.uk wrote:
> 
> > Dear Howard,
> > 
> > Thanks for your message. 
> > 
> > This thread seems to have got a bit tangled. James' question was
> > whether AdityavarNa was common as an adjective; your answer was that
> > Aditya isn't common as an adjective. That's a different question,
> > but I think your answer is right. As MW implies, it's a vrddhi
> > formation, and is therefore an adjective ("mfn" in MW's notation),
> > meaning etymologically "belonging to or descended from Aditi", but
> > it's mostly used in the masculine, meaning a class of gods or the
> > sun(-god). Returning to Aditya-varNa, in the verse that appears in
> > BhG 8.9 and in earlier contexts, it looks like a bahuvrihi, which is
> > by nature an adjectival phrase (though like any adjectival formation
> > in Skt it can be used as a noun).
> > 
> > With b est wishes,
> > 
> > Dermot
> > 
> > 
> > On 22 Jan 2014 at 11:24, Howard Resnick wrote:
> > 
> >> Actually, James raised the “irrelevant” question regarding Aditya.
> >> I replied that at least in MW, where Aditya is the first member of
> >> a compound, it is rarely used adjectivally, though Aditya may act
> >> as an adjective.
> >> 
> >> I’m not sure that either the question or the answer were intended
> >> to be relevant to a greater issue. Technically, it seems that
> >> Aditya in Bg 8.9 can be part of a bahu-vrihi, as you point out, or
> >> it may be an adjective.
> >> 
> >> Best,
> >> hr
> >> 
> >> 
> >> 
> >> On Jan 22, 2014, at 11:03 AM, dermot at grevatt.force9.co.uk wrote:
> >> 
> >>> Dear James,
> >>> 
> >>> I was interested in your query about the Buddha and the responses
> >>> to it, though I don't think I've any answers.
> >>> 
> >>> On Aditya-varNa in BhG 8.9: it's a bahuvrIhi compound phrase, and
> >>> as such it's adjectival, meaning most obviously "sun-coloured,
> >>> having the colour of the sun". Howard Resnick's question as to
> >>> whether Aditya is an adjective is irrelevant: it's quite usual to
> >>> have a noun as first member of a bahuvrIhi.
> >>> 
> >>> The pAda Aditya-varNaM tamasaH parastAt is a Vedic quotation. The
> >>> whole verse (vedAham etaM puruSaM mahAntam AdityavarNaM tamasaH
> >>> parastAt | tam eva viditvAti mRtyum eti nAnyaH panthA vidyate
> >>> 'yanAya "I know that great Man, sun- coloured, beyond darkness |
> >>> by knowing him alone one passes beyond death; there is no other
> >>> path to go") occurs as vAjasaneyi saMhitA 31.18, taittirIya
> >>> AraNyaka 3.12.7a, and zvetAzvatara upaniSad 3.8.
> >>> 
> >>> It's evidently a well-known Vedic verse; the second half occurs
> >>> again in zvetAzvatara upaniSad 6.15. Both this text and BhG are
> >>> fond of such quotations and partial quotations. It even occurs in
> >>> the video of Peter Brook's dramatization of the Mbh, chanted as a
> >>> lament for the slain after the battle.
> >>> 
> >>> With best wishes,
> >>> 
> >>> Dermot
> >>> 
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> >>> 
> >> 
> > 
> > 
> > 
>