[INDOLOGY] Indra (Addendum)

Sun Jul 3 18:11:10 UTC 2016

*Addendum*

The earliest translation of the Ṛgveda (1876) by no less a Vedic scholar
than Alfred Ludwig renders *hári *by "gelb" (yellow).

M. Mayrhofer's Etymological Dictionary of Old Indo-Aryan(2006) indirectly
confirms Ludwig's early rendering. Mayrhofer determines the original
meaning of *hári*- as "pale, yellowish; yellowish steed":

10.23.4 (= Ludwig’s translation No. 631)

„Indra beschnaubt seinen *gelben bart*“

(Ludwig, Transl. Vol. 2., Prag 1876, p. 242)

10.96.8 (=Ludwig’s translation No. 645)

„der mit *gelbem barte*, mit *gelbem haare*“

(Ludwig, Transl. Vol. 2., Prag 1876, p. 258)

M. Mayrhofer, EWA (Vol. 2, Heidelberg 1996, p. 805 s.v. *hari*-)

„Adj. *fahl, gelblich*, grünlich, m. *gelbliches Roß* (RV +).“

Thus there is no linguistic or notional derivation from "gold" recognisable
in ṛgvedic *hári*. Translating it nonetheless by "golden" (or cognate
adjectives) would - according to established standards of (not only
Sanskrit) philology - call for a sound justification.

WS

2016-07-03 16:55 GMT+02:00 Walter Slaje <slaje at kabelmail.de>:

> You might wish to consider this:
>
>
> ṚV 10.96 praises Indra’s pair of dun horses (*hárī*). The god is
> described as having *hári-śmaśāru* and/or *hári-keśa *(10.23.4b; 96.5b;8a).
> The colors related to Indra there are said to be *harita*. Geldner
> identified the god’s horses as “*Falbenpaar*” and translated the color of
> Indra’s hair and beard as “*goldgelb*” (“golden yellow”).
>
> In their introductory comment on this Sūkta, Brereton & Jamison speak of “*fallow
> bay horses*” and “*an extended pun between the words **hari/harita **“gold-colored,
> tawny*”. Despite the color as they defined it, Brereton & Jamison decided
> to “*render the former as “golden,” even in reference to the horses*
> […]”. Indra appears in their translation of that hymn accordingly as “*golden-bearded,
> golden-haired*” (X.96.8).
>
> In 10.23.4b, however, where Indra’s beard is also referred to (*índraḥ
> śmáśrūṇi háritābhí pruṣṇute*), Brereton & Jamison translate its color
> more acceptably as “tawny”: “*Indra sprinkles his tawny beard*.“ It
> should be noted that the color name remains the same in the RV.
>
>
>
> Although it is certainly most difficult to determine the semantic coverage
> of color designations from words and their etymologies alone, it is perhaps
> possible to approach it in the present case from the angle of comparisons
> made of Indra’s hair and beard color with the coat of animals:
>
> *Hari* is used also as a designation for animals the fur of which is
> yellowish or tawny, such as monkeys, (dun or bay) horses, or lions. Their
> color could have hardly been perceived as “golden” in the sense of deep red
> gold, but, if at all, as “stray yellow”. The latter rather seems to match
> pale yellow gold. This kind of gold was widespread and has commonly been
> perceived in the West as gold per se, which might have inspired Western
> translators to introduce the gold metaphor. “Goldhaar / with golden hair”
> is a well-known poetic expression for blond girls in Western literature.
>
> There is no attested primary meaning in the ṚV of *hari*(*ta*) connoting
> “gold(en)” in the sense of the precious metal, at least not to my knowledge.
>
>
>
> In addition to the evidence of Ṛgvedic Kavis depicting the phenotypic
> appearance of Indra as they saw it, I would like to draw attention to
> another one, which appears to confirm that Indra’s hair and beard color was
> imagined as fair also in the Vājasaneyī Saṃhitā (19.91-92). The text adds
> some more color comparisons taken from the animal and plant kingdoms:
>
> *índrasya rūpáṃ* […] |
> *yávā ná barhír bhruví késarāṇi* […] || 91 || (Mahīdhara: *yavā barhiś ca
> bhruvi* [=] *bhruvoḥ*)
>
>
> *ātmánn upásthe ná vŕ̥kasya lóma múkhe śmáśrūṇi ná vyāghralomá | kéśā ná
> śīrṣán yáśase śriyái śíkhā sihásya lóma tvíṣir indriyṇi* || 92 ||
>
>
> In brief, eyebrows [of the color] of barley and sacrificial grass; body
> and pubic hairs [dense] like a wolf; his beard: the hair [color] of a
> tiger; his hair: the shine of [the color of] a lion.
>
>
>
> Heinrich Zimmer sen., who from the evidence he had collected at the time
> described Indra as with blond hair („Indra wird bärtig gedacht; wie er
> blondes Haupthaar *(harikeśa) *trägt, so auch einen blonden Bart *(hariśmaśāru)
> *Rv.10, 96, 8“ – „Altindisches Leben“. Berlin 1879, p. 265) translated
> the VS quote in the following manner (p. 266):
>
> „Wie Gersten(ähren)und Grasbüschel sind die Haare an seinen Brauen, am
> Körper, in seinem Schooss hat er Haare wie ein Wolf, im Antlitz einen Bart
> wie Tigerhaar (blond, *hari), *die Haare auf dem Kopf sind zur Zier, zum
> Schmuck der Haarbusch, wie Löwenhaar sind Glanz und gewaltige Erscheinung“.
>
>
>
> *índrāyendo pári srava*!
>
>
> WS
>
>
> -----------------------------
> Prof. Dr. Walter Slaje
> Hermann-Löns-Str. 1
> D-99425 Weimar
> Deutschland
>
> Ego ex animi mei sententia spondeo ac polliceor
> studia humanitatis impigro labore culturum et provecturum
> non sordidi lucri causa nec ad vanam captandam gloriam,
> sed quo magis veritas propagetur et lux eius, qua salus
> humani generis continetur, clarius effulgeat.
> Vindobonae, die XXI. mensis Novembris MCMLXXXIII.
>
>
> 2016-07-03 11:02 GMT+02:00 rainer stuhrmann <r.stuhrmann at t-online.de>:
>
>> Sūrya is once said to be hári-keśa (10,137,7) and also, in association
>> with the rising of the sun, hári-keśa is once said from Savitar, RV
>> 10.139,1ab:
>>
>> sū́ryaraśmir hárikeśaḥ purástāt savitā́ jyótir úd ayām̐ ájasram /
>>
>> “With rays of the sun, with yellow-red (golden) hair, from the east
>> Savitar has just raised up the unfading light.”
>>
>> Also Agni is once, RV 3,2,13,  said to be hári-keśa and RV 1, 79,1, to
>> be of "golden hair" (híraṇya-keśa).
>>
>> This seems to be metaphoric in contrast to Indra´s anthropomorphic
>> descriptions.
>>
>>
>> Rainer
>>
>>
>> Am 03.07.2016 um 01:20 schrieb Allen Thrasher:
>>
>> Were the other RV deities hari- in their hair, or just Indra?
>>
>> Allen
>>
>>
>> Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android
>> <https://overview.mail.yahoo.com/mobile/?.src=Android>
>>
>> On Sat, Jul 2, 2016 at 12:36 PM, rainer stuhrmann
>> <r.stuhrmann at t-online.de> <r.stuhrmann at t-online.de> wrote:
>>
>> Dear Howard,
>>
>>
>>
>> Indra`s visible appearence:
>>
>>
>>
>> according to RV 10,95,8 Indra is *hári-keśa* and *hári-śmaśāru*, of  “yellow-red
>> (golden) hair” and “yellow-red (golden) beard”.
>>
>> *hári  *is also used of the fire, the sun, of lightening and of Indras
>> horses - and of the Soma plant.
>>
>>
>> According to Falk, however, *hári * denotes  “yellowish-green to green”
>> (Falk, p.85, Soma I and II, BSOAS, Vol. 52, No. 1,1989, pp. 77-90 ),
>>
>> because this - he thinks - makes that colourful epitheton fit to the
>> “bluish green” (Falk, p.85) colour of the ephedra plant. That would make
>>
>> Indra the first punk of history.
>>
>>
>>
>> Rainer Stuhrmann
>>
>> Stuttgart
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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