[INDOLOGY] Drops of amrita

[Lubomir Ondracka]

Dear Artur,

yes, I believe that this information is right. 

D. P. Dube has studied Prayaga and Kumbhmela in depth and he has published a number of papers and books on this topic. He is a reliable author familiar with all relevant textual sources, thus I would take his conclusion (on four drops of amrta as a late addition) seriously.

As far as I know, all other scholars writing on Kumbhmela depend on his work (e.g. Kama Maclean: Pilgrimage and power, OUP 2008, pp. 87-88; Diana Eck: India: A sacred geography, Harmony 2012, pp. 152-156).

Best,
Lubomir


On Wed, 1 Jun 2016 07:37:29 +0200
Artur Karp <karp at uw.edu.pl> wrote:

> Dear Colleagues,
> 
> Which text(s) describe Garuda losing four drops of amrita - while flying
> over the four places where the faithful celebrate Kumbha-Melas (Haridwar,
> Prayaga, Nashik, Ujjain)?
> 
> Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumbh_Mela#Mythological_origin)
> states:
> 
> "While several ancient texts, including the various Puranas
> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puranas>, mention the *samdura manthan*
> legend, none of them mentions spilling of the amrita at four places.[8]
> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumbh_Mela#cite_note-KM_2003-8> Neither do
> these texts mention the Kumbh Mela. Therefore, multiple scholars, including
> R. B. Bhattacharya, D. P. Dubey and Kama Maclean believe that the *samudra
> manthan* legend has been applied to the Kumbh Mela relatively recently, in
> order to show scriptural authority for it."
> 
> Is Wikipedia right?
> 
> Best,
> 
> Artur Karp (ret.)
> University of Warsaw
> Poland