[INDOLOGY] amsala

Wed Jun 29 11:57:05 UTC 2016

See also:

Mehendale, M.A.  1977.  "aṃśalá" in Beiträge zur Indienforschung Ernst Waldschmidt zum 80, Berlin: Museum für Ind. Kunst, pp. 315-318.

In an unfortunate twist, my PDF of the article is apparently corrupted.  I will look for the paper copy in my files, but until then if anyone happens to have a PDF easily available, that would be much appreciated.

My best,

Steven

STEVEN LINDQUIST, PH.D.
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, RELIGIOUS STUDIES
DIRECTOR, ASIAN STUDIES
____________________

Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, SMU
PO Box 750202 | Dallas | TX | 75275
Email: slindqui at smu.edu<mailto:slindqui at smu.edu>
Web: http://faculty.smu.edu/slindqui

From: INDOLOGY <indology-bounces at list.indology.info<mailto:indology-bounces at list.indology.info>> on behalf of Madhav Deshpande <mmdesh at umich.edu<mailto:mmdesh at umich.edu>>
Date: Saturday, June 25, 2016 at 2:59 PM
To: Herman Tull <hermantull at gmail.com<mailto:hermantull at gmail.com>>
Cc: Indology <indology at list.indology.info<mailto:indology at list.indology.info>>
Subject: Re: [INDOLOGY] amsala

Hello Dermot and Herman,

At least in Pāṇini's understanding, the words vatsa+la and aṃsa+la are derived respectively in the sense of kāma "love" and bala "strength," sūtra: vatsāṃsābhyāṃ kāmabale (P. 5.2.98).  Thus, for Pāṇini, these words mean "loving, affectionate" and "strong," respectively.  That meaning for aṃsala would not fit the Śatapatha passage: aśnāmy evāham aṃsalaṃ ced bhavati, suggesting that the word had some other meaning making the meat more edible/desirable, and hence "tender" is a likely contextual meaning.  May be "plump, juicy".

Madhav Deshpande

On Sat, Jun 25, 2016 at 3:43 PM, Herman Tull <hermantull at gmail.com<mailto:hermantull at gmail.com>> wrote:

Dermot,

I worked on this 30 years ago, and I remember asking the exact same question. If memory serves correctly (and it may be

unreliable
 here), I believe Sayana's commentary
is
 helpful here
 in getting to Eggeling's definition
.

(I'm away from my library right now, and I cannot check
.
)

Herman

Herman Tull
Princeton, NJ

On Jun 25, 2016 11:19 AM, <dermot at grevatt.force9.co.uk<mailto:dermot at grevatt.force9.co.uk>> wrote:
Can someone help with a bit of brAhmaNa interpretation?

Monier-Williams and Mayrhofer both say aMsala means "strong", connecting it with aMsa
"shoulder". Mayrhofer adds that it's used mainly with reference to cattle and meat.

In xatapatha brAhmaNa 3.1.2.21 Eggeling translates it "tender".

The context is a prohibition on eating beef -- apparently not for everyone at all times, but for
someone undertaking dIkSA. After an arthavAda justifying the prohibition, YAjnavalkya is
quoted as saying "axnAmy evAham aMsalaM ced bhavati."

Eggeling: "I, for one, eat it, provided that it is tender."

Is there any evidence for a meaning "tender", or is Eggeling taking a liberty to give
YAjnavalkya a good punch line?

I realise that ancient Indian diet can be a sensitive issue, but the question here seems to be
about YAjnavalkya's culinary preference.

I'd be grateful for any clarification.

Dermot

--
Dermot Killingley
9, Rectory Drive,
Gosforth,
Newcastle upon Tyne NE3 1XT
Phone (0191) 285 8053

_______________________________________________
INDOLOGY mailing list
INDOLOGY at list.indology.info<mailto:INDOLOGY at list.indology.info>
indology-owner at list.indology.info<mailto:indology-owner at list.indology.info> (messages to the list's managing committee)
http://listinfo.indology.info (where you can change your list options or unsubscribe)

_______________________________________________
INDOLOGY mailing list
INDOLOGY at list.indology.info<mailto:INDOLOGY at list.indology.info>
indology-owner at list.indology.info<mailto:indology-owner at list.indology.info> (messages to the list's managing committee)
http://listinfo.indology.info (where you can change your list options or unsubscribe)

--
Madhav M. Deshpande
Professor of Sanskrit and Linguistics
Department of Asian Languages and Cultures
202 South Thayer Street, Suite 6111
The University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI 48104-1608, USA

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://list.indology.info/pipermail/indology/attachments/20160629/190bac50/attachment.htm>