[INDOLOGY] Revolving wheel in ancient Indian literature

[Howard Resnick]

The Bhagavata-purana 4.20.13-14 speaks symbolically of time as 360 white Gandharvas (the days of the year) and 360 black Gandharvis (the nights), who all plunder the city of Puranjana.


> On Mar 18, 2016, at 2:17 PM, Dominik Wujastyk <wujastyk at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> The reference to 360 spokes is a sexagesimal number expressed in decimal.  This certainly points to the mathematical traditions of Mesopotamia.
> 
> --
> Professor Dominik Wujastyk* <http://ualberta.academia.edu/DominikWujastyk>
> Singhmar Chair in Classical Indian Society and Polity
> Department of History and Classics <http://historyandclassics.ualberta.ca/>
> University of Alberta, Canada
> 
> On 18 March 2016 at 08:52, George Thompson <gthomgt at gmail.com <mailto:gthomgt at gmail.com>> wrote:
> Hello all,
> 
> Madhav's passage is RV 1.164.11.  By chance, I've been looking at this hymn today.
> 
> George Thompson
> 
> On Fri, Mar 18, 2016 at 9:04 AM, Madhav Deshpande <mmdesh at umich.edu <mailto:mmdesh at umich.edu>> wrote:
> The idea of a rotating wheel of time goes all the way back to the Rigveda: dvādaśāraṃ na hi taj jarāya vavarti cakram pari dyām ṛtasya (don't have the textual ref at hand).  The idea of the spokes of the wheel going up and down is referred to in Sanskrit lit in many places with expressions like cakra-nemi-krama and cakrārapaṅkti.
> 
> Madhav Deshpande
> 
> On Fri, Mar 18, 2016 at 8:42 AM, Artur Karp <karp at uw.edu.pl <mailto:karp at uw.edu.pl>> wrote:
> Dear List, 
> 
> Mahabharata I, 29. 2-5 and Sumangalavilasini (Buddhaghosa's commentary to Mahaparinibbana-sutta)  VI, 26  contain images of a revolving wheel (with 360? spokes), guarded by figures with swords in hands, and by two serpents. Viśvakarma/Vissakamma is mentioned as the wheel's constructor. 
> 
> Is that - or similar - image present somewhere else in the ancient Indian literature?
> 
> Thanks in advance for your comments -
> 
> Artur Karp
> 
> South Asian Studies Deptt (emeritus), University of Warsaw, Poland
> 
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> 
> -- 
> 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
> 
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