[INDOLOGY] Revolving wheel in ancient Indian literature

Howard Resnick hr at ivs.edu
Fri Mar 18 19:26:36 UTC 2016


Sorry, here are the correct verse numbers:	

The Bhagavata-purana 4.27.13-14 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 <mailto: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
> 
> _______________________________________________
> 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 <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
> 
> _______________________________________________
> 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 <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 <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 (messages to the list's managing committee)
> http://listinfo.indology.info (where you can change your list options or unsubscribe)



-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://list.indology.info/pipermail/indology/attachments/20160318/ee19a38c/attachment.htm>


More information about the INDOLOGY mailing list