[INDOLOGY] by chance, accidentally

[Artur Karp]

When Sati's body is dismembered - do parts of it fall down on the earth
according to some plan? Or - is their dispersal purely accidental?
Legitimating in this way the haphazard geography of old (tribal) shrines
devoted to female divinities?

Does Garuda lose the four drops of amrita in a planned way? Or - are they
lost by pure chance? Do they land - purely accidentally - in places
possessing - by pure chance - terrain features suitable for establishing
large pilgrimage centers?

Artur

PS. I try to recall the mythical (puranic?) narrative, no success. A king,
meets someone, purely accidentally, has sex with that person, and that
results in his becoming pregnant. And, after nine months, a child is born,
out of its father/mother's left side. Now - what happened to the child?

A,

2016-05-17 9:25 GMT+02:00 Nagaraj Paturi <nagarajpaturi at gmail.com>:

> 3. the aspect of pure chance in ancient Sanskrit narratives.
> Mrichchhakatika is where the author clearly mentions bhavitavyataa as one
> of the themes of the play. The entire play has a series of dramatic turns
> of events each of which occur just by pure chance.
>
> Element of fate in Shakespeare's plays is a widely discussed theme. I
> guess that this could have inspired some to take up a similar theme with
> regard to Sanskrit plays.
>
> Many s'aapa events in Sanskrit narratives involve 'pure chance', and the
> s'aapa turns out to be the cause for later events. Dasaratha getting cursed
> by Sravanakumara's parents is just by pure chance. But it is this curse
> which causes Rama's vanavaasa and all the later events.
>
> In Pratimaa naaTakam , Bhasa makes Kaikeyi plead innocence in front of
> Bharata who was angry with him, blaming her demands on the power of the
> curse and makes Bharata say, "this has scope for a lot of thinking " (
> something like "good point!")
>
> In popular exegesis in India, quite often taking the form of folk songs,
> many key events in Ramayana and Mahabharata are attributed to pure chance
> and power of fate.
>
> Good topic if not yet covered.
>
> On Tue, May 17, 2016 at 9:03 AM, Nagaraj Paturi <nagarajpaturi at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> 1.  something, some event, that happened accidentally, by pure chance -
>> but, finally, had the power to  influence the development of the Indian
>> Civilization (in the spheres of thought, religion, social relations, etc.)?
>>
>> and
>>
>> 2. Status of "(pure, sheer) chance" in Indian thought?
>>
>> are entirely two different things.
>>
>> #1 seems to be a question on Indian history, #2 on Indian thought.
>>
>> Prof. Resnick brought yet another issue: 3. the aspect of pure chance in
>> ancient Sanskrit narratives.
>>
>> #2 & #3 could be considered as connected.
>>
>> #1 need not be connected to #2  & #3.
>>
>> On Tue, May 17, 2016 at 4:32 AM, Howard Resnick <hr at ivs.edu> wrote:
>>
>>> Interesting question. In the Maha-bharata, for example, human effort —
>>> purusha-kAra — is contrasted with daiva — providence/divine intervention or
>>> will. In Bhagavad-gita 9.10, we find the statement that “Prakrti begets…by
>>> my supervision/oversight (adhy-aksha)." In the Gita 13.21, and elsewhere,
>>> we find a two part concept of causality that matches the twin ontology of
>>> body and soul. Not to speak of the philosophical implications of karma.
>>>
>>> These are well known approaches to causality.
>>>
>>> I am also curious to know to what extent Indian tradition has considered
>>> pure chance, sometimes called yadRcchA, or adverbially akasmAt, to be a
>>> legitimate cause of events or conditions in this world.
>>>
>>> Howard
>>>
>>>
>>> On May 16, 2016, at 11:32 AM, Artur Karp <karp at uw.edu.pl> wrote:
>>>
>>> Dear Colleagues.
>>>
>>> one more question.
>>>
>>> Do you know of something, some event, that happened accidentally, by
>>> pure chance - but, finally, had the power to  influence the development of
>>> the Indian Civilization (in the spheres of thought, religion, social
>>> relations, etc.)?
>>>
>>> Status of "(pure, sheer) chance" in Indian thought?
>>>
>>> Artur Karp
>>>
>>> Poland
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>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Nagaraj Paturi
>>
>> Hyderabad, Telangana, INDIA.
>>
>> Former Senior Professor of Cultural Studies
>>
>> FLAME School of Communication and FLAME School of  Liberal Education,
>>
>> (Pune, Maharashtra, INDIA )
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Nagaraj Paturi
>
> Hyderabad, Telangana, INDIA.
>
> Former Senior Professor of Cultural Studies
>
> FLAME School of Communication and FLAME School of  Liberal Education,
>
> (Pune, Maharashtra, INDIA )
>
>
>
>


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