[INDOLOGY] dhanus/dhavin (Sagittarius)

Sat Nov 19 01:11:29 UTC 2016

Yes, you are right. I never saw a dhanvi kind of usages in specific
reference to the rāśi. .

The most prominent, popular, day to day use of the word dhanus here in
south India is as in the compound dhanurmāsa. The period from 15th December
to 15th January is called dhanurmāsa. More precisely, the one month period
ending with  makarasankramaṇam/ makarasankrānti is called dhanurmāsam in
Telugu.

It is the period during which ānḍāl̥ , the composer of tiruppāvai is
performed her pāvu , month long Viṣṇu- worshipping vow-bound
Bhakti-rituals. Devotees re-enact the rituals by waking up during the early
hours of this peak winter season.

On Sat, Nov 19, 2016 at 4:28 AM, Bill Mak <bill.m.mak at gmail.com> wrote:

> Thank you, Manu, for providing exactly what I needed! The piece is
> confirmed to be in Andhra Pradesh, dated from 12th century AD. At least one
> similar specimen is kept in the Telangana State Archaeology Museum in
> Hyderabad. The frieze on the side depicts the aṣṭadikpālas. Thus the
> iconography of both time and space (with possible correlation) are combined
> in this piece.
>
> Thanks also to Nagaraj for the comments, and to Matthew Kapstein
> and Corinna Wessels-Mevissen for providing me additional materials and
> remarks offline.
>
> From what I can tell so far, modern Indian languages (Hindi, Telugu,
> Tamil) adopted the *dhanus* (bow) reading rather than the one of
> *dhanurdhara/dhanvin* (bowman).
>
> Best,
>
> Bill
>
> --
> Bill M. Mak
>
> Institute for the Study of the Ancient World (ISAW)
> New York University
> 15 East 84th Street
> New York, NY 10028
> US
>
> Institute for Research in Humanities, Kyoto University
> Yoshidahonmachi, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8501
> Japan
> 〒606-8501 京都市左京区吉田本町
> 京都大学人文科学研究所
>
> Tel:+81-75-753-6961
> Fax:+81-75-753-6903
>
> copies of my publications may be found at:
> http://www.billmak.com
>
> On Nov 18, 2016, at 3:37 PM, Manu Francis <manufrancis at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Dear Bill,
>
> The image you have found is illustrated in:
>
> Desai, Kalpana. With contributions by B.V. Shetti and Manisha Nene.
> Assisted by Vandana Prapanna. (2002). Jewels on the Crescent. Masterpieces
> of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya formerly Prince of
> Wales Museum of Western India. Mumbai: CSMVS, in association with Mapin
> Publishing, Ahmedabad.
> Item 49, page 56. See here
> <https://www.dropbox.com/s/r2y9ez3ab82e4t2/AP%20%40%20Prince%20of%20Wales.jpg?dl=0>
> .
> Discussed page 250.With reference to a contribution by B.V. Shetti,
> "Saura-Pitha or the Solar Alatar in Indian Numismatics", pp. 335-339. In:
> Gupta, P. L., MacDowall, D. W., Sharma, S., & Garg, S. (1992). *Indian
> numismatics, history, art, and culture: Essays in the honour of Dr. P.L.
> Gupta*. Delhi: Agam Kala Prakashan.
>
> And see The Madras Tamil Lexicon about Sagittarius here
> <http://dsalsrv02.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/showrest_?conc.6.1.5655.0.8.tamillex>
> .
>
> With very best wishes.
>
> --
>
> Emmanuel Francis
> Chargé de recherche CNRS, Centre d'étude de l'Inde et de l'Asie du Sud
> (UMR 8564, EHESS-CNRS, Paris)
> http://ceias.ehess.fr/
> http://ceias.ehess.fr/index.php?1725
> http://rcsi.hypotheses.org/
> Associate member, Centre for the Study of Manuscript Culture (SFB 950,
> Universität Hamburg)
> http://www.manuscript-cultures.uni-hamburg.de/index_e.html
> https://cnrs.academia.edu/emmanuelfrancis
>
> 2016-11-18 18:13 GMT+01:00 Bill Mak <bill.m.mak at gmail.com>:
>
>> Dear colleagues,
>>
>> A colleague of mine is looking for a high-resolution image of
>> dhanus/dhavin (Sagittarius) in Indian sculpture, mural or manuscript. I
>> came across an image from the internet which gives the description: "C.
>> Saura Sect of Hinduism. Zodiac Wheel. Dolerite. Andhra Pradesh, India”:
>> http://www.billmak.com/?attachment_id=1924
>>
>> Could anyone confirm the provenance of this piece or any other similar
>> object?
>>
>> Textually, I am also curious about the variants dhanu/dhanvin.
>> Sphujidhvaja in his *Yavanajātaka* gave *dhanus*, *dhanurdhara *and
>> *dhavin*. Varāhamihira in addition gave the Sanskritized greek term
>> *taukṣika* (from τοξότης). I am curious which form the modern Indian
>> languages took - the bow, the archer/centaur or both?
>>
>> Best regards,
>>
>> Bill
>>
>> --
>> Bill M. Mak, PhD
>>
>> Visiting research scholar
>> Institute for the Study of the Ancient World (ISAW)
>> New York University
>> 15 East 84th Street
>> New York, NY 10028
>> US
>>
>> Associate Professor
>> Institute for Research in Humanities, Kyoto University
>> Yoshidahonmachi, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, Japan 606-8501
>> 〒606-8501 京都市左京区吉田本町
>> 京都大学人文科学研究所
>>
>> email: mak at zinbun.kyoto-u.ac.jp
>> Tel:+81-75-753-6961
>> Fax:+81-75-753-6903
>>
>> copies of my publications may be found at:
>> http://www.billmak.com
>>
>>
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>
>
>
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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 )

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