[INDOLOGY] 84 lakhs of living beings

[jacob at fabularasa.dk]

Dear Manu,

Garuḍapurāṇa 2.49.13 reads:

caturaśītilakṣeṣu śarīreṣu śarīriṇām /
na mānuṣaṃ vinānyatra tattvajñānantu labhyate // GarP_2,49.13 //

Reference: 
http://gretil.sub.uni-goettingen.de/gretil/1_sanskr/3_purana/garup2_u.htm

Best,
Jacob

Jacob Schmidt-Madsen
PhD Fellow
Section of Indology (R.I.P.)
Faculty of Humanities
University of Copenhagen
Denmark

Manu Francis skrev den 2016-09-28 10:37:
> Dear Colleagues,
> 
> I am reading for the moment Tamil commentaries to the
> _Tirumurukāṟṟuppaṭai_.
> 
> One of them reads about the first word of the poem (_ulakam_, "the
> world" in bold below):
> 
> _ULAKAM ulakiṉkaṇṇuḷḷa eṇ pattu nāṉku ilaṭcam
> cīvapētaṅkaḷākiya uyirttokutikaḷ._
> _"__ULAKAM _(means) the group of living beings which are the 84 lakhs
> of classes of living beings which are in the world."
> 
> Another comments as follows upon the first two words of the poem
> (_ulakam uvappa_, "while/so that the world rejoices" in bold below):
> 
> _ULAKA MUVAPPA__ eṉpatu lōkalōkaṅkaḷum eṇpattu nālu
> leṭcam āṟṟumākkaḷuñ canto[vi]ttaiy aṭaintu piḻaikkum
> paṭi. _Which I tentatively translate as:
> 
> __"The phrase _ULAKA MUVAPPA__ _(means) the manner in which (in) the
> worlds (_lōkalōkaṅkaḷum_) the eighty four lakhs of kinds
> (_āṟṟu_ < _āṟu_, litteraly “way”) of people obtain
> salvation after obtaining knowledge (_vittai_ = _vidyā_) of the poem
> (_cantō_ < _chandas_, “sacred hymn; metre”)."
> 
> The mention of the 84 lakhs of living beings appears to be just a way
> to state, as the other commentaries do, that all living beings
> rejoice.
> 
> I have found references to this number of 84 lakhs in the
> Maitrāyaṇīya Upaniṣad (see van Buitenen, 1962, p. 102 and 129)
> as well as in the Rāmāyaṇa of Tulsidas, the Caitanyacaritāmṛta
> and in a 1499 CE inscription from Gujarat.
> 
> Could any one point out to me other sources (Pūrāṇas for instance)
> and, especially, sources where the this total of 84 lakhs is detailed?
> 
> With a great many thanks in advance.
> 
> --
> 
> 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 [1]
> 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 [2]
> https://cnrs.academia.edu/emmanuelfrancis [3]
> 
> Links:
> ------
> [1] http://ceias.ehess.fr/index.php?1725
> [2] http://www.manuscript-cultures.uni-hamburg.de/index_e.html
> [3] https://cnrs.academia.edu/emmanuelfrancis
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