[INDOLOGY] 84 lakhs of living beings

[Christophe Vielle]

In the Prapañcahṛdaya (12th-13th century AD?) first chapter on cosmology, the tanubhuvana-prakaraṇa, p. 2  ll. 3-4 ed. T. Gaṇapati Śāstrī, TSS 45, 1915 (cf. https://archive.org/details/Trivandrum_Sanskrit_Series_TSS : said "not found" but it is there), one reads 84,000 instead of 8,400,000 : 

jaṅgamajātiviśeṣaś caturaśītisahasravidhaḥ | sthāvarajātiviśeṣaś catuḥṣaṣṭisahasravidhaḥ |

The  number of 84 thousands is found for yojana's (ViP cr. ed. 2,2.8, MkP cr. ed.49.14 : the height of the Meru), years or, if I remember well, the legendary number of stūpa's established by Aśoka; the more fabulous one of 84 lakhs appears for the sorts of āsana's in the GhSa 2,1. I suppose that there are other examples of such kind.

Best wishes,
Christophe

> De: <jacob at fabularasa.dk>
> Objet: Rép : [INDOLOGY] 84 lakhs of living beings
> Date: 28 septembre 2016 14:05:19 UTC+2
> À: Manu Francis <manufrancis at gmail.com>
> Cc: Indology <indology at list.indology.info>
> 
> 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

Le 28 sept. 2016 à 10:37, Manu Francis <manufrancis at gmail.com> a écrit :

> 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
> 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
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–––––––––––––––––––
Christophe Vielle
Louvain-la-Neuve



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