[INDOLOGY] Kshut(a)

[Bill Mak]

In the Vṛddhayavanajātaka, kṣut/kṣuta has five occurrences. Two are found in Ch.67 on miśrikādhyāyaḥ (miscellaneous omens) which I translated recently.

67.12ab vāmāṅgakampo gṛhabhaṅgakārī kṣutaḥ svapakṣād bhayam ātanoti/
67.12cd yuddhaṃ narāṇāṃ prakaroti yuddhaṃ rutaṃ rutenaiva samanvitaṃ ca//

"The trembling of the left limbs would cause the house to break. Sneezing would cause fear resulted from one’s allies. Quarrels and cries [of animals] accompanied [by nothing but] just cries would cause quarrels among men.”

67.25ab chardi jvaro veṣṭajanasya nāśaṃ yāne vidhatte sukhasaukhyahānim/
67.25cd aniṣṭalābhaḥ prakaroty ariṣṭaṃ gosaṃkṣutaṃ prāṇaharaṃ hi yātuḥ//

"Vomiting or fever (chardi[s]+jvaraḥ) would bring about the loss (nāśaṃ < nāso) of a loved one and the destruction of happiness and good fortune during the expedition. Getting an evil omen (aniṣṭalābhaḥ) would result in untimely death (ariṣtaṃ < aniṣṭam). Sneezing of cows [would result in] the death of the traveler."


The edition is not entirely satisfactory, nor is my translation. The kṣutaḥ in 67.12 does however seem to suggest a bodily action, hence, sneezing. I am now not so certain about the gosaṃkṣutaṃ in 67.25 now that you raised some doubts concerning the etymology of kṣut. But maybe cows do sneeze after all!

Best regards,

Bill Mak 
 
-- 
Bill M. Mak

Institute for Research in Humanities, Kyoto University
Yoshidahonmachi, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8501
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京都大学人文科学研究所

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copies of my publications may be found at:
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> On Dec 17, 2017, at 11:01 PM, Martin Gansten via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
> 
> I have been trying, so far without success, to understand the etymology of kṣut or kṣuta in the sense of 'bad, evil', used (in both variants) in some Sanskrit astrological texts. (I am fairly certain it's nothing to do with either sneezing or mustard!)
> 
> Searching for क्षुत, I found that Google Translate identifies it as a Hindi word meaning 'awkward', which seems promising; but GT is by no means infallible, and I haven't yet been able to locate the word in a Hindi dictionary. Could any Hindi-wallahs out there either confirm or deny its existence -- perhaps even throw light on its     etymology?
> 
> Thanks in advance,
> Martin Gansten
> 
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