[INDOLOGY] The pre-natal/pre-incarnatory curse in Indian literature (Sivan Goren Arzony)

[Sivan Goren]

Dear James and other list members

This is indeed a fascinating subject!

I am working on a Maṇipravāl̥am campū from medieval Kerala (roughly
14th century), called the Uṇṇiyāṭīcaritam. The heroine of this poem is
a dancer called Uṇṇiyāṭī, who was born on earth as a consequence of a
curse that Rohiṇī cast on an apsaras called Prāvr̥ṭ. This Prāvr̥ṭ had
a love affair with the moon, which got Rohiṇī quite angry..

I think that as a sub-category, apsarases tend to get cursed often.

Another interesting case from Andhra is brought by Velcheru Narayana
Rao in his article 'Purana as Brahminic Ideology" (a chapter in Wendy
Doniger's 1993 "Purana Perennis").

I would love to see any comparative work, when one materializes.

All the best,

Sivan Goren Arzony
PhD student
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem



>
> Message: 1
> Date: Tue, 30 May 2017 23:47:00 +0530
> From: Nagaraj Paturi <nagarajpaturi at gmail.com>
> To: Indology <indology at list.indology.info>
> Subject: Re: [INDOLOGY] The pre-natal/pre-incarnatory curse in Indian
>         literature
> Message-ID:
>         <CAJGj9eYYnw48eBxDinNRsT_Ea5vSex1VW8MbuCykdWVVMk4J9Q at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>
> Curse preceding/leading to birth is such an abundant motif in Indian
> narratives that the list may easily run into a few hundreds.
>
> Particularly because your range is so big, no bar on tradition or period.
> That makes it various forms of folk narratives such as fairy tales ,
> legends etc. get included.
>
> Just in myth-lore or mythology itself the list is very big.
>
> The abundance of this is so big that I would imagine that it could have
> been the main or part focus of several researches and/or publications.
>
> I have been using a word meta-myth to refer to myths 'explaining' or
> linking or connecting myths. Narratives of curse leading to birth or
> incarnation are one variety of such  myth-explaining or myth-linking myths.
>
> One very popular and significant instance of this is the curse to Jaya and
> Vijaya , the dvaarapaalaka-s of VaikunTha , to be born as Asuras in three
> different births. In the first, they are born as Hiranyakasipu and
> Hiranyaaksha. In the second, as RaavaNa and KumbhakarNa. In the third as
> S'is'upaala and Dantavaktra. The significance of this is that this
> narrative is key to the concept of Vaira Bhakti = devotion in the form of
> enmity.
>
> This I group under myth-explaining myths. Explanation in this case is vaira
> bhakti. Ramayana versions without the narrative of Jaya and Vijaya included
> or without the descrition of RaavaNa and KumbhakarNa as born due to curse,
> do exist. So we can say versions of Raama-RaavaNa story with the curse of
> Jaya Vijaya included can be seen as narratives explaining the version of
> the narrative without the curse aspect. Bhaagavata is the Purana which
> gives significance to this curse narrative.
>
> The post is already long.
>
> This can go on and on.
>
> I am sure almost every member remembers one or the other stories from
> Puranas and Itihasas.
>
> What I can add is from folk narratives.
>
> To see how medieval Indian poets exploited this for creating new narratives
> of great poetic skill, read the 16th  century Telugu narrative epic poem
> Kalapurnodayam. I called the story of this as utpaadyapuraaNakatha in my
> PhD dissertation. English translation of this poetic work by Prof's David
> Shulman and Velcheru Narayana Rao is called "The Sound of Kiss". Available
> to buy.
>
> A huge and interesting area to explore if not explored previously.
>
> Best wishes,
>
> -N
>
>
>
>
>
> On Tue, May 30, 2017 at 9:20 PM, Martin Gansten via INDOLOGY <
> indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
>
>> Regarding curses preceding incarnation, the following passage from
>> Balabhadra's *H?yanaratna* (1649, *pace* Pingree, who says 1629) seems to
>> fit the bill:
>>
>> * * * * *
>> hill?jena tu brahmavi??urudramukhanirgata??pena yavanat?? pr?ptena
>> ?r?s?rye?aiva yavana??strapra?ayan?d dvij?n?m api s?ryasiddh?ntavad
>> etadadhyayana? yuktam ity uktam |
>>
>> ke?avi??umukhanirgata??p?n mlecchat?dhigatatigmamar?ce? |
>> romake?a puri labdham a?e?a? tad dvij?dibhir ato ?dhyayan?yam || iti |
>>
>> puri romakapattane |
>>
>> But Hill?ja says [in *Hill?jad?pik? *1.6] that because the Yavana science
>> was founded by the illustrious  sun [god] himself, who had become a Yavana
>> due to a curse issued from the mouths of Brahm?, Vi??u and Rudra, the study
>> of this is proper even for the twice-born, like [the study of] the
>> *S?ryasiddh?nta*:
>>
>> Romaka received this whole [science] in the city from the sun [god], who,
>> by a curse issued from the mouths of Brahm?, ?iva and Vi??u, had attained
>> the state of a foreigner (*mleccha*); therefore, it is fit to be studied
>> by the twice-born and others.
>>
>> ?In the city? [means] in the city of Rome.
>> * * * * *
>>
>> For teachings at night, what about the P??car?tra?
>>
>> Martin Gansten
>>
>>
>>
>> Den 2017-05-30 kl. 17:07, skrev James Hegarty via INDOLOGY:
>>
>> Dear List,
>>
>> I would like to pick the list?s formidable collective Indological brain.
>>
>> I am interested in examples of curses that precede birth or incarnation in Indian literature.
>>
>> Examples that spring to mind are Dharma being cursed to a human birth as Vidura or one of the Vasus, as Bh??ma in the Mah?bh?rata.
>>
>> Can anyone think of others?  I am not fussy about tradition or period, I just want to compare a few examples.
>>
>> I have one other topic to raise. It is teachings given at night.
>>
>> I am interested in whether there are any family resemblances between teachings offered at night (in the most general of terms). Can anyone think of sources in which teachings are offered at night (as Vidura teaches Dh?tar???ra in the Udyogaparvan of the Mah?bh?rata, for example)?
>>
>> Thanks in anticipation to the wise and learned list!
>>
>> Best,
>>
>> James Hegarty
>> Cardiff University
>>
>>
>>
>> ______________________________________________