[INDOLOGY] BhP 10.333.31 and the Bhāgavata Purāṇa's date

Sudalaimuthu Palaniappan Palaniappa at aol.com
Mon Mar 20 17:16:30 UTC 2017


Dear Scholars,

Yesterday, as I was browsing an online BhP text with translation published by ISKCON (https://ia801005.us.archive.org/28/items/SrimadBhagavatamEnglish-Sanskrit/Srimad-Bhagavatam_Canto_10_2.pdf <https://ia801005.us.archive.org/28/items/SrimadBhagavatamEnglish-Sanskrit/Srimad-Bhagavatam_Canto_10_2.pdf>), I came across the following verse.

īśvarāṇāṁ vacaḥ satyam
tathaivācaritaṁ kvacit
teṣāṁ yat sva-vaco-yuktaṁ
buddhimāṁs tat samācaret

In connection with this verse, the commentary says, “ The word īśvara is usually defined in Sanskrit dictionaries as “lord, master, ruler,” and also as "capable, potent to perform.”  Based on the commentaries for this verse and succeeding verses, it is clear that by the word ‘īśvara’ the text refers to a devotee of Kṛṣṇa. This usage of 'īśvara’ to refer to a devotee seems to be a clear case of translation of the Tamil word ‘āḷvār’ as used in Tamil texts and inscriptions. Synonyms of āḷvār are also used to refer to both the devotees and the deities in the Tamil tradition. For instance the deity in the temple at Tanjore is called Bṛhadīśvara in Sanskrit and Peruvuṭaiyār in Tamil. Here Sanskrit īśvara is synonymous with Tamil uṭaiyār. Interestingly, Rāmānuja is called Uṭaiyavar (an alternate form of Uṭaiyār) in the Tamil tradition. 

I had shown in an earlier publication that the word āḷvār meaning ‘one who rules’ got modified to āḻvār meaning ‘one who is immersed’ due to hypercorrection of ḷ to ḻ. (See http://www.academia.edu/9668394/Āḻvār_or_Nāyaṉār_The_Role_of_Sound_Variation_Hypercorrection_and_Folk_Etymology_in_Interpreting_the_Nature_of_Vaiṣṇava_Saint-Poets <http://www.academia.edu/9668394/%C4%80%E1%B8%BBv%C4%81r_or_N%C4%81ya%E1%B9%89%C4%81r_The_Role_of_Sound_Variation_Hypercorrection_and_Folk_Etymology_in_Interpreting_the_Nature_of_Vai%E1%B9%A3%E1%B9%87ava_Saint-Poets>) 

Can anybody with access to the critical edition of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa tell me if BhP 10.33.31 quoted above is in the critical edition? If it is, then this seems to be an important important information regarding the date of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa.

Thanks in advance

Regards,
Palaniappan





 


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://list.indology.info/pipermail/indology/attachments/20170320/37fb7999/attachment.htm>


More information about the INDOLOGY mailing list