Re: [INDOLOGY] Cart-shaped, śakaṭākāra

Fri Apr 6 09:06:14 UTC 2018

I have a longer (42 pp.) article entitled "On ancient Indian ox-carts,
biers, beds and thrones: À propos of Sanskrit śakaṭī- / śakaṭa- and its
etymology" forthcoming shortly in: Indology's pulse: Arts in context (Doris
M. Srinivasan Festschrift), edited by Corinna Wessels-Mevissen and Gerd J.
R. Mevissen, New Delhi: Aryan Books International. There I discuss in
detail the contexts in which the word śakaṭa- occurs in Vedic and epic (and
selectively other Sanskrit)  literature. The following extract concerns the
Śulvasūtras:

Context XV: Carts and the shapes of brickbuilt

fire altars (citi). The Kātyāyana-Śulvasūtra

mentions a citi shaped like the triangular-shaped

‘mouth’ of a cart (1,18 śakaṭamukhasya caivam).

This is synonymous with the praüga-citis used in

rites of sorcery which are described in Āpastamba-Śulvasūtra

(12,4 praügaṃ cinvīta bhrātṛvyavān iti

vijñāyate ...), cf. the commentaries of Kapardisvāmin

(ed. Srinivasachar & Narasimhachar 1931: 202):

praügaḥ śakaṭapūrvabhāgaḥ, and Sundararāja (ibid.:

205): praügaṃ śakaṭasya mukhaṃ trikoṇaṃ tadvac

cīyata iti praügacit. In addition, the Āpastamba-Śulvasūtra

also describes a rhombus-shaped twofaced

praüga-citi for annihilating existing enemies

and those yet to be born (12,7 ubhayataḥpraügaṃ

cinvīta yaḥ kāmayeta prajātān bhrātṛvyān nudeya

pratijaniṣyamāṇān iti vijñāyate): it looks like two

carts/fore-parts of carts (joined together), with

their fronts facing different directions (12,8 yathā

vimukhe śakaṭe), cf. the commentaries of Karavinda

(ibid.: 208): vimukhe nānāmukhe śakaṭe yathā pṛṣṭhe

saṃhite tiṣṭhete tādṛgākārām ubhayatra praügaṃ

tathā cinvītety arthaḥ, and Sundararāja (ibid.: 209):

vimukhe viparyastamukhe prākpaścānmukhe yathā

śakaṭabhāge tādṛg eṣo ’gnir bhavati.

With best regards,

On Thu, Apr 5, 2018 at 2:52 PM, Toke Lindegaard Knudsen via INDOLOGY <
indology at list.indology.info> wrote:

> Dear Matthew,
>
> Thanks. It’s certainly possible that the author of my source misunderstood
> the opinion he paraphrases and took “cart-shaped” to refer to the entire
> earth, whereas only a portion of the earth was intended.
>
> In Hindu cosmography, Jambudvīpa refers to a circular continent surrounded
> by annular oceans and continents. Since the author rejects that the earth
> is cart-shaped, it’s possibly a refutation of a Buddhist idea.
>
> The triangular or trapezoidal shape in the Buddhist sources you refer to
> agrees with the drawing in the Śilpa-prakāśa manuscript. I’m not sure where
> Bose got “quadrangular, with a long triangular projection on one side” from.
>
> This begs the question, of course, of whether carts in ancient India were
> generally trapezoidal-shaped?
>
> Best wishes,
> Toke
>
>
>
> > On Apr 5, 2018, at 13:15, Matthew Kapstein <mkapstei at uchicago.edu>
> wrote:
> >
> > Dear Toke.
> >
> > I've never seen this referring to "the earth." But  in Buddhist sources
> frequently to the triangular or trapezoidal shape attributed to Jambudvīpa,
> the southern continent.
> >
> > best,
> > Matthew
> >
> > Matthew Kapstein
> > EPHE
> >
> > Get Outlook for Android
> >
> > From: INDOLOGY <indology-bounces at list.indology.info> on behalf of Toke
> Lindegaard Knudsen via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info>
> > Sent: Thursday, April 5, 2018 12:53:40 PM
> > To: Indology
> > Subject: [INDOLOGY] Cart-shaped, śakaṭākāra
> >
> > Hi all,
> >
> > In a passage of interest to me, the author attributes to “some” the idea
> that the earth resembles or is shaped like a cart (bhuvam … śakaṭākārām).
> I’m trying to understand (1) what precisely is understood by “cart-shaped”
> (śakaṭākāra or śakaṭākṛti) and (2) how the earth can have the shape of a
> cart.
> >
> > In Phanindra Nath Bose’s _Principles of Indian Silpasastra_ from 1926,
> śakaṭākṛti is explained (p. 75) as, “cart-shaped or quadrangular, with a
> long triangular projection on one side.”
> >
> > In the Śilpa-prakāśa (Alice Boner and Sadāśiva Rath Śarmā’s edition,
> translation, and study, second revised edition, 2005), a list of shapes of
> building sites is given. One such shape is śakaṭākṛti (verse 1.39), which
> is translated as “a tapering bullock-cart (śakaṭākṛti kuñcita).” The book
> contains facsimiles of the palm leaf pages of a manuscript, which includes
> drawings to illustrate the building-site shapes (plate I). The drawing of
> the cart-shaped building site doesn’t look like what Bose describes (see
> above), but rather looks like an isosceles trapezoid.
> >
> > I also found that “cart-shaped” is included in a list of possible shapes
> of the sacred śālagrāma stones. This particular shape is undesirable.
> >
> > Would any of you have any clues or thoughts on which geometrical figure
> (or figures) “cart-shaped” refers to? Or further references in this regard?
> >
> > Best wishes,
> > Toke
> >
> > -----
> > Toke Lindegaard Knudsen, Ph.D.
> >
> > Associate Professor and Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow
> > Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies
> > University of Copenhagen
> >
> > <toke.knudsen at hum.ku.dk>
> > _______________________________________________
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-- 
Asko Parpola, aparpola at gmail.com
http://www.helsinki.academia.edu/AskoParpola

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