[INDOLOGY] 'catching the ocean in a cow's hoofprint'

[Antonia Ruppel]

Dear all,

As always, this list does not disappoint: I ask about a small puddle and
immediately receive an ocean's worth of answers. Thank you to everyone who
has taken the time to reply on- and off-list!

Among the off-list replies, I especially also appreciated what Suhas Mahesh
sent me:

"गोष्पदीकृत-वाराशिं मशकीकृत-राक्षसम् ।
रामायण-महामाला-रत्नं वन्दे ऽनिलात्मजम् ।।

This is a dhyāna śloka of the Ramayana, and is very well known to those
within the tradition. गोष्पदीकृत-वाराशिं corresponds very well to catching
the ocean in a hoof print, and I think it might be the saying that Vikram
Chandra is referring to. Perhaps this phrase was used by Vikram Chandra's
source (as Indian scholars often do) in the context of Panini, due to a
mental association with सन्ति पाणिनिगोष्पदे."

Again thank you to all,
     Antonia

On Mon, 23 Dec 2019 at 21:16, Nagaraj Paturi <nagarajpaturi at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Probably based on the story of Agastya drinking up the ocean, there is a
> proverb in Telugu that means 'taking in the ocean for a sip in a palm.'
>
> It is used in a similar context of taking control of vast knowledge.
>
> On Tue, Dec 24, 2019, 12:56 AM Christoph Emmrich via INDOLOGY <
> indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
>
>> Dear Antonia,
>>
>>
>> Not Pāṇini-specific, but maybe still of interest to you is the appearance
>> of the combination of the ocean and the cow's hoof print in the version
>> of global warming found in Aṅguttara Nikāya IV 100–106. There, during
>> pralaya, after the plants have died and the rivers have run dry, the
>> ocean sinks to ever lower levels, from the depth of a yojana down to
>> that of the amount of water found in a cow's hoof print: seyyathā pi
>> bhikkhave saradasamaye thullaphusitake deve vassante tattha tattha gopadesu
>> udakāni ṭhitāni honti, evam eva kho bhikkhave tattha tattha gopadamattāni
>> mahāsamudde udakāni ṭhitāni honti (AN IV 102,6-9).
>>
>> Warmly,
>> Christoph
>>
>> ----
>>
>>
>>
>> Christoph Emmrich
>>
>> Associate Professor, Buddhist Studies
>> General Secretary, IABS
>>
>> Director, Centre for South Asian Studies
>>
>> at the Asian Institute, Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy
>>
>> Chair, Numata Program UofT/McMaster
>>
>> University of Toronto
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------
>> *From:* INDOLOGY <indology-bounces at list.indology.info> on behalf of
>> Madhav Deshpande via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info>
>> *Sent:* December 23, 2019 11:43:06 AM
>> *To:* Antonia Ruppel <rhododaktylos at gmail.com>
>> *Cc:* Indology <indology at list.indology.info>
>> *Subject:* Re: [INDOLOGY] 'catching the ocean in a cow's hoofprint'
>>
>> Dear Antonia,
>>
>>      There is a traditional verse that says that the words used by Vyāsa
>> were from the Ocean of Grammar composed by Mahendra.  Those jewels of words
>> cannot be found in Pāṇini's grammar which is like a Cow's Hoofprint.  This
>> is to say that the so-called ārṣa usages in the Purāṇas are not
>> ungrammatical, though they may not fit the [limited] grammar of Pāṇini.
>>
>> यान्युज्जहार माहेन्द्राद् व्यासो व्याकरणार्णवात् । पदरत्नानि किं तानि
>> सन्ति पाणिनिगोष्पदे ।।
>>
>>     This verse [according to secondary references] is found in
>> Devabodha's commentary on the Mahabharata.
>>
>> Madhav M. Deshpande
>> Professor Emeritus, Sanskrit and Linguistics
>> University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
>> Senior Fellow, Oxford Center for Hindu Studies
>>
>> [Residence: Campbell, California, USA]
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Dec 23, 2019 at 8:12 AM Antonia Ruppel via INDOLOGY <
>> indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
>>
>> Dear all,
>>
>> In the BBC radio series 'Incarnations', the episode on Pāṇini is entitled
>> 'Catching the Ocean in a Cow's Hoofprint', which it says is a description
>> of what Pāṇini's work achieved.
>>
>> Can anyone tell me what the source of this expression specifically in
>> reference to Pāṇini is? Textual/online searches for goṣpada- have not led
>> me very far - but maybe I've been looking for the wrong word?
>>
>> (In case anyone doesn't know 'Incarnations' and wants to listen to any of
>> the episodes:
>> https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05rptbv/episodes/downloads)
>>
>> Many thanks and all the best,
>>      Antonia
>>
>> —
>> Dr Antonia Ruppel
>> University of Oxford
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> INDOLOGY mailing list
>> INDOLOGY at list.indology.info
>> indology-owner at list.indology.info (messages to the list's managing
>> committee)
>> http://listinfo.indology.info (where you can change your list options or
>> unsubscribe)
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> INDOLOGY mailing list
>> INDOLOGY at list.indology.info
>> indology-owner at list.indology.info (messages to the list's managing
>> committee)
>> http://listinfo.indology.info (where you can change your list options or
>> unsubscribe)
>>
>

-- 
Dr Antonia Ruppel
cambridge-sanskrit.org
allthingssanskrit.com


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://list.indology.info/pipermail/indology/attachments/20191225/9cb35c3b/attachment.htm>