Re: [INDOLOGY] Meaning of abhagnamānam in this verse

[Madhav Deshpande]

Dear Harry,

    Compare Bhartr̥hari's verse:

लाङ्गूलचालनमधश्चरणावपातं
भूमौ निपत्य वदनोदरदर्शनं च ।
श्वा पिण्डदस्य कुरुते गजपुङ्गवस्तु
धीरं विलोकयति चाटुशतैश्च भुङ्क्ते ।।

The verse suggests that a dog is willing to go through his मानभङ्ग in order
to get his food, while the proud elephant is not.  In the verse रामेति
द्व्यक्षरं नाम मानभङ्ग: पिनाकिन:, the term मानभङ्ग is used.  The expression
अभग्नमानं जीवितम् in my view refers to the kind of life where one's pride
is not broken by the circumstances, and that one can only preserve one's
pride अभग्न only with  qualities like विज्ञान-विक्रम-यशस्.

Madhav

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 Tue, Mar 24, 2020 at 7:19 PM Harry Spier via INDOLOGY <
indology at list.indology.info> wrote:

> Dear list members,
>
> Like many on this list I'm now at home and passing the time by reading
> sanskrit. I'm going through the Panchatantra.
> Verse 1.34 is:
>
> yaj jīvyate kṣaṇam api prathitaṁ manuṣyair vijñānavikramayaśobhir
> abhagnamānam tan nāma jīvitam iha pravadanti tajjñāḥ kāko 'pi jīvati ciraṁ
> ca baliṁ ca bhuṅkte |
>
> which Patrick Olivelle translates as:
>
> "If his repute is spread wide among men, if he lacks not wisdom, courage,
> or fame, 'That's true life in this world." the wise say: even crows live
> long, but they live on scraps."
>
> and Edgerton translates as:
>
> Real life in this world, the wise say, is only that which is lived,
> perchance only for a brief season, yet known to fame among men, and not
> lacking in wisdom, prowess, or glory. A very crow lives a long time and
> devours the food that is thrown to it.
>
> I'm not clear what abhagnamānam means in the verse and how it fits into
> these translations.
>
> Bohtlingk-Roth for  abhagnamānam has Adj. *wobei die Ehre nicht leidet*
> which I think means something like "whereby honor doesn't suffer" which
> even more confuses me.
>
> Any help would be appreciated.
>
> Harry Spier
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