[INDOLOGY] The Honey Doctrine (madhu vidyā)

[Jim Ryan]

Nagaraj,

Thanks for this. Wikipedia! Of course, the material there can suffer sometimes from input from unreliable sources, but this article gives good specifics.

Jim



> On Dec 26, 2021, at 7:51 PM, Nagaraj Paturi <nagarajpaturi at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Even a simple popular source such as Wikipedia covers this :
> 
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madhu-vidya#Vedic_background <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madhu-vidya#Vedic_background>
> 
> In the Rig Veda <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rig_Veda>, Soma <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soma_(drink)>, the Vedic symbol for deep spiritual truth, is addressed as Madhu, the nector or ambrosia, the drink of Immortality sought by both gods and men. Rishi Vamadeva <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vamadeva> has described how the saving of the knowledge of Madhu or Soma Doctrine came to him through a hawk in a sudden flash in his darkest hour.[4] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madhu-vidya#cite_note-4>
> It is believed that Rishi Dadhichi had his ashrama in Dudheshwara on the banks of Sabarmati River <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabarmati_River> near present-day Ahmedabad <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmedabad>. His name appears in the Rig Veda <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rig_Veda>.[5] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madhu-vidya#cite_note-5> Dadhichi was a sage of Vedic repute (Rig Veda I.84.13: इन्द्रो दधीचो अस्थ भिर्वृत्राण्यप्रतिष्कुतः| जघान नवतीर्नव ||). He was the son of Rishi Atharvan <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atharvan> of the Atharvaveda <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atharvaveda>, and the father of Pippalada <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pippalada> of the Prasna Upanishad <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prasna_Upanishad>. His name is seen to occur in the first Mandala of the Rig Veda, and in the Bhagavata Purana <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhagavata_Purana>. Rishi Kakshivana, the sage of the Rig Veda <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rig_Veda> Sukta <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukta> 119 which is addressed to the Ashvins <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashvins>, in Mantra <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mantra> 9 tells us :
> उत स्या वां मधुमन्मक्षिकारपन्मदे सोमरयौशिजा हुवन्यति |
> युवं दधीचो मन आ विवास्थोऽथा शिरः प्रति वामश्व्यं वदत् ||
> "The bee desirous of honey sang praise-song for you. Aushij in delight of Soma tells how Dadhichi, told you the secret of his mind after the head of his horse was cured."[6] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madhu-vidya#cite_note-6>
> On Mon, Dec 27, 2021 at 3:07 AM Joanna Jurewicz <j.jurewicz at uw.edu.pl <mailto:j.jurewicz at uw.edu.pl>> wrote:
> Dear Jim, 
> 
> I discuss this doctrine (to some extent) in my "Fire, Death and Philosophy. A History of Ancient Indian Thinking". 
> 
> With regards, 
> 
> Joanna
> 
> ---
> Prof. dr hab. Joanna Jurewicz
> Katedra Azji Południowej /Chair of South Asia Studies
> Wydział Orientalistyczny / Faculty of Oriental Studies
> Uniwersytet Warszawski /University of Warsaw  
> ul. Krakowskie Przedmieście 26/28
> 00-927 Warszawa , Poland
> Department of Linguistics and Modern Languages
> College of Human Sciences
> UNISA
> Pretoria, RSA
> Member of Academia Europaea  
> https://uw.academia.edu/JoannaJurewicz <https://uw.academia.edu/JoannaJurewicz>
> 
> niedz., 26 gru 2021 o 20:40 Jim Ryan via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info <mailto:indology at list.indology.info>> napisał(a):
> Madhav,
> 
> Thanks for this. This brings up the question of “honey” as a metaphor in Vedic tradition generally. What was the “honey-ness” that was found I each footstep?
> Naturally, very difficult to ascertain, but interesting to contemplate. 
> 
> Jim
> 
>> On Dec 26, 2021, at 11:25 AM, Madhav Deshpande <mmdesh at umich.edu <mailto:mmdesh at umich.edu>> wrote:
>> 
>> Dear Jim,
>> 
>> Check out R̥gveda 1.154.4-5 that refer to Viṣṇoḥ padāni as being filled with Madhu and having a fount of Madhu.
>> 
>> Madhav
>> 
>> Madhav M. Deshpande
>> Professor Emeritus, Sanskrit and Linguistics
>> University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
>> Senior Fellow, Oxford Center for Hindu Studies
>> Adjunct Professor, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore, India
>> 
>> [Residence: Campbell, California, USA]
>> 
>> 
>> On Sun, Dec 26, 2021 at 11:10 AM Jim Ryan via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info <mailto:indology at list.indology.info>> wrote:
>> Hi,
>> 
>> I’m looking for scholarship relating to the Honey Doctrine sonorously invoked in Bṛhadāraṇyaka U., 2.5.1-19. Are there Vedic antecedents anywhere?
>> 
>> Jim Ryan
>> Asian Philosophies and Cultures (Emeritus) 
>> California Institute of Integral Studies
>> 
>> 
>> 
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> 
> -- 
> Nagaraj Paturi
>  
> Hyderabad, Telangana, INDIA.
> 
> 
> Director, Indic Academy
> BoS, MIT School of Vedic Sciences, Pune, Maharashtra
> BoS Kavikulaguru Kalidasa Sanskrit University, Ramtek, Maharashtra
> BoS Veda Vijnana Gurukula, Bengaluru.
> Member, Advisory Council, Veda Vijnana Shodha Samsthanam, Bengaluru
> BoS Rashtram School of Public Leadership
> Editor-in-Chief, International Journal of Studies in Public Leadership
> Former Senior Professor of Cultural Studies, 
> FLAME School of Communication and FLAME School of  Liberal Education, 
> Hyderabad, Telangana, INDIA.
>  
>  
>  

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