[INDOLOGY] saptavr̥ddhi/saptahāni

Wed Jun 9 01:56:03 UTC 2021

Dear Arlo,

I find no such sevenfold grouping of vr̥ddhis and/or hānis in Sanskrit sources from India.  Of course, one can find similar (though not identical) lists of good things attainable by various ritual means:

Nāradapurāṇa re seeing holy places:
jñānam aiśvaryam atulaṃ pratiṣṭhāyur yaśas tathā  /
śubhānām āśramāṇāṃ ca gaṅgādarśanajaṃ phalam  // 2.39.5 //

Viṣṇudharmottarapurāṇa re śrāddha:
1.137.35ab/.teṣām āyur yaśaḥ saukhyaṃ dāsyanti prapitāmahāḥ/
1.137.35cd/.devakāryād api śreṣṭhaṃ pitṛkāryaṃ pracakṣate//

  and in Vaikhānasa sources one sees loss as well as gain, this time with an ethical theme:

Viśvaksenasaṃhitā on acquiring such good things
yaḥ karoti svarakṣāṃ ca dīrgham āyur yaśaskaram /
sukham aiśvaryabalatāṃ kalpyatāṃ ca labhet parām // 19.22

Bhr̥gusaṃhita re loss (hāni) of those good things:
āyuryaśastapohāniḥ puṃsāṃ strīṣv atisaṃginām  /
puruṣeṣv atisaktānāṃ tulyā sā yoṣitām api  // 36.490

   But I find no formulation of seven as sapta-vr̥ddhi.  For that, the only source I find is Indonesian: Tantric texts quoted in Hooykaas’s Balinese Bauddha Brahmans, p. 96, where it is deployed in the context of making “purificatory water” (pabrəsihan) for daily worship:

O ASALIN VAI, YOGA PAMIÑ-TĔÑAH.
2 Pratinkah pũja asalin vé, ri télas amūjā pabrsihan pagangdn.
3 Dj Gambəl/Sambutakəna/ ikaṅ pamandyanan.
4 BA & Dj Ulunta tīrthanin: OṂ Amṛtāya namah svāhā (cf. 26).
5 BK, Sb, Tg Kétisan riñ éarira: OṂ Buddha-mahā-pavitrāya namah svāhā;
6 OṂ Dharma-mahā–tīrthāya   namah svāhā;
7 OṂ  Saṅgha-mahā-toyāya     namah svāhā.
8 Sb, Tg Ṅinum piṅ tiga: OṂ AṂ Brahma-pāvakāya   namah svāhā;
9 OṂ UṂ Viṣṇu-arnṛtāya         namah svāhā;
10 OṂ AH īśvara-sadā-jṅānāya narnah svāhā.
11 Sb, Tg Mararahup: OṂ Śiva– sampūrṇāya namah svāhā;
12 OṂ     Sadā-Śiva-   pari-(sam)pūrṇāya namah svāhā;
13 OṂ Parama-Śiva-kṣamā-(sam)pūrṇāya namah svāhā.
14 Raris ararahup pva sira: OṂ Bhaṭṭārī Gaṅgā kiteṅ śarīraṅku,
15 OṂ Labdha-vara Cintāmaṇi,
16 OṂ Ayur-vṛddhir yaśo-vṛddhih, vṛddhih prajñā-sukha-śriyām,
17 Dharma-santāna-vṛddhiś ca, santu te sapta-vṛddhayah.

The mantra is applied twice also on p. 224 (W 1 and X 13) in rites of worship.  Also:
Hooykaas’s, Surya-Sevana: The Way to God of a Balinese Siva Priest, p. 152.

Majumdar, Suvarṇadvīpa, v.2, p. 109, gives the verse in this version (with the faults of the manuscript in which it appeared):
oṁ āyuvr̥ddhi yaśovṛddhi vr̥ddhi prajñā sukhaśriyā |
dharmmasantānavr̥ddhiś ca, santu te saptavṛddhayah ||
yāvat merau sthita deva yāvad gaṅgā mahītale |
candrarekhā gagaṇe yāvat tāvat bhuvi jayī bhaveḥ ||  (unmetrical in c)
Majumdar calls it the mr̥tyuñjaya or dīrghāyu or saptavr̥ddhi mantra.  Your inscription is clearly alluding to this.  But I find as yet no Indian source.  (mr̥tyuñjaya-mantra is the name commonly applied in India to R̥V 7.59.12.)

I find that Indonesian sources seem particularly fond of such enumerations, many of which are not to be traced in India.  In this case, the scattered hints mostly point toward ritual texts rather than Dharmaśāstra.

Best,
Tim

_________________________________________
Timothy Lubin
Jessie Ball duPont Professor of Religion and Adjunct Professor of Law
204 Tucker Hall
Washington and Lee University
Lexington, Virginia 24450
American Council of Learned Societies fellow, 2020–21
National Endowment for the Humanities fellow, 2020–21
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From: INDOLOGY <indology-bounces at list.indology.info> on behalf of INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info>
Reply-To: Arlo Griffiths <arlogriffiths at hotmail.com>
Date: Monday, June 7, 2021 at 11:37 PM
To: INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info>
Subject: [INDOLOGY] saptavr̥ddhi/saptahāni

Dear colleagues,

I am working with my student Marine Schoettel to prepare an edition and translation of a major (14-plate) charter of 15th-century Java, that contains quite a number of Sanskrit stanzas, interspersed between Old Javanese prose passages. Besides the kāvya stanzas of the royal genealogy, that were certainly locally composed, there are some (possibly Indian) dharmaśāstra stanzas at the end of the text, where we read, toward the end of the charter:

yatikomaṅgu(13v4)hakna viparītaniṁ brahmamukhodita saptavr̥ddhi, ndya ta lvirannya //

XXXII. [anuṣṭubh]
    Āyurhānir yyaśohāniḥ, hāniḥ prajñāsukhaśriyāṁ*,
    dharmmasantā(13v5)nahāniś ca, santu te saptahānayaḥ //

We translate:

'They will encounter what are [called] the opposites of the seven gains enunciated orally by Brahmā, as follows: "Loss of vitality, loss of glory, loss of wisdom, happiness, and fortune, loss of dharma and progeny; those shall be the seven losses!" '

I am unable to locate the saptahāni stanza in my e-text corpus. I am hoping that one of you may be able to.

Also, I am unable to find any (relevant) occurrences of the expression saptavr̥ddhi, and am curious if my impression that the Old Javanese is alluding to a text ascribed to Brahmā can somehow be confirmed from the Sanskrit tradition.

Thank you.

Arlo Griffiths
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