[INDOLOGY] Seven types of ascetics

Martin Gansten martingansten at gmail.com
Tue Jul 19 11:39:29 UTC 2022


Thanks for these suggestions, Heiner. I wonder if the cakradhara <-> 
Vaiṣṇava connection relates to Vaiṣṇavas being branded with the symbols 
of conch and discus (as I have never seen Vaiṣṇavas carrying actual 
wheels/discuses around)? In any case, I suspect it meant something 
different in 6th-century (or earlier) North India.

The epithet caraka made me wonder about the Carakasaṃhitā with its 
Buddhist connections (discussed by Dominik Wujastyk and others). Is the 
name a coincidence?

Best wishes,
Martin Gansten


Den 2022-07-15 kl. 11:00, skrev Rolf Heinrich Koch via INDOLOGY:
>
> Dear Martin,
>
> in Sri Lanka they call today Viṣṇuites as cakradhara
>
> better try this one: Barua, Maskarī as an Epithet of Gosāla, IHQ Vol 
> III No 2 June 1927: 235-261.
>
> Best
>
> Heiner
>
> Am 15.07.2022 um 09:34 schrieb Martin Gansten via INDOLOGY:
>> In his Bṛhajjātaka, Varāhamihira lists seven types of ascetics 
>> corresponding to the seven planets: /śākyājīvikabhikṣuvṛddhacarakā 
>> nirgranthavanyāśanāḥ/. A few centuries later, the commentator 
>> Bhaṭṭotpala elaborates slightly on these, citing the authorities 
>> Vaṅkālakācārya (writing in Prakrit) and Satyācārya. These passages 
>> are discussed in Basham's /History and Doctrines of the Ājīvikas/ (p. 
>> 168 ff., giving the Prakrit author's name as Kālakācārya). I am 
>> wondering if any further research on these ascetic categories has 
>> been published after Basham's book, which is now more than 70 years 
>> old. In particular, I am curious about the categories vṛddha 
>> (identified by Bhaṭṭotpala as Kāpālikas) and caraka (which he says 
>> are cakradharas). All suggestions are welcome.
>>
>> Best wishes,
>> Martin Gansten
>>
>>
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> -- 
> Dr. Rolf Heinrich Koch
> www.rolfheinrichkoch.wordpress.com
>
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