[INDOLOGY] Dhanvantari gayatrī-mantra with source

[Lucy May Constantini]

Dear Ramdas,

Thank you for this. I realise I should have been clearer. I’m aware of the
widespread practice of transmitting mantras secretly in a variety of South
Asian contexts. What I should have have expressed more clearly is that I’m
not sure whether Dhanvantari features more often than other deities in the
transmission of at least partially concealed mantras in āyurvedic contexts.
Though I’m not sure how one would find out!

All best wishes,

On Tue, 25 Oct 2022 at 17:03, Ramdas Lamb <ramdas at hawaii.edu> wrote:

> Lucy, the practice of not writing down certain mantras, passing them from
> guru to chela orally, and keeping them secret is common in various Hindu
> schools especially in certain ascetic and tantric traditions. Other aspects
> of their traditions, including histories and practices, are often not
> written as well since they may not be meant for outside consumption.
>
> Ramdas Lamb
> Department of Religions and Ancient Civilizations
> University of Hawai'i
>
> On Tue, Oct 25, 2022 at 5:47 AM Lucy May Constantini via INDOLOGY <
> indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
>
>> Dear Harry,
>>
>> I'm not sure if partial ethnographic information is useful here.
>> Nonetheless, in the lineage of *kaḷarippayaṟṟ˘* I study, when a
>> student is initiated into *kaḷaricikitsa* (which understands itself as
>> a specialised branch of *āyurveda*), that student is given a mantra in
>> which Dhanvantari features as part of the initiation. However, as it's an
>> *upadeśa* mantra, it's not permitted to share it or write it down for
>> public consumption. I don't know if this is a widespread practice across
>> other lineages and traditions, but if so, it might explain why written
>> sources are so rare.
>>
>> All best wishes,
>>
>> Lucy May Constantini
>> PhD Candidate in Religious Studies
>> School of Social Sciences and Global Studies
>> Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
>> The Open University
>>
>> AHRC Open-Oxford-Cambridge DTP Funded
>>
>> OU People: Lucy May Constantini <https://www.open.ac.uk/people/lmc662>
>>
>>
>> On Tue, 25 Oct 2022 at 15:57, Harry Spier via INDOLOGY <
>> indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
>>
>>> Dear list members,
>>> Firstly thank you to Dominik Haas who found a reference in a modern
>>> womans travel journal to India.  Other than that I was extremely surprised
>>> that I couldn't find any mantras in any written sources to Dhanvantari.  I
>>> searched GRETIL, the Muktabodha digital library, and the Kyoto Archive of
>>> Sanskrit Texts (Michio Yano and colleagues) . There were lots of references
>>> to dhanvantarI (dhanvantarir uvAca etc.)  but as far as I could see no
>>> mantras to him (of course its possible I missed them).
>>>
>>> Any supposition about why these are so rare (non-existent?) in written
>>> sources but all over the internet.  In ayurveda is it other deities that
>>> are used in healing mantras?  Or even better if the ayurvedic experts could
>>> point me to any mantras to dhanvantari (or other deities) used in healing.
>>>
>>> Thanks again,
>>> Harry Spier
>>>
>>> On Sat, Oct 22, 2022 at 4:36 PM Harry Spier <vasishtha.spier at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Dear list members,
>>>> I was asked to find gayatrī mantras to the god of healing Dhanvantari
>>>> (but with a source). I'm able to find lots of mantras (including gayatrī
>>>> mantras) on youtube and the internet but they don't give a source.
>>>> Ideally would be a gayatri mantra with a scriptural source (some
>>>> ayurvedic text?) but acceptable would be some modern book collection of
>>>> mantras etc. And even some shloka or non-gayatri mantra in a text asking
>>>> for healing from Dhanvantari would also be acceptable.
>>>> Thanks,
>>>> Harry Spier
>>>>
>>>
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>>
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> --
Lucy May Constantini
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