[INDOLOGY] seeing a horn on one's own head

[Tieken, H.J.H. (Herman)]

Dear List members,
In Śaṅkadhara’s Laṭakamelaka (verse 25, p. 25) the following expression is found:
etāsu pañcasv avabhāsinīsu pratyekabodhaspuṭamaṇḍalīṣu
sādhāraṇaṃ ṣaṣṭham ihekṣate ya śr̥ṅgaṃ sirasy ātmana īkṣate saḥ

One who among these five (things) sees a sixth, sees a horn on one’s own head.
What might be meant with the expression “seeing a horn on one’s own head”, apart from that fact that it is impossible to see it on one’s own head (that is, without a mirror)? Or might it refer to a sixth member of the body, one more than the five in the expression pañcāṅgapraṇāma? In the latter case, why "one's own", as the situation applies to man in general.
Kind regards, Herman


Herman Tieken
Stationsweg 58
2515 BP Den Haag
The Netherlands
00 31 (0)70 2208127
website: hermantieken.com<http://hermantieken.com/>

The Aśoka Inscriptions: Analysing a corpus, New Delhi: Primus Books, 2023.
https://primusbooks.com/ancient/the-asoka-inscriptions-analysing-a-corpus-by-herman-tieken/


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