[INDOLOGY] Fwd: nāga-stotra

Tue Jan 14 15:22:40 UTC 2025

The double stanza is given under  vidyudvāraṇam in the 14th c. Śārṅgadhara-paddhati anthology (on which see Sternbach's vol. HIL p. 17-18)  no. 3023 and 3024 in P. Peterson ed. 1888, Bombay Sanskrit Series no. 37 https://books.google.com/books?id=MwcUtAEACAAJ pp. 436-437
https://archive.org/details/SarngadharaPaddhati/page/n439/mode/2up
https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.407770/page/n443/mode/2up
The source (provided after the two following stanzas) is given there as: ete nānāsaṃhitābhyaḥ

This reference is given in an article by K. G. Sheshadri (https://kgsheshadri.weebly.com/ ), “Lightning protection and rituals in ancient Indian texts”, Journal of Oriental Institute of Baroda, vol. 59, no.3-4, March-June 2010, p. 27-36 (see the very end). The same scholar has also published (among other articles looking like quite interesting)* on the same topic: “Lightning beliefs and customs in ancient Indian culture and folklore some observations”,  in Man in India, vol. 92, no. 3-4, July December 2012, p. 543-549, and “The process of Lightning phenomenon as described in ancient Indian literature”, Journal of Oriental Institute of Baroda, vol. 60, no. 3-4, March-June 2011, p. 11-20 (both not seen).
I attach the JOIB article in the very bad state (for the diacritics) version I found it on Scribd.com<http://scribd.com/>. Maybe the author (whom I put in copy) or somebody else could provide a better version.

* add for instance:
"Elephant behaviour in the night according to Sage Palalapya" (2015) https://www.asesg.org/PDFfiles/2015/42-41-Sheshadri.pdf
"Tree Welfare as Envisaged in Ancient Indian Literature" (2015) https://www.asianagrihistory.org/pdf/volume19/kg-sheshadri.pdf
"Classification of Flowers as Gleaned from Ancient Indian Literature and Culture" (2016) https://www.asianagrihistory.org/pdf/articles/kg-sheshadri.pdf
"Animals and animal products as reflected in smṛti texts" (2017) https://pracyajournal.com/old/www.pracyajournal.com/archives/2017.v9.i1.html
"Gleanings of Śayana (Sleep) Rituals in the Purāṇas" (2018) https://pracyajournal.com/old/www.pracyajournal.com/archives/2018.v10.i1-2.html

Début du message réexpédié :

De: christophe <christophe.vielle at uclouvain.be<mailto:christophe.vielle at uclouvain.be>>
Objet: Rép. : [INDOLOGY] nāga-stotra
Date: 14 janvier 2025 à 09:55:52 UTC+1
À: "Buchta, David" <david_buchta at brown.edu<mailto:david_buchta at brown.edu>>
Cc: Arlo Griffiths <arlogriffiths at hotmail.com<mailto:arlogriffiths at hotmail.com>>

Note that if there is a problem to open the url https://dharmalekha.info/texts/INSCIC00175 (as I have with three different browsers on my pc: I cannot enter  into the website: dharmalekha.info<http://dharmalekha.info/> - only with my smartphone...!), the same notice (but not the two "K" ones) can also be found at:
https://isaw.nyu.edu/publications/inscriptions/campa/inscriptions/C0175.html

De: Asko Parpola via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info<mailto:indology at list.indology.info>>
Objet: Rép. : [INDOLOGY] nāga-stotra
Date: 14 janvier 2025 à 09:41:26 UTC+1
À: Arlo Griffiths <arlogriffiths at hotmail.com<mailto:arlogriffiths at hotmail.com>>
Cc: Indology List <indology at list.indology.info<mailto:indology at list.indology.info>>
Répondre à: Asko Parpola <aparpola at gmail.com<mailto:aparpola at gmail.com>>

Dear Dave, here is your lost 2011 message:
Buchta, David, 2011-04-29 on RIASA-list (Jaimini and the fear of lightning):  In one of the songs in Rupa Gosvami's Gitavali, he describes Radha as uttering, "Jaimini, Jaimini," when she is afraid that a group of kokilas have been struck by lightning. I am wondering if anyone is familiar with this practice. In his commentary, Baladeva Vidyabhushana claims that the practice of reciting Jaimini's name to remove fear of lightning is prasiddha, well known. Of course, just not to me. He cites an unattributed passage in support, but it is incomplete in the printed edition of the commentary. What is there is, "muneH kalyANamitrasya jaiminez cApi kIrtanAt. vidyud-agni-bhayaM nAsti ...litena mahodare. ...jaiminiz ca vaizampAyana eva ca. pulastyaH pulahaz caiva paJcaite vajra-vAraNAH." So far, my search has not been fruitful. Monier-williams defines vajra-vAraka as "a title of respect applied to certain sages," with the ever-disappointing "L." for source. If anyone is can shed any light on this tradition, or knows where this citation may come from, I would appreciate any help.
In my Jaimini article I noted: According to A. Weber (1876, 257) the name Jaimini has been formed irregularly from jeman (victorious) - one would have expected Jaimani. Jaimani is attested as a variant reading for Jaimini, and manuscript colophons of various Sāmaveda texts of the Jaiminīya branch have the variant Jaimuni and even Jayamuni. The Brill editors had struck away my suggestion that Jaimini could be a regular derivation of jéman n.’victoriousness’: ‘one possessing victoriousness’.
Best wishes, Asko

Le 14 janv. 2025 à 06:52, Arlo Griffiths via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info<mailto:indology at list.indology.info>> a écrit :

Dear Dave,

I have just revised my encoding for that Campā inscription. Try out the same link again (https://dharmalekha.info/texts/INSCIC00175). The URL for the 2012 publication leads to a pdf of the same.
The Cambodian inscription K. 1216 will also be of interest to you (https://dharmalekha.info/texts/INSCIK01216) as will K. 895 (which we still need to encode).
I will be very happy to be informed if you learn more about this association between Jaim(a/i)ni and co. and lightning strike.

Best wishes,

Arlo

________________________________
From: Buchta, David <david_buchta at brown.edu<mailto:david_buchta at brown.edu>>
Sent: Tuesday, January 14, 2025 2:27 AM
To: Arlo Griffiths <arlogriffiths at hotmail.com<mailto:arlogriffiths at hotmail.com>>
Cc: Asko Parpola <aparpola at gmail.com<mailto:aparpola at gmail.com>>; Indology List <indology at list.indology.info<mailto:indology at list.indology.info>>
Subject: Re: [INDOLOGY] nāga-stotra

Well, this is somewhat embarrassing. I am now returning to a set of songs by Rūpa Gosvāmin that I must have been looking at while working on my dissertation, but which I decided not to include (grantha-gaurava-bhayāt) and set aside. I honestly do not remember my post to this listserv from 2011, and I'm failing to find it again by searching the listserv archive.

Thank you, Asko, for the valuable entry on Jaimini.

And thanks to Arlo for the very helpful reference. Now I have a concrete (or, well, stone) and dateable reference for the connection of Jaimini's name to warding off lighting. It is noteworthy that the first half of the second verse cited by Baladeva is identical with the reading that you suggest, Arlo, "by emending less conservatively."
--
David Buchta, PhD
Senior Lecturer in Sanskrit
Department of Classics
Brown University

On Mon, Jan 13, 2025 at 11:37 AM Arlo Griffiths <arlogriffiths at hotmail.com<mailto:arlogriffiths at hotmail.com>> wrote:
I don’t remember the 2011 discussion, so at the risk of repeating myself, allow me to share this short Sanskrit text related to Dave’s verses:
<https://dharmalekha.info/texts/INSCIC00175>
Bottom part of architectural crown from Khánh Lễ - DHARMA<https://dharmalekha.info/texts/INSCIC00175>
dharmalekha.info<https://dharmalekha.info/texts/INSCIC00175>
[X]<https://dharmalekha.info/texts/INSCIC00175>

Arlo Griffiths

Dikirim dari iPhone saya

Pada 13 Jan 2025, pukul 21.56, Asko Parpola via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info<mailto:indology at list.indology.info>> menulis:

Dear Dave,

Jaimini as a name counteracting thunder is known to me only from your earlier 2011 post on the subject.

Otherwise Jaimini has figured much in my research. I attach my 2023 encyclopedia article on Jaimini and Bādarāyaṇa.

With best regards and wishes, Asko Parpola

On 12. Jan 2025, at 20.52, Buchta, David via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info<mailto:indology at list.indology.info>> wrote:

Dear colleagues,

I'm seeking information about a nāga-stotra.
Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa (!8th century) cites these verses in his commentary to a song by Rūpa Gosvāmin:

muneḥ kalyāṇamitrasya jaimineś cāpi kīrtanāt
vidyud-agni-bhayaṃ nāsti likhite ca gṛhodare
jaiminiś ca sumantuś ca vaiśampāyana eva ca
pulastyaḥ pulahaś caiva pañcaite vajra-vāraṇāḥ

I have found these verses on many websites (usually in the opposite order, and with a few minor variants) as part of a nāga-stotra supposed to be recited on nāga-pañcamī.

Does anyone know anything more about this text? Is it part of a larger Purāṇa or the like? Or just a traditionally transmitted floating stotra? I'd also be happy to hear about any other sources for this idea of reciting sages' names (especially Jaimini) to counteract fear caused by thunder.

Thanks,
Dave
--
David Buchta, PhD
Senior Lecturer in Sanskrit
Department of Classics
Brown University

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<Parpola_A_2023 Jaimini and Ba ̄darāyaṇa, pp 375-379 in K. A. Jacobsen (ed.), Brill's Encyclopedia of Hinduism VII.pdf>

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