[INDOLOGY] Question on amākṣika madhu in MBh 5.62.23

[Charles DiSimone]

Dear Dan,

Not to hijack the thread but your comment about the Rhys-Davids
translations being a century old bring to mind a news blurb I recently read
about a new Tripiṭaka translation coming out of Thailand:

https://www.khaosodenglish.com/featured/2026/09/12/thailand-moves-ahead-with-45-volume-english-tipitaka-project/


(I know nothing about this venture beyond the above article)

Friendly greetings,
Charles

Prof. Dr. Charles DiSimone
Associate Professor of Buddhist Studies & Indology
Department of Languages and Cultures
Ghent University


On Fri, Sep 18, 2026 at 5:34 AM Dan Lusthaus via INDOLOGY <
indology at list.indology.info> wrote:

> You may want to look at the Agañña sutta, #27 in the Dīgha Nikāya. That
> sutta contains a cosmogonic myth about how rarified beings early in the
> world cycle became increasingly cruder, starting with the flowing essence
> of earth gelling into something like the skin that forms on milk when on is
> cooking it. It is the color of ghee or butter and sweet like the honey that
> bees make. But it is not made by bees. When they eat and enjoy it, their
> bodies and habit become more course and their life spans shorten. The
> vocabulary is not the same as the Mahābhāratā passage, but the idea is.
>
> The Pāli text can be read online here:
> https://suttacentral.net/dn27/pli/ms
>
> The T.W. Rhys-Davids translation (roughly a century old now) is online
> here https://suttacentral.net/dn27/en/tw-caf_rhysdavids
>
> Good luck,
> Dan
>
>
> On Sep 16, 2026, at 11:27 AM, Martin Straube via INDOLOGY <
> indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
>
>
>
>
> Dear Patrick,
>
> One meight assume that it means "free from bees", "not contaminated with
> (dead) bees"; cf. Skt. nirmakṣika (https://nws.uzi.uni-halle.de).
> However, In this case one would rather expect amakṣika. Did you check the
> critical edition of the Mbh?
>
> Best wishes
> Martin Straube
>
>
> patrick mccartney via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info> schrieb am
> Mittwoch, 16. September 2026 um 08:44:
>
> Dear Friends,
>
> I'm curious about amākṣika in the following passage of the Mahābhārata:
>
> vayaṃ kirātaiḥ sahitā gacchāmo girim uttaram
> brāhmaṇair devakalpaiś ca vidyājambhakavātikaiḥ
>
> kuñjabhūtaṃ giriṃ sarvam abhito gandhamādanam
> dīpyamānauṣadhigaṇaṃ siddhagandharvasevitam
>
> tatra paśyāmahe sarve madhu pītam amākṣikam
> maruprapāte viṣame niviṣṭaṃ kumbhasaṃmitam
>
> āśīviṣair rakṣyamāṇaṃ kuberadayitaṃ bhṛśam
> yat prāśya puruṣo martyo 'maratvaṃ nigacchati
>
> acakṣur labhate cakṣur vṛddho bhavati vai yuvā
> iti te kathayanti sma brāhmaṇā jambhasādhakāḥ.
>
>
> The usual interpretation seems to be a-mākṣika “not bee-derived,” but I am
> wondering whether there is more to the terminology. Madhu has a much wider
> semantic range than simply “honey,” including Soma, sweet/intoxicating
> liquids, nectar, etc.; moreover, the passage places the madhu immediately
> after a description of medicinal plants and has it guarded by venomous
> snakes before attributing to it rejuvenating and immortalizing powers.
>
> There are also parallel passages:
>
> amākṣikaṃ mahāvīryaṃ puṭake puṭake madhu
> Kūrmapurāṇa 1.27.33; Liṅgapurāṇa 1.39.28
>
>
> and:
>
> vṛkṣāṃs tān paryagṛhṇanta madhu cāmākṣikaṃ balāt
> Kūrmapurāṇa 1.27.35
>
>
> Could amākṣika have a technical/material sense beyond “non-bee honey”? I
> am particularly interested in whether there are relevant commentarial,
> lexical, medical, or śleṣa/saṃdhyābhāṣā interpretations.
>
> All the best,
> Patrick McCartney, PhD
> Hiroshima, Japan
> New Book
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>
>
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