There is an interesting example in Sanskrit grammar using the expression kārīṣaḥ agnir adhyāpayati "Fire made with [dry cakes of] cow dung helps one study." This probably refers to cold days when there was need for heat. I wonder if offerings of such cakes allowed the Caitya-dwellers to collect fuel.

Madhav Deshpande

On Fri, Feb 21, 2014 at 3:37 PM, Warner Belanger <wbelanger@gmail.com> wrote:

Dear List Members,

I've come across a passage in a Buddhist text which describes the benefits of offering kārīṣi at a caitya.

I assume that this refers to dry cow dung based on Monier-Williams but also Turner's A comparative dictionary of Indo-Aryan languages. I'm not sure for what purpose this would be used ritually. Would it be smeared on the caitya or perhaps used as fuel? Could this word have been used for such a reason instead of gomaya?

Any references or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Warner

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Madhav M. Deshpande
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