Renou Etudes Vediques vol XVI p. 150 says it's a play on words.

I don't have access to this source, but is it possible that this conjecture is based on the similarity of mati = mind [Sanskrit, but also used in Tamil] and mati = moon in Tamil?

Best,

Naresh Keerthi

National Institute of Advanced Studies,

Bangalore

------------------------------

Message: 2
Date: Wed, 27 Jul 2016 10:47:45 +0100
From: dermot@grevatt.force9.co.uk
To: indology@list.indology.info
Subject: [INDOLOGY] Mind and moon
Message-ID: <57988341.1727.8FD05B@dermot.grevatt.force9.co.uk>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

Can anyone explain why the mind is the microcosmic counterpart of the moon? The
correspondence appears in Rgveda 10.90.13 and in countless passages of the Brahmanas
and Upanisads, but it's not obvious like breath and wind.

Renou ?tudes V?diques vol XVI p. 150 says it's a play on words. I find that hard to accept,
because the words (candra-mas and manas) are not very similar (they are in Latin, but the
sages didn't have access to an Indo-European comparative dictionary).

Could the connection be through soma (often linked or identified with the moon), since the
mind is called a pavitra through which poetic insight (dhI) flows and becomes offerings
(Gonda Vision of the Vedic Poets pp. 278-9)?

Or is it that the mind, like the moon, is constant though its content continually changes?

--
Dermot Killingley
9, Rectory Drive,
Gosforth,
Newcastle upon Tyne NE3 1XT
Phone (0191) 285 8053