Questions of King Milinda Part 01

SR No.: 007681
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: T W Rhys Davids
Publisher: Oxford
Publication Year: 1890
Total Pages: 2695
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 47 MB

Page 2057

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mess is crushed and dug into the ground1. Next (Sûtra 33) the (same) skin-bag and a reed (are crushed and dug into the ground?). Finally (Sûtra 34) the reed is stuck into the skin-bag and again dug into the ground (?). The Sûtras are extremely brief, and the scholiasts do not make clear these performances which reach the lowest plane even of Atharvanic doings.
HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
The hymn has been rendered by Weber, Indische Studien, V, 246; Ludwig, Der Rigveda, III, 470; cf. also Geldner, Vedische Studien, I, 131; Zimmer, Altindisches Leben, Index, p. 455 a.
Stanza 1.
d. The exact meaning of opasínam escapes us, owing to the complete absence of graphic representations. The lexicons, Weber and Zimmer, 'gelockt;' Ludwig, 'bezopft.' Sâyana, as the scholiasts in general, derives opasá from the verb upasete, and arrives at the meaning 'one with female organs' (strîvyanganam). Geldner, 1. c., has gone peculiarly astray in comparing the cuckold and translating 'with horns,' since in Maitr. S. II, 7, 5=Tait. S. IV, 1, 5, 3= Vâg. S. XI, 56 the goddess Sinîvâlî is described as sukapardâ sukurîrâ svopasâ. All three epithets obviously refer to female methods of dressing the hair and the head. The notion here is that the eunuch shall develop hermaphroditic characteristics, and hence assume the head-gear of a woman. See stanzas 2 and 3, and cf. in addition AV. VIII, 6, 72; IX, 3, 8; Âpast. Sr. X, 9, 5-7; Sat. Br. V, 1, 2, 14; 4, I, I; Kâty. Sr. XIV, 1, 14; XV, 5, 22. The opasá
Kesava in a very different way, namely, tasya (sc. vatsasya) vrishanaih, i. e., the skin containing the mûtrapurîsham is covered up with the testicles of the calf.
The scholiasts say, marmani nikhanati (cf. Kaus. 47, 51; 48, 4). The digging is supposed to take place, symbolically, in the vital spot of the rival.
The an. λey. tirîín in this passage is doubtless identical with the later kiritin, and again refers to some feminine mode of dressing the head.
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