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 2627

X KÂNDA, 4 ADHYAYA, 2 BRÂHMANA, 26.
353
verses created by Pragàpati. At the thirtieth arrangement they came to an end in the Parktis; and because it was at the thirtieth arrangement that they came to an end, there are thirty nights in the month; and because it was in the Panktis, therefore Pragàpati is pânkta' (fivefold). There are one hundred-andeight hundred ? Panktis.
24. He then arranged the two other Vedas into twelve thousand Brihatis,-eight (thousand) of the Yagus (formulas), and four of the Sâman (hymns) —for of that extent is what was created by Pragâpati in these two Vedas. At the thirtieth arrangement these two came to an end in the Parktis; and because it was at the thirtieth arrangement that they came to an end, there are thirty nights in the month ; and because it was in the Panktis, therefore Pragâpati is 'pânkta. There were one hundredand-eight hundred ? Panktis.
25. All the three Vedas amounted to ten thousand eight hundred eighties (of syllables) 8; muhůrta by muhůrta he gained a fourscore (of syllables), and muhůrta by muhárta a fourscore was completed
26. Into these three worlds, (in the form of) the
The Pankti consists of five pâdas (feet) of eight syllables each. . That is to say, 10,800 Panktis, which, as the Pankti verse has 40 syllables, again amount to 432,000 syllables.
: The three Vedas, according to the calculations in paragraphs 23 and 24, contain 2 x 432,000 = 864,000 syllables, which is equal to 80 x 10,800. On the predilection to calculate by fourscores, see p. 112, note 1.
• That is, within the year, for the year has 360 x 30 = 10,800 muhârtas, which is just the amount of eighties of which the three Vedas were said to consist. I do not see how any division of the muhârta' itself into eighty parts (as supposed by Professor Weber, Ind. Streifen, I, p. 92, note 1) can be implied here. [43]
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