Madhuvidya

Author(s): S D Laddu, T N Dharmadhikari, Madhvi Kolhatkar, Pratibha Pingle
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 609

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markhu) (note that the metre requires the fourth syllable to be long) and herein we get further support for our suggestion that elamuga through elamukkha comes from elamürkha.
Under elamuga (§ 47) LUEDERS does not treat the above passage. Perhaps he wanted to restrict his remarks in the present article to ela and discuss mga later while dealing with the change k> g (887). This becomes evident from the following remarks of the editor given in f.n. 1 on p. 77-"Auf einem Zettel, der dem Papier und der Schrift nach älter als das eigentliche Manuscript ist, hat Lüders unter der Überschrift,k wird. g' muga und elamuga vermerkt. Für elamuga hat er dort die Bedeutung, geifernd' gegeben und scheint bei diesem Ansatz an Wurzel muc gedacht zu haben." The meaning .geifernd' given to elamuga by LUEDERS obviously refers to the above passage. But this sudden change in the meaning is not warranted, and as shown above elamuga is, used with reference to the Brahmana and not the serpent.
That muga (< mürkha) 'a fool' is not merely a supposition but has been actually used in Pali can be shown at least from one passage in the Mügapakkhajätaka (VI, 538). That in this Jätaka the usual word muga muka 'dumb' is also used is clear from the following Gathā 33 (p. 16):
näham asandhitä pakkho, na badhiro asotată/ näham ajivhatā mūgo
DUTOIT, "Nicht bin an Gliedern ich ein krüppel, nicht taub, weil kein Gehör ich habe, nicht stumm, weil mir die Zunge fehlt;
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The word müga occurs also in many other Gäthās (4, 5, 38, 58) in this Jātaka where it seems to be used in the sense of 'dumb'. The behaviour of prince Temiya as 'dumb' is also assured by the question put to him by the charioteer-kasmá pituc ca matuc ca santike na bhani tada (Gāthā 32, also 61), DUTOIT, "Weswegen sprachst du früher nicht bei deinem Vater, deiner Mutter?", as also by the use of the expression vissaṭṭhavacano (Gatha 58, 62) 'ganz frei vermag er ja zu sprechen' or 'der Stimme ist er mächtig' (DUTOIT) in describing the prince. But the fact that muga
murkha 'fool' is also used in this Jätaka becomes clear from the last quarter of the Gäthä 33 cited above-(näham ajishata mügo), mã man mugam adhärayi. DUTOIT renders the line as "(nicht stumm, weil mir die Zunge fehlt); erkenne mich nicht an als stumm". This rendering of muga 'stumm' in the last quarter cannot be correct because there is no. point in asserting twice that the prince, especially when he was speaking
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