Shravakachar of Vasunandini

Author(s): Signe Kirde
Publisher: Signe Kirde

Page 66

5.2
Catalogue of Vices
5
TRANSLATION: SR (57-205)
"to settle down"; "to rest" (MW: p. 20).
Entirely different is the concept of Nirsti. As a Vedic goddess she is regarded as a natural force, which is otherwise invoked as the earth. She is believed to seek the man who does not sacrifice.198 The indications of the Vedic sources point to some "sort of Hades". In late Vedic texts such as the Dharma-sūtras the term naraka occurs several times. Bodewitz argues that the “lateness of these texts does not imply lateness of the concept". A common understanding of the types of hell associated with Nirrti relates to the idea of thieving and being stingy (not generous). The corresponding aspect of "grinding" is treated by Vasunandin in Sr (151ff.).
The Fault of Eating) Meat (māmsa-dosa)
85) (Rotted meat is similar to excrements filled with lots of worms. It is ugly-smelling and disgusting. It should not be touched and consumed.
kimi-. The compound Skt. ksmi-kulakula mostly refers to the corpse. The reflection on the dead body filled with lots of worms has often served as an effectful device for attaining the attitude of nonattachment. Pkt. kimi is related to meat, but is also mentioned by some Jain authors in connection with ripe fruits of the figs. In the context of (57; 161; 196) figs imply fertility, germination, the cycle of
rebirth and death. 199 meaning of "narrowness" and "deepness". See also Mayrhofer 1963, Vol. II: p. 138 who quotes Charpentier (referring to the Uttarajihāyā and its commentaries).
198 Cf. the Taittiriya-Samhita IV.2.5.4, cited according to Bodewitz 2002:215. Nirrti is called upon by the priests for that she should spare a person and seek another victim. Her realm is below, the underworld, the deep layers of the grounds of earth. The path which she follows is that of thieves and robbers. In Vedic rituals there was one instruction to build a special altar for Nirrti in the South-west of the sacrificial ground, where the soil was saline or cleft. According to this instruction isti was offered to Nirrti. People provided an offering for the new year, and this symbolises the means which bring forth the year, as well as the rebirth of the person who performs the sacrifice. See Heesterman 1957:15-16. The procedure to obtain the porridge or cake for Nirrti goes as follows: when the grains of rice are ground for a cake offered to the goddess Anumati, some of the rice is allowed to fall behind a wooden peg serving as a support for the millstone. The fallen rice is taken and baked as an offering to Nirrti. The idea of the deep hollows or grounds of earth, which are identified with the Southern destinies or post-mortem resting places of the evil-doers is not uniform in Indian ritual literature.
199 The idea of decay and transitoriness of life is well illustrated with the phrase kimisamkula-sayala-tanu in the episode of Sanat-kumāra-caritam 51,91 (679), cited according to Jacobi 1921. In this account a king attains non-attachment after having observed the decay of the corpse of his beloved wife in the wilderness.