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SVASTI Essays in Honour of Prof. Hampa Nagarajaiah
tin and copper poured into the ears of his forgetful housepriest, because liking their performance, he had not stopped singers at night, as ordered by the king.37 Yet boxing and twisting the ear to ward off evil - such as when, among the Dhruva Prabhus of Pune, the bride's brother pinches the bridegroom's ear and even redemption are a weakening of the abscission, about which more under 6.3.4.
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1.2.1
42
The importance of the ear is further emphasized by its properties such as complexion, form, etc. in the names of beings.39 Regarding its colour, the often inauspicious being black-eared dominates, e.g. in the Atharva Veda "a white, blackeared (horse) does not make a show"." Kala-karni is a name of Laksmi, perhaps because fortune is ambiguous. A person desirous of rain, it says in the MaitrāyaṇīSamhita, should sacrifice a cow with black ears." In Päli literature kala-kanni is an unlucky figure such as a monk" or even a wicked person," and serves as a term of abuse, e.g., for a son who is his parents' undoing." French rougir jusqu'aux oreilles and German rote Ohren bekommen (lit. to get red ears), "to blush to the tips of one's ears for shame" has no equivalent in Sanskrit and is expressed by kṛṣṇa-mukho babhuva" or syāmam mukham pidadhāti,48 but as a sign of mortification the sadhu Dhanne's ears
bottom; further Utt 1,38; Niśītha-Cu 299 (APSŚK); Divyâv 13, 125; KSS 66,139 and Latin aurem vellere, Sa. karnâghāṭayati (comm. 746,30 on BKBh 2659), Hindi kān umeṭhna. Ahimsa does not prevent pedagogy by slaps as was customary; thus King Yasodhara's mother regretfully says to herself that the time is gone when her son could be compelled to carry out her wishes by a box on the ear (Handiqui 1949: 323).
In Germany, especially at establishing a border, boys as witnesses used to have their ears tweaked to make them remember the important act for a long time. - Blows are powers that avert evil (HdA VI 1217; Meyer 1937: I 194) and in the story of the blind man, the deaf man, and the donkey they caused the deaf man to hear again (Frere 1881: 162).
"Hemacandra, Trişaṣṭitalākāpuruşacaritra (Tri°) IV 1,881 X 4,619.
38 Campbell 1898: 159.
39
In proper names the word -karna as the last member of a compound can mean "son" (Kosambi 1963: 195f.).
40 In Mbh CE IX 45,24 a kṛṣṇa-karṇī mātā in Skanda's retinue is mentioned and these mataras are called yaśasvinayas in vs 2.
41 AV 5,17,15 in Whitney's translation. Yet Galava had to give Visvamitra one thousand white horses with one black ear as teacher's fee (syama-karṇānām pāṇḍurāṇām tarasvinām || sahasram vājinām ekam Sulkârtham me pradīyatām, Mbh CE III 115,15). See also Wackernagel & Debrunner 1954: 376 (§ 246). 42MW <Nrsimha-Upanisad.
MS 2,5,7 maitra-varuntm (sdurům) kṛṣṇa-kárṇīm ālabheta vfsti-kāmo.
44 E.g. Dhp-a III 31,16 where a hunter seeing a bhikkhu on his begging tour thinks he will not catch anything that day and sets his dogs on the monk to have him devoured and thus eliminated. - Meeting ascetics is considered inauspicious also by Jains, e.g. Samaraiccakahā 268,9 munivaro, avasauno khu eso, cf. Hemacandra, Tri° IX 2,191 mahā-muniḥ .... a-śakunam, and Christians (HdA VI 475 and VII 322f. sacerdotem obvium aliumve religiosum dicunt esse infaustum), because of the evil eye, etc.
45 Dhp-a III 38, 20 where a woman is falsely accusing the Buddha.
46 Ja I 239,1.
47 Kathakośa /ed Hofmann 353,12; 355,1f.
48 Hemavijaya, Kathāratnākara 121,11 (see Bollée 2006: 124). For the change of colour cf. Italian vino nero for red wine.
