Guest guest Posted November 26, 2004 Report Share Posted November 26, 2004 Hi, friend. As for this type of compounds, narapumgava or naravyaghra etc., I can only say that my beloved Italian Professor of Sanskrit, Carlo Della Casa, always considers them as karmadharaya: the two nouns are, in his opinion (that for me is like the dharma), compared each other, so that the translations sound: *O man like [similar to] a bull (or: like [similar to] a tiger)* (see: Carlo Della Casa, Corso di sanscrito, Milano1998, p. 67). According to the context, sometimes (but only sometimes) he suggests me to translate these compounds as tatpurusa, but with a dative- (and not genitive-) relation between the nouns: so, *bull (or tiger) for the men*, as in the classical example karna-sukha, *joy for the ears*. The difference is subtle, but significant: if I say that you are a man comparable to a tiger, to a bull, etc., I say that you are surely a man, but superior to other men with regard to force, energy etc., like a particular tiger, a particular bull etc. are (or can be) superior to other bulls and tigers for the same (presumed) reasons; and if I say that you are a bull (or a tiger) for the other men, I mean that you are dangerous, violent, virile etc. like a bull or a tiger are, or can be, in general, for all the men. In sum, *bull (or tiger) among men* appears a sentence a bit illogical, as if I said: *O woman among the men*. Little help, as usual. Yours Daniela ---------- >Da: phillip.ernest >A: INDOLOGY >Oggetto: [Y-Indology] o toro fra gli uomini >Data: Gio, 25 nov 2004 20:10 > > > > Hi, group. > > I heard today that compounds like narapumgava are definitely not to be translated > as 'bull among men', a saptamitatpurusa I guess, but as karmadharayas, 'bull > of a man'. Do we know from Sanskrit grammarians and commentators that this > is how such compounds were understood, or is there controversy even amongst > them? > > Phillip > > Links > > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 27, 2004 Report Share Posted November 27, 2004 >-- Messaggio originale -- >INDOLOGY >"Daniela Rossella" <ghezziem >Fri, 26 Nov 2004 17:57:47 +0100 >R: [Y-Indology] o toro fra gli uomini >INDOLOGY > > > >Hi, friend. >As for this type of compounds, narapumgava or naravyaghra etc., I can only >say that my beloved Italian Professor of Sanskrit, Carlo Della Casa, always >considers them as karmadharaya: the two nouns are, in his opinion (that for >me is like the dharma), compared each other, so that the translations sound: >*O man like [similar to] a bull (or: like [similar to] a tiger)* (see: Carlo >Della Casa, Corso di sanscrito, Milano1998, p. 67). According to the >context, sometimes (but only sometimes) he suggests me to translate these >compounds as tatpurusa, but with a dative- (and not genitive-) relation >between the nouns: so, *bull (or tiger) for the men*, as in the classical >example karna-sukha, *joy for the ears*. Grazie ancora, o donna fra gli uomini, and also thanks to Dhammanando Bhikkhu and Harry Spier. It seems then that both indian and western translators are neither right nor wrong in sometimes translating such compounds as tatpurusas, though perhaps they are more often to be taken as karmadharayas? The first Sanskrit literature I read, as a teenager, was the beautiful Shastri Ramayana, and I always remember how magisterial and wonderfully strange the phrase 'bull among men' seemed to me. Scimmia tra gli indologisti, Filippo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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