Guest guest Posted March 14, 2007 Report Share Posted March 14, 2007 I think the translation and interpretation of the verse offered by Dr. Roland Steiner and Dr. Avinash Sathaye, respectively, are correct. As to the puzzling doubling of naiva ca in the second paada perceptively noted by these scholars, I would like to observe (as I have in my paper " Good Sayings Fall on Critical Ears: Reflections on Subhasitas (Part 1), sent for publication in a Festschrift several years ago but so far not published), a number of perceptive subhaa.sitas included in subhaa.sita anthologies actually seem to have been composed relatively recently (in the 18th-20th centuries) by pandits and ;saastriis (several of them as parts of textbooks). The specified doubling shows influence of vernacular languages. Its purpose is to achieve a stronger, more emphatic, negation, amounting to something like 'absolutely not, Verboten.' (cp. Hindi, naa naa; Marathi naahii mha.naje naahii, etc.) As I came to this point in typing the present note, I notice that Pro. Madhav Deshpande has just now made essentially the same point in his post. Killing of a tiger seems to have been especially ruled out from verses like maatara.m pitara.m hantvaa raajano dve ca sotthiye / veyyagha-pa;ncama.m hantva aniigho yaati braamha.no // (Pali Dhamma-pada). ashok aklujkar Dr. Roland Steiner <steiner <INDOLOGY > Tue, 13 Mar 2007 15:26:22 +0100 <INDOLOGY > Re: [Y-Indology] devo durbalaghAtakaH The stanza > azvaM nai'va gajaM nai'va vyAghraM nai'va ca nai'va ca/ > ajAputraM baliM dadyAd devo durbalaghAtakaH// is found in L. Sternbach's " Caa.nakya-Niiti Text-Tradition " (Vol. II, Part III; Vishveshvaranand Indological Series 29.b, Hoshiarpur 1968) as No. 2113 in " Section C " ( " Reconstructed Fragmentary Maxims " ). A study on Caa.nakya's aphorisms is in Vol. I.1 and II.1 of Sternbach's above mentioned work. My translation of the verse would run as follows: " One should offer neither a horse, nor an elephant, nor a tiger, but the son of a goat. God is a killer of the weak (i.e., he kills the son of a goat, but not strong animals like horses, elephants or tigers). " The doubling of naiva ca in the second paada sounds a little bit awkward to me. With regards, Roland Steiner Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 1, 2007 Report Share Posted April 1, 2007 Avinashji, namonamaH Great to hear from you! Nice of you to give the Marathi commentary on the said verse. Please could you also give its English rendering? Thank you yours M Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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