mantras (was Re: [Advaita-l] The Wisdom in ...)

[Anand Hudli]

S Jayanarayanan sjayana at yahoo.com wrote:
>The book I have, "The Purva Mimamsa Sutras of Jaimini, chapter
>I-III", by G. Jha, does say that "chatvAri shR^inga" refers to
>the four horns or quarters of the day, and "trayo asya pAda"
>refers to the three feet or seasons of the year, and therefore
>the mantra refers to the sun. However, there is no mention of
>this mantra referring to agni. Is there another source you have
>consulted for this?

There is a work called the pUrva mImAmsA darshanaM published by the 
erstwhile royal Government of Mysore. This includes the bhATTa-dIpikA of 
khaNDadeva and the sUtra-vR^itti of kastUri-rangAchArya.  Herein it is 
stated:

yadyapi-iyamR^ik.h bhAShyakAreNa yAgastuti-paratayA vyAkhyAtA, tathApi 
vArtikakR^itA viShuvat-saMjnakaikAhe "AgneyyAM hotA shAMsati " iti 
viniyogAnusAreNa- AdityarUpeNa- agnisstUyate ityuktam.h|

Even though, this R^ik has been described as a praise of yajna by the 
bhAShyakAra (shabara), yet the vArtikakAra (kumArila) has said that it 
praises agni in the form of the Sun, since it is used in the viShuvat homa, 
the homa has agni as its deity, and the mantra is recited by the hotA (the 
R^ig vedic priest).

I will try to address the question regarding the adR^iShTa result of a 
mantra later.

Anand