[Advaita-l] veda purusha dhyaya - a small correction

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

On Thu, 3 Mar 2011, Venkata sriram P wrote:

> A slight correction here.  The head of the divine being IMO is donkey 
> instead of bull and the left hand displays vyAkhyAna mudra and not 
> abhaya mudra.    Here is the pramANa:   rigvEdaH shvEtavarNasyAt 
> dvibhujO rAsabhAnanH akShamAlAdhara saumyaH prItO vyAkhyApanOdyataH //   
>  

Hmmm.  In my notes I have:

R^igvedaH shvetavarNasyAt dvibhujO R^iShabhAnanaH |
akShamAlAyutaH saumyaH prItashchAbhayOdyataH ||

R^ishabha is bull and rasabha would be donkey.  It seems either you or I 
have made a typo.  abhaya and vyakhya are harder to confuse so I don't 
know what's going on there.  Is your source also chaturvargachintamani or 
some other shastra?


As an aside, the six vedangas are iconically portrayed as six Goddesses. 
Of particular note is shikShA who carries a daNda (stick or club.)  This 
is to beat people who mispronounce the mantras!

-- 
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>