[Advaita-l] Ritual Purity, Svadhyaya, and Commute

[Raghav Kumar]

Namaste
i remember reading a long time back swami chinmayananda's words that
mAdhyAhnikam is likely to be an addition after the Islamic invasion of
India beginning in the 12th century C.E.  ( keeping in view the 5 times a
day azan practised by Muslims)

The above idea is no doubt a weak argument but still can be shown to be not
valid only if the texts being referenced like tilakA and govindarAjIyA are
pre-islamic commentaries. Also, if the remarkable Pallava Mahabalipuram
frieze of Arjuna's tapas clearly showing mAdhyAhnikam can be dated prior to
12th century CE.

Please note that we are not trying to arrive at a date for the shruti or
itihAsa-s like mahabharata but for the commentaries and sculptures etc.

Again this is only to bolster the argument against any post islamic origin.
The other  evidence like shistAcAra etc is quite strong anyway.

Om
Raghav

On 11-Sep-2016 11:21 pm, "V Subrahmanian via Advaita-l" <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> On Sep 11, 2016 8:44 PM, "Venkatesh Murthy" <vmurthy36 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Namaste
> >
> > Sruti is stronger than Smriti and Sistacara.
>
>
> This argument can be advanced only if the Sruti is contradicted and if the
> Sruti has said that 'one should not perform mādhyāhnikam or that it is a
> sin to perform it.' In fact the Manu smriti says:
>
> वेदः स्मृतिः सदाचारः स्वस्य च प्रियमात्मनः । एतच्चतुर्विधं प्राहुः
> साक्षाद्धर्मस्य लक्षणम् ॥ २.१२
>
> The above verse counts all the four independently as dharma lakshanam and
> not one being subservient to the other.
>
> There are phala shrutis like  'trisandhyam yah paṭhet nityam..' which
> indicate three sandhyas in a day. Also the two sandhyas stated in the
> shruti can also be taken as upalakshana for the third.
> Further, the word 'sandhyā' has these meanings too:
>
> सन्ध्या sandhyA
> <http://spokensanskrit.de/index.php?tinput=sandhyA&
> direction=SE&script=HK&link=yes&beginning=0>
> f. juncture
> <http://spokensanskrit.de/index.php?tinput=juncture&
> direction=ES&script=HK&link=yes&beginning=0>
>  of
> <http://spokensanskrit.de/index.php?tinput=of&direction=
> ES&script=HK&link=yes&beginning=0>
>  the
> <http://spokensanskrit.de/index.php?tinput=the&
> direction=ES&script=HK&link=yes&beginning=0>
>  three
> <http://spokensanskrit.de/index.php?tinput=three&
> direction=ES&script=HK&link=yes&beginning=0>
>  divisions
> <http://spokensanskrit.de/index.php?tinput=divisions&
> direction=ES&script=HK&link=yes&beginning=0>
>  of
> <http://spokensanskrit.de/index.php?tinput=of&direction=
> ES&script=HK&link=yes&beginning=0>
>  the
> <http://spokensanskrit.de/index.php?tinput=the&
> direction=ES&script=HK&link=yes&beginning=0>
>  day
> <http://spokensanskrit.de/index.php?tinput=day&
> direction=ES&script=HK&link=yes&beginning=0>
>
> सन्ध्या sandhyA
> <http://spokensanskrit.de/index.php?tinput=sandhyA&
> direction=SE&script=HK&link=yes&beginning=0>
> f. deity
> <http://spokensanskrit.de/index.php?tinput=deity&
> direction=ES&script=HK&link=yes&beginning=0>
>  presiding
> <http://spokensanskrit.de/index.php?tinput=presiding&
> direction=ES&script=HK&link=yes&beginning=0>
>  over
> <http://spokensanskrit.de/index.php?tinput=over&
> direction=ES&script=HK&link=yes&beginning=0>
>  the
> <http://spokensanskrit.de/index.php?tinput=the&
> direction=ES&script=HK&link=yes&beginning=0>
>  three
> <http://spokensanskrit.de/index.php?tinput=three&
> direction=ES&script=HK&link=yes&beginning=0>
> divisions
> <http://spokensanskrit.de/index.php?tinput=divisions&
> direction=ES&script=HK&link=yes&beginning=0>
>  of
> <http://spokensanskrit.de/index.php?tinput=of&direction=
> ES&script=HK&link=yes&beginning=0>
>  the
> <http://spokensanskrit.de/index.php?tinput=the&
> direction=ES&script=HK&link=yes&beginning=0>
>  day
> <http://spokensanskrit.de/index.php?tinput=day&
> direction=ES&script=HK&link=yes&beginning=0>
>
>
> The Deities (Devi Sāvitri, Gayatri and Saraswati) are also separately
> mentioned for the three sandhyās.
>
> In the Valmiki Ramayana, at the beginning, we have this verse:
>
> sa muhuurtaM gate tasmin devalokam muniH tadaa |
> jagaama tamasaa tiiram jaahnavyaat aviduurataH || 1-2-3
>
> 3. tasmin= he, that Narada; muhuurtam+devalokam+gate= in a moment [after,]
> god's world, heavens, having gone; tadaa= then; saH+muniH= he, that sage
> Valmiki; jaahnavyaat+avi + duurataH= from Jahnavi river, not, far-off from
> [nearby to Jahnavi river]; tamasaa+tiiram+ jagaama= Tamasa, riverbanks,
> proceeded to.
>
> A while after the departure of Narada to heavens, Valmiki proceed to the
> riverbanks of Tamasa, which are not far-off form River Jahnavai [i.e.,
> River Ganga.] [1-2-3]
>
> For this, both the popular commentaries Govindarājiya and Tilaka say:
> Valmiki went to the river to perform mādhyāhnika.
>
>
> regards
>
> vs
>
>
>
> >
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