[Advaita-l] mRtyunjaya mantra commentary

[Raghav Kumar Dwivedula]

Thank you for the references of Uvatacharya and Mahidharacharya who say
that, उर्वारुक has to be (by implication) some fruit like the jujube or
badari (ber) which fall of by themselves when ripe (Since cucumbers as a
matter of common experience do not fall off on their own.)


Incidentally, does sAyana bhAShya exist for this important mantra? Is there
any accessible online resource or searchable link of the sAyana bhAShya?

Om




On Sat, 20 Apr, 2024, 11:47 am , <jaldhar at braincells.com> wrote:

> On Mon, 1 Apr 2024, Raghav Kumar Dwivedula via Advaita-l wrote:
>
> > Namaste
> > Is there any commentary on the mRtyunjaya mantra - "त्र्यम्बकं यजामहे
> ..."
> >
> > In particular does the उर्वारुक refer to the yellow cucumber which needs
> to
> > be manually cut from it's vine. (It does not "fall off by itself" as is
> > often wrongly assumed esp. in the context of the mantra). Ishvara's
> > intervention/grace is this required for mukti - that is the idea. There
> is
> > a common mistranslation which says that the mRtyunjaya mantra refers to
> the
> > "automatic/natural falling off of the उर्वारुक" - something that in fact
> > never happens.
> >
> > In view of the above, I was trying to locate an accurate commentary or
> > reference about what exactly is the उर्वारुक fruit and why it's analogy
> is
> > invoked.
> >
>
> In the shuklayajurvedic tradition, the two principal commentators on the
> Vajasaneyi Samhita (this mantra is VS 3.60) are Uvatacharya and
> Mahidharacharya.
>
> Uvatacharya says:
>
> urvArukaH phalavisheShaH | sa yathA pakkaH svabandhanAdviyujyate evaM
> mR^ityormukShiya mochaya mochayatu |
>
> Mahidharacharya says:
>
> mR^ityormochane dR^iShtAntaH urvArukamivabandhanAditi | yathorvArukaM
> karkandhvAdeH  phalamatyantapakkaM sat bandhanAt svasya vR^intAt
> pramuchyate tadvat |
>
> So both of them believe the defining characteristic of the urvAruka is
> that it naturally falls off the stem when ripe and this is a metaphor for
> freedom from death.  Uvatacharya just says it is a kind of fruit.
> Mahidharacharya says "fruits like karkandhu". Apte and Monier-Williams
> dictionaries both suggest karkandhu should be translated as
> jujube.  This jujube is a small fruit called bor in Gujarati and bor
> does in fact fall from the tree though they are picked too.
>
> Complicating this is that e,g, amarakosha does describe urvAru as cucumber
> and gives badari and several other words for jujube but not karkandhu.
>
> --
> Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>