Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Remedies for Amavasya/Translation Error

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: pvr108 <pvr@charter.net>
Date: Jul 26, 2006 9:31 AM
Subject: [sohamsa] Re: Regarding Shashtyamsha Deities
To: sohamsa@yahoogroups.com

Namaste friends,

> Regrettably, my knowledge of the Sanskrit is scant. Sanjay Ji is
> unambiguous in VRA about the direction.

The translations by Santhanam and GC Sharma also mention "southwest"
and both give the Sanskrit text as "vahni konake".

Literally, "vahni konake" means "in the corner of fire god". The
southeast is ruled by Agni (fire god) and the Sanskrit term for
southeast is Aagneya (belonging to Agni/fire). There is *absolutely*
no way "vahni konake" can be translated as "in the southwest corner".

It is curious that the two BPHS translations into English had the
same typo! I wonder if Sanjay ji followed the translations in VRA
without cross-checking with the Sanskrit text.

> I think South West is a
> reasonable conclusion to draw as the Tithi is lorded by Rahu who
> rules this Disha.

Parasara never refers to Rahu in the entire Amavasya remedy
procedure. He refers to Rahu only in Grahana (eclipse) remedy.
Parasara refers to Sun and Moon as the "ruling deities of Amavasya".
Thus, he is not at all referring to the tithi lords as we use them
at SJC.

In fact, he suggests the same south east corner for placing the
kalasha in both Amavasya remedy and Krishna Chaturdasi remedy. So
this is irrespective of the ruling planet of tithi.

I wonder if southeast ruled by Venus in dik-chakra is used in all
tithi based remedies, as watery Venus rules over the overall tithi
element of panchanga. Similarly, airy Saturn rules over the
nakshatra element of panchanga and he is associated with the western
direction in dik-chakra. I wonder if that is why kalasha is supposed
to be placed westward in abhukta-Moola nakshatra remedy.

Anyway, that is just some loud thinking. But what is clear is that
Parasara recommends placing the kalasha in southeast corner in both
Amavasya and Krishna Chaturdasi remedies, as per the Sanskrit verse
given by both Santhanam and Sharma.

I am giving my independent interpretation of the remedy chapters in
BPHS these days in my Boston classes. You may want to listen to the
MP3's.

Sarvam SreeKrishnaarpanamastu,
Narasimha
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Brihaspati Gayatri, Vishwamitra/Gaathina Rishi Rig Veda 6.62.6