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The following article on Cosmo Graphical Mapping by JOSEPH E. SCHWARTZBERG is a continuation from the Previous article Cosmo Graphical Mapping | Cosmographies In Hindu Tradition | 103. Apart from painted cosmographies, a half-dozen cosmographic globes (bhugolas), all based largely on Puranic texts, are known to exist. These are of types described by Hindu astronomers, as far back as Aryabhata (b. A.D. 476). Two of these five globes are found today at the British Museum in London, and one each are at the Victoria and Albert Museum, also in London; the Museum of the History of Science at Oxford; and the Bharat Kala Bhavan in Varanasi. Author tries to refer to them as BM(A), BM(B), VA, Oxford, and BKB globes. The sixth globe was reported to Gole by N. P. Joshi of the Archaeological Survey of India, who saw it in an Indian village (location unknown). The simplest of the five globes studied, the VA globe, is a solid wooden sphere, about nineteen centimetres in diameter (shown in previous articles – Figure 5). This globe is believed to have been made in Orissa in the early to mid-nineteenth century. On it land is colored mainly in yellow, mountain ranges in a lighter peach tone, rivers in white, oceans in several colors, among which gray is most common, and text in red. The northern hemisphere of this globe shows Jambudvipa according to the four-continent earth conception (catur-dvipa vasumati). It is depicted by a lotus with four petals whose tips virtually reach the equator. East-west mountain ranges extend across each petal: there are three ranges on each of two petals (those that appear to be centered on 0° and 180° longitude) and only one on each of the others (those that appear to be centered on 90° east and west longitude). The northernmost and southernmost of the former set of ranges are shown as forested. Near what would be the northern pole, a circle within a square denotes Mount Meru, and that appears within a larger square just north of the northernmost mountain ranges. From near Mount Meru, originating within the larger square, rivers flow southward through the middle of each continent. Painted in the four inlets of ocean that separate the northern hemisphere continents are aquatic animals, boats, and four white palaces signifying the cities of Lanka, Romaka, Siddhapura, and Yamakoti, described by astronomers as occupying cardinal points on the equator. The southern hemisphere differs completely from the northern. With its six ring continents and intervening oceans, it is essentially like that of the four globes still to be discussed. Interestingly, three of the southern ring oceans are in colors other than the prevailing gray-tan, pink, and turquoise. Substantial text, written in a rather tiny Devanagari script, appears on the globe, but neither transliterations nor translations are available at present. Finally, there are unnumbered black tick marks at five-degree intervals South Asian Cartography along the prime meridian, along another meridian approximately 150 degrees to the west (in the northern hemisphere only), and around the equator. Much older and more interesting than the preceding globe is a not-quite-spherical thin brass container on which is inscribed not only a hybrid cosmography, but also a wealth of minute pictorial detail and text in Devanagari script. This artifact (plate 26), held by the Museum of the History of Science at Oxford, has been the object of detailed scholarly scrutiny by Simon Digby, who considers it not only from the perspective of traditional Indian cosmology, but also as an art historian. Supplementing Digby’s observations are a pair of diagrams kept within the sphere that provide a complete inventory of the regional features it portrays. Many of these features are also found on the BKB globe (Figure: 6, from the previous article), to which Digby’s observations also are largely applicable. Rather exceptionally, the creator of the bhugola at Oxford, one Ksemakarna, undoubtedly a Brahman, inscribed on it both his own name and the date of his work, Saka 1493 (A.D. 1571). The area of provenance, however, is not known. Digby presents evidence for several possibilities but seems to favor the view that the globe was fashioned for a wealthy patron from Saurashtra. He also suggests that the globe’s function was primarily utilitarian, probably for storing food or condiments, and that “the depiction of the regions of the earth upon it was an elegant conceit suggested by its shape.” The mean equatorial diameter of the bhugola is about 26 centimetres, and its height 22 centimetres. Joined by a hinge at the equator, both hemispheres are slightly flattened, but the northern one, though essentially round, comes to a rather gently sloping polar peak. Tick marks at one-degree intervals are inscribed around the equator and small circles are etched in at ninety-degree intervals. The bhugola’s cosmography draws primarily on Puranic sources but modifies their content in light of knowledge derived from post-Ptolemaic Sanskrit astronomers, reconciling the two “in an unscriptural but rational manner.” The upper half of the container represents the continent of Jambudvipa, and the subequatorial remainder, except for the anomalously positioned islands of Lanka and Palanka (= ?), is given over to the other six ring-shaped continents and their intervening oceans in concentric latitudinal bands. These continents necessarily diminish in size toward the southern pole, “in contrast to the common Puranic account in which they increase in size by geometrical progression (2, 4, 8 … ). As on the bhugola the largest ring of land is the closest to the Equator, they also in fact enclose one another in inverse order to that prescribed in the Puranas.” Digby notes that “theoretical distances” are inscribed in yojanas at the equator, but not below it; but he neglects to indicate which features those distances apply to. Meru-over which, astronomers reasoned, Dhruva (the Pole Star) was situated-is positioned at the northern pole rather than at the center of the four quarters of the world, which was the usual Puranic view. This placement meant that if the southernmost Puranic continent, Bharatavarsa […]
Mathomathis would like to present an article on Cosmo Graphical Mapping by JOSEPH E. SCHWARTZBERG. The following article would start a conversation on a topic called as: COSMOGRAPHIES: THE JAIN TRADITION Of the three ancient Indian religious traditions, that of the Jains appears to have had the greatest and most continuous preoccupation with cosmographical questions. To this day it is said, “Every [Jain] monk knows by heart, from the time of his noviciate, the verses of the samgrahanis [cosmographic texts]. He knows how to draw representations of them, and can sometimes even make models of them. He can also comment upon them in detail, following a long-established tradition.” Even to the laity the subject remains one of “absorbing interest,” and allegedly “cosmographic diagrams appear in all Jain temples.” The purpose of preparing cosmographies was essentially didactic. “All in all, the representation of the world which the Jains have elaborated permits them to show, in a condensed way, which would have a greater impact upon the mind of a believer, the myriads of destinies through which one will transmigrate in the course of innumerable aeons.” The same would, of course, also have been true of cosmographies of Hindu and Buddhist conception, though their religious use-especially in Hinduism, where metaphysics was largely left to the Brahman elite-was less than in the case of the relatively well-educated and affluent Jains. There are, in fact, so many surviving examples of premodern Jain cosmographies, not only in India but in major museums and art galleries throughout the world, that an inventory of those author have seen or know of would be far from complete and serve little purpose. Most of the known Jain cosmographies derive from Rajasthan and Gujarat, the two Indian states with the largest proportions of Jains in their population. Most of the surviving works were painted in gouache on paper, mainly in pastel hues, as parts of illuminated samgrahani manuscripts, the oldest thought to have been composed in the sixth or seventh century A.D. Of the extant illustrated recensions, however, none is said to be older than the fourteenth century. Additionally, there are many Jain cosmographies painted in gouache on cotton cloth, and surviving examples date at least as far back as the fifteenth century. Perhaps the principal reason ancient Jain cosmographies are so much more plentiful than those of the Hindus is that they were carefully preserved both in monasteries and in the bhandaras (libraries) that are characteristic adjuncts to Jain temples. There are no corresponding institutions in Hinduism. A third medium in which Jain cosmographies survive is stone, especially bas-reliefs in Jain temples and shrines, as in the case of the representation of Nandisvaradvipa. Not surprisingly, given the durability of the medium, the oldest of all the known cosmographies are sculpted in stone. These works date as far back as A.D. 1199-1200.121. Figure 1 presents a fifteenth-century view of Manusyaloka, in which the central continent, Jambudvipa. The circular mountain range midway across the ring continent of Pushkaradvipa,marking the limit of the world of man, is shown by the wavy outermost circle. Though the arrangement of land areas, mountains, rivers, lakes, and other features is essentially symmetrical, there are several places where rivers diverge like opposite spokes of a swastika, long a sacred symbol in Indian culture. Reproduction in black and white does not convey an idea of the colors, often vivid, that are characteristic of cosmographies of this sort. [About Figure 1: Manushya Loka(THE WORLD OF MAN) ACCORDING TO JAIN COSMOGRAPHICAL TEXTS. Depicted here are the so-called two and a half continents (adhai-dvipa) within which humans may be born. Jambudvipa, the central continent, is surrounded by the first ring ocean, Lavana Samudra (Salt Sea); and successively Dhatakikhanda, the first ring continent; Kalodhadi, the Black-Water Ocean; and the inner half of Puskaradvipa, the next ring continent up to Manusottara, the circular mountain range that limits the world of man. This artifact is gouache on cloth from western India, fifteenth century. Size of the original: 54.5 x 54.5 em. Courtesy of the Board of Trustees of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (Circ. 91-1970, negative no. GB3636).] Conventions vary from one work to another, but there are certain broad tendencies. For example, it is usual to show water in blue with visual reinforcement provided by fish and a basket-weave pattern suggesting waves. Mountains are typically portrayed in one or more distinctive colors of a more intense hue than that of the continents where they are situated (though that is not so for the mountains of Pushkaradvipa, Meru in gold or some other prominent color, and so forth. On this work there is substantial text identifying various portions of Jambudvipa but not of the one and one-half surrounding continents. Other representations have even more extensive text, sometimes identifying several hundred individual features. Still others have little text or no text at all. In this view, as in most, the detail is greatest for the area of Mahavideha, the region bounded north and south by transverse mountain ranges and extending in a broad east-west band across the center of Jambudvipa to the Lavana Samudra (Salt Sea) to the east and west. Within Mahavideha, in addition to Mount Meru, are four “elephant-tusk mountains” (Vaksara) with tips close to Meru; the regions of Uttarakuru to the north and Devakuru to the south, bounded by the tusk like mountains; ten small lakes, five each in a north-south line; in each of the two kurus, emblematic trees on either side of the chains of lakes (the jambu being placed in Uttarakuru); the great rivers Sita and Sitoda, flowing east and west, respectively, from the two lakes closest to Meru; and thirty-two provinces, known as vijayas, ranged about those two rivers, eight each to the north and south, each with its own central mountain range and bounding rivers. Another noteworthy area of Jambudvipa is Bharata (India), the bow-shaped region at the continent’s southern extremity. An east-west Vijayardha mountain range crosses this region, and through it flow the rivers Ganga […]
The term Vyasa in Sanskrit language means “compiler” and Vyasa Maharishi/Saint/Guru is an important figure in most vedanta dharma/tradition and so called today as “hindu” tradition. He is sometimes called Veda Vyasa i.e. “One who classified the Vedas” or Krishna Dvaipayana. Guru Vyasa is the author of the important epic in vedanta dharma which is “Mahabharata”. He is also a character in it. He is considered to be the scribe of both the Vedas and Puranas. According to Vedanta believers, Guru Vyasa is an avatar of the lord Vishnu himself. Vyasa is also considered to be one of the seven Chiranjivini’s (long lived or immortals), who are still in existence. Guru Vyasa lived around the 3rd millennium BCE. The festival of Guru Purnima is dedicated to him. It is also known as Vyasa Purnima, for it is the day believed to be both his birthday and the day he divided the Vedas. It is said that there have been 28 Vyasas before the present Vyasa whose name is Krishna Dvaipayana and he took his birth at the end of Dwapara Yuga. Krishna Dvaipayana was born of Parasara Rishi through the Matsya (Fish) kanya (girl) Satyavathi Devi under some peculiar and wonderful circumstances. Parasara was a great saint and a very respectable and a knowledgeable human being and was holding on supreme authorities on astrology and his book Parasara Hora is still a textbook on astrology. He has also written a Smriti known as Parasara Smriti which is held in such high esteem that it is quoted by our present day writers on sociology and ethics. Scriptures do give the information that the primordial guru/teacher for Vyasa is Vasudeva. Scriptures also mentions Vyasa also studied the under sages liked Sanaka and Sanandana Guru Veda Vyasa classified the Vedas into four division which we refer to as: Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda and Atharvana/Atharva Veda, which was one of the biggest gift to human society. Since guru vyasa created the sub division and hence he is referred to as Veda Vyasa, or “Splitter of the Vedas”. He was the editor of the Vedic literature. The Sanskrit word Vyasa means split, differentiate, or describe; it also means editor. This title is the most popular way of referring to him. Sage Vyasa was also the author of Brahmasutra and also the author of 18 puranas and took ‘Upakhyanas’ or discourses as a method of teaching. Vyasa also categorized 3 methods of practices where a human can explore to its full capability and those are: “Path of Karma”, “Path of devotion or upasana”, “Path of knowledge or Jnana” and it is said that the last work of Vyasa was Bhagavatam which was started with the help of Deva-Rishi Narada.
Mathomathis would like to present an article on: Functions of Dhatus according to Ayurvedic kriya Sharir (Dhatukarmabhyas) | Research Article By Sunil Tulshiramji Mehetre | Corresponding Author: Assistant Professor & HOD, Department of Kriya sharir, S.C.M. Aryangla Vaidyak mahavidyalaya, I.T.I. Road, Gendamal, Satara-415002 (Maharashtra). Supplemental Issue of National Seminar on Empowering and Empanelling Ayurveda System of Medicine Organized by SC Mutha Aryangla Vaidyak Mahavidyalaya, Satara on 26-27 March 2015. Published online in http://ijam. co. in. Ayurveda is an Ancient medical science related to healthiness & unhealthiness of a person. The main aim of ayurveda is to acquire purushartha by means of Dharma, Artha, Kama, and Moksha. For this purpose each person should be healthy in terms of body & mind. The definition of healthy person according to ayurveda is to balance Dosha, Dhatu, Mala, Agni, Kriya, Prasanna Atma, Indriya, & Mann. These healthiness is defined by comparison to physiological parameters i.e. sharirkriyatmak parameters which are mentioned above. The balance of Dhatus is called as dhatusamya is one of the important parameter of healthy person. According to Ayurveda there are seven dhatus in a person, these are rasa, rakta, mamsa, meda, asthi, majja, shukra. These dhatus are defined as per their functions called as karmas. These are important for healthy state of the body. As per ayurvediya kriya sharir “Dosha Dhatu Mala mulam hi shariram” thus dhatu is most important part of body because both dosha & mala are live with dhatu. Hence if we carried out the detail study of functions or karmas of dhatus then we definitely get the fixed parameters which help us to keep the person healthy & to give health to the person who are suffering from disease. Ayurvediya kriya sharir is divided in to Dosha, (functional principal) Dhatu (constitutional principal) & mala (waste products). Equilibrium of Dosha, Dhatu, Mala is essential for healthy person. If thus Equilibrium is preatu karma is important. Sent in person then that person is fit to resume Dharma, Artha, Kama, Moksha which are the four purushartha of human life. In other words it is clear that equilibrium of both dosha, dhatu, mala, in a person is a state of healthiness and when this equilibrium doesn’t exist then the state is unhealthiness. Ayurvediya kriya sharir mentioned the dosha, dhatu and malas, according to their qualities (guna) and function (karma). The study of “Doshakarmabhyas” is possible by observing the effect of Dosha gunas on our body & mind. Malas are expelled from our bodies, hence the examination of malas is also possible. The remaining dhatus in equilibrium state acquired the body and also nourishes to each other by laws:- kshirdadhi kedarkulya and khalekapot. The dosha & mala are living with dhatus & the diseases also begin from dhatu vaishmya, because khavaigunya. (starting of disease) also occur in dhatu. Thus dhatus also play important role in our body & mind. Hence if we collect all functions of dhatus serially & develop the parameters according to function of dhatus then the concept of dhatus & their functions has been well elaborated, which is helpful for aim of swasthsya-swasthya rakshan & aturasya vikar prashamanach. Author aims:- To study the functions of Dhatus according to Ayurvedic kriya sharir. i.e. (Dhatukarmabhyas.) and its main Objectives or point of study are: To collect all functions of sapta-Dhatus described in Ayurveda To develop parameters in healthy person & to check functions of Dhatus with the help of Ayurvedic literature &modern science. To study functions of Dhatus. Review of literature:- “Karma”:- Ayurvedic definition prayatnadi karma chestitmuchyate / charak su. Ad. 1/49. Panchmahabhutatmak constitution of our body Dosha: vata: vayu+Akash mahabhutadhiky Pitta: Tej mahabhutadhikya Kapha: Apa +pruthvi mahabhutadhikya Dhatu: Ras: Apa mahabhutadhikya Rakta:Tej +Apa mahabhutadhikya Mansa: Parthiv mahabhutadhikya Meda: Apa+ Parthiv mahabhutadhikya Asthi: Parthiv+ vayu mahabhutadhikya Majja: Apa mahabhutadhikya Shukra: Apa mahabhutadhikya Mala: Purish: parthiv mahabhutadhikya Mutra: Apa+Tej mahabhutadhikya Sweda: Apa mahabhutadhikya Description of dhatus according to:- Nirukti Definition Dhatubheda –poshya & poshak No. of Dhatu Place of dhatu in our body (sthan) Dhatu swarupa Dhatu poshana with different theories Dhatvagni Dhatu parinati –kal. Description of each Dhatus according to:- Nam Nirukti Synonyms Place Parinati Swarup & guna (qualities) Sar lakshan Quantity (Praman) Function Types Upadhatu Mala Kshaya lakshana Vruddhi lakshana Collective functions of saptadhatu as per Vagbhatacharya & Susrutacharya:- Ras- prinan, tushti, raktaposhan Rakta- Jeevan, sharir varna, dhatupuran, bal, sukha, asandighdha sparshayan, mansa poshan Mansa: lepan , bal, medapushti. Meda: snehan, swedotpatti, drudhatva, asthipushtikam. Asthi: dharan,majjaposhan. Majja: Asthipuram, preeti, snehan, bala, shukrapusti Shukra: Garbhotpadan, dhairya, chavan, dehabala, preeti, harshan. Materials &methods:- Place of study: Dept. of kriya sharir, Govt. Ayurvedic College Nanded-431601 Period: 2000 to 2003 Inclusion criteria Age group- 20 to 40 Yr. Number of person- 50 Healthy persons which are doing their daily activities easily & not suffering from any disease. Only male persons because semen analysis test is one parameter in shukra dhatu function. Area: Nanded & Parbhani city. By random sampling method. Exclusion criteria: Age group: Below 20 & above 40 yrs. Persons suffering from systemic diseases. Females. Method Darshan sparshan prashne parikshet ch Roginam// Astang hruday Ad 1/12. Darshan prashna sasparshe pariksha trividha smruta// charak chikitsa Ad 25/ 22. All the measurable things concern with function of Dhatus & above method is used for examination. Dhatu function wise description is as follows. Ras Dhatu:- Prinan- Ras Dhatu saryakti lakshne, nadi parikshan, measurement of blood pressure, Examination of Heart as a mula sthan, ECG. TUSHTI – Darshan, sparshan, prashana, pariksha. Raktaposhan – Darshan, sparshan, prashan pariksha. Rakta Dhatu: Jeevan- Hb%, RBC Count, respiratory rate. Sharirvarna: Rakta dhatu sarvyakti lakshane, darshan, sparshan, prashna pariksha. Dhatupuram;Nadi pariksha, examination of blood pressure. Bala: Harward step test Sukh: darshan, sparshan, prashna pariksha. Asandigha sparshdhyan- use of cotton, pin & til tail. Mansa poshan – Darshan, Sparshan, Prashna Pariksha. Mansa Dhatu:- Lepana-measurements by tape of parts of body described in mansadhatusar lakshane, weight, muscle tone. Bala-By weight lifting. Medapushti- Darshan, sparshan, prashna pariksha. Meda Dhatu:- Snehan- meda dhatusar lakshane, measurement of abdomen by tape, body mass index, west hip ratio. […]
Mathomathis would like to present an article on: Vedic Glossary documented by Indic Cosmology, Kosla Vepa (INDIC STUDIES FOUNDATION), on the context of: THE STORY OF THE INDIC COSMOLOGY AND THE CELESTIAL TIME KEEPERS. The article would consists of pictorial presentation of the Maps