Thanks for all the helpful responses to my earlier questions. Here
comes another one. Any help or even speculation would be appreciated.
I'm puzzled by a sentence in the Kosambakavatthu of the Dhp-a. This
is the story of the quarrelsome monks of Kosambi, and I'm at the
point where the Buddha is alone in Paarileyyaka-forest, and a
solitary bull-elephant attends to his needs.
I have two questions:
1: What exactly did the elephant do to the Sal-tree? (mostly centered
on the verb taccheti)
2: Why exactly did he do it? (mostly centered on the referent of
añña.m kiñci adisvaa)
Below I provide the text and how I read it the first time through.
Then I provide Burlingame's translation, which is very different, and
ask some questions about it. I hope someone finds this interesting
enough to comment or dig up references that might be relevant.
Norman, H.C. (ed) _The Commentary on the Dhammapada_, PTS, 1970, page 58
My first try, loosely: that elephant, approached the Blessed One,
however having approached the Blessed One and saluted him, looking
around (and) not seeing anyone else, (he) trampled the (area around
the) root of the magnificent Sal-tree and prepared it, (then) taking
a branch with his trunk, swept (the area).
The idea I had was that the space immediately surrounding a tree is
sometimes swept clean, and a little fence might even be set up in the
case of a holy tree. (see the beginning of the Udena story-cycle for
an example of this). So if this is the location where the Buddha is
planning to spend the rainy season, a little landscaping would be in
order. Not seeing any humans around to do the job, the elephant does
it himself, trampling the area flat and then sweeping it. Now the
word 'tacchetvaa' is a problem, since it seems to have to do with
woodworking, as though perhaps the elephant actually smashed the root
itself (perhaps making a more comfortable sitting place out of the
root.) So Burlingame translates:
...this noble elephant....drew near...even to where the Exalted One
was... And when he had drawn near and paid obeisance to the Exalted
One, he looked all about for a broom [?!]. And seeing none, he smote
with his foot the beautiful Saal-tree above. And taking a branch, he
then swept the ground.
Comments/questions:
First off, no broom is explicitly mentioned in the Pali. Burlingame
has taken 'olokento añña.m kiñci adisvaa' as meaning 'seeing nothing
else' (which could serve as a broom). For B this would motivate the
elephant then smashing the Sal-root in order to break free a branch
to use to sweep the area. Of course elephants are known for being
able to bash their way through groves and destroy trees, but I still
find it hard to accept that this is the case here. The Sal-tree is so
holy and special in Buddhist stories, and the elephant is supposed to
be doing a good deed here. But perhaps it depends on the meaning of
taccheti, and on whether the word 'Saalamuula' can refer more to the
area at the base of the tree, rather than a part of the tree itself.
The PED says of 'taccheti' that it's probably a denominative from
'taccha'=carpenter. So it would mean to perform carpentry, "to do
wood-work, to square, frame, chip".
This seems to partly support Burlingame's reading, that the chips
flew and wood was broken by the elephant's pounding feet. Does anyone
have know of any parallels in other stories, or know any traditions
concerning living at the roots of trees that would help make sense of
this? Or has anyone seen 'taccheti' in a more general sense, 'making,
preparing, ordering'?