I'm trying to understand this epithet of an arahant, towards the end of the Alagadduupama Sutta: sa"nki.n.naparikho, or perhaps sa"nki.n.naparikkho (there seems to be some confusion in the spelling).
PED and most translators translate sa"nki.n.naparikho as "one with trenches filled" which puzzles me. Parikhaa could be a trench, but can sa"nki.n.na really mean 'filled'? In both Sanskrit and Paali it appears to mean 'mixed, blended, impure, confused'.
PED et al. seem to be following an allegorical story at AA iii.263 which weaves all of the epithets into a story about a warrior cleansing a thieves' town - and filling in the moat of the town is the applicable image. But in the commentary to the Alagadduupama itself there is this:
MA 2.115 So hi punappuna.m uppattikara.navasena parikkhipitvaa .thitattaa parikkhaati vuccati, tenesa tassaa sa.mki.n.nattaa viki.n.nattaa sa.mki.n.naparikkhoâti vutto.
Could someone have a crack at this, and let me know what they make of it?
At AA iii.263 the allegory is preceded by: Sa.mki.m.maparikhoâti sa.msaara-parikha.m sa.mkiritvaa vinaasetvaa .thito.
Again I struggle to understand this in terms of dictionary definitions. If the allegory is right this seems to be a horrible mixed metaphor - the ditch is both mixed or filled; and destroyed; but he? remains.
The text explains a couple of paragraphs after the introduction of the term that:
M i.139 Katha~nca, bhikkhave, bhikkhu sa.mki.n.naparikkho hoti? Idha, bhikkhave, bhikkhuno ponobbhaviko jaatisa.msaaro pahiino hoti.
And how, monks, is a monk one who is sa.mki.n.naparikkho? Here, monks, that monk has rejected the cycles of birth leading to rebirth.
Which isn't very illuminating except that it relates sa.mki.n.naparikkho to rebirth.
I've read much about towns with walls in India (and even visited a couple of them) but not about moats! I suppose it could just be a a defensive ditch. Is the metaphor about not needing a defensive ditch? How does it sound to others?