Dear Nina,
Thanks
very much for clearing this up. So dasannaṃ is genitive plural and the
repetition gives it the sense of "every
ten" (spokes), I assume?
Yes the meaning of mu.n.da here
is a mystery. It usually means "bald" or "shaved" but
doesn't appear to mean that here.
There
is another place in the Anguttara Nikaaya commentary where it occurs with
pii.thaka ("chair") which is also unclear:
satthaapi tattha nisinno tesa.m cittaacaara.m ~natvaa mahaapa.msukuuliko viya mu.n.dapii.thaka.m
sabbameva pa.n.dukambalasila.m avattharitvaa nisiidi. (Etadaggapadavaṇṇanā,
125 commentary on AN 1, 14)
which
seems to the saying that “The Teacher was also sitting there and knowing the
behaviour of their minds, like a great wearer-of-dusty-robes
(mahaapa.msukuuliko), covered over the mu.n.da seat, Sakka’s whole stone
throne, and sat down.” Here it appears
that mu.n.dapii.tahka.m is in apposition to pa.n.dukambalasila.m. Any idea what
it might mean? ("empty"?)
Thanks
for your help,
Metta,
Bryan
________________________________
From: Nina van Gorkom <
vangorko@...>
To:
Pali@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, December 8, 2011 10:13:05 AM
Subject: Re: [Pali] Question on mu.n.da
Dear Bryan,
I think you mean of the Khuddakapaa.tha, and this is translated PTS
Minor readings, and the page number is p. 172. The passage you quote
is on p. 186 (below).
Op 8-dec-2011, om 13:15 heeft Bryan Levman het volgende geschreven:
> the commentary on the Ratanasutta of the SuttaNipaata (p.172):
>
> seyyathida.m ra~n~no cakkavattissacakkaratana.m
> uppajjatiindaniilama.nimayanaabhi
>
> sattaratanamayasahassaara.m pavaa.lamayanemi,
> rattasuva.n.namayasandhi, yassadasanna.m
>
> dasanna.m araana.m uparieka.m mu.n.daara.m hotivaata.m gahetvaa
> saddakara.nattha.m,
>
> yenakatosaddosukusalappataa.litapa~nca"ngikatuuriyasaddoviyahoti
>
> (The Tathaagata is being compared to a jewel of the highest value,
> which of course, he is superior to)
>
> I tentatively translate as:
>
> namely the jewel
> (treasure) of the wheel of a universal (wheel-turning) monarch
> arises, the
> navel of which is made of sapphires, a thousand spokes are made of
> the seven
> jewels, the rim of the wheel is made of coral, the link [axle?] is
> made of
> burnished gold, the appearance of the wheel above the spokes is one
> muṇḍa spoke (mu.n.da-ara.m),
> with (gahetvā) the wind producing a sound, like the sound made by
> the five kinds of
> musical instruments, well-played and highly skilled.
--------
N: Its hub is made of sapphire...the joints of red gold; and after
each ten spokes there is one head-spoke whose purpose is to make a
sound by catching the wind, the sound made by which is like the sound
of ...
-----
>
> B: Questions: why is dassanam repeated twice - meaning seeing over
> and over again?
-----
N: No, it is dasanna.m, from dasa, ten. a measurement. yassadasanna.m
>
dasanna.m araana.m :After each of the ten spokes.
>
> B: What does yassa refer to? the king or the wheel?
------
N: The spokes.
-----
> B:What does the word mu.n.da mean? Typically it would mean
> "bare" (i. e. shaven or bald) but that doesn't seem to fit the
> context.
------
N: I think: the head-spoke. the principal spoke. Mu.n.da is bald
head, but is it possible that it stands here for head? The head-
spoke. PED does not give anything much.
------
Nina.
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