Re: Dakkhi.nodaka

Dear Phra Yuttadhammo,
I could only find one reference to Jiivika in the Milindapa~nhaa, but it
was not connected to this. However, pouring water to dedicate a gift is
an ancient custom in India. In the Uggasutta of the Anguttara Nikaya (AN
8:21), the anaagaamin householder Ugga gives away his eldest wife (as a
gift) to another man, ''having taken the senior wife's hand in the left
hand and the water pot in the right, I dedicated [her] to that man''
(vaamena  hatthena  pajaapati.m gahetvaa dakkhi.nena hatthena
bhingaara.m gahetvaa tassa purisassa  o.nojesi.m). I suppose that the
water would be poured over the the right hands of the couple, or at
least over the right hand of the groom. I am not familiar with current
marriage rituals in Sri Lanka, but according to colonial accounts
marriages were traditionally done by pouring water over the hands of the
couple. Water symbolizes cohesion and fertility.
Regards,
               Bh. Nyanatusita

Noah Yuttadhammo wrote:
>
> _The Jaataka_ (Cowell, ed.) gives a citation in regards to the
> compound at vol. 1, p. 17:
>
> "When a gift was made,the donor poured water over the hand of the
> donee. The gift that was here made by Jiivaka was the food bestowed on
> the Brotherhood, as the Milindapanho explains (p. 118) in its version
> of this story."
>
> I can find no such story in the Miln... perhaps it would shed some
> light on this?
>
>