Re: Question on Jātaka 277

Dear Ven. Yuttadhammo,

No, I missed this. Here it refers to a type of salt (originating in a Roman country, per the tika) which I don't think makes sense in the Jātaka context. But thanks for pointing it out,

Metta, Bryan




________________________________
  From: Yuttadhammo <yuttadhammo@...>
To: palistudy@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, April 13, 2012 11:58:10 PM
Subject: Re: [palistudy] Question on Jātaka 277


 
Dear Bryan,

Did you see the instance of romaka.m in the vinaya?

"dve loṇāni — sāmuddaṃ kāḷaloṇaṃ. aparānipi dve loṇāni — sindhavaṃ,
ubbhidaṃ. aparānipi dve loṇāni — *romakaṃ*, pakkālakaṃ."

(parivārapāḷi, ekuttarikanayo, dukavāro)

The tika says "Romajanapade jātaṃ *romakaṃ*. *Pakkālakan*ti
yavakkhāraṃ."

Best wishes,

Yuttadhammo

On 04/14/2012 06:59 AM, Bryan Levman wrote:
>
> Dear Friends,
>
> Does anyone know the meaning of the word "romaka"? It occurs in Jātaka
> 277 and is usually tranlsated "feathered"  (from Pāli roma/loma
> meaning "hair"), but there are so many variants, that it is evident
> the word was not understood by the scribes and/or bhāṇakas. Here is
> the verse and the commentary:
>
> ♦ 79.
> ♦ “vassānipaññāsa samādhikāni [var. Bi, samīdhītāni, Bd, samadhikāni],
> vasimhaselassa guhāya romaka [var. Bid, romakā],
>  asaṅkamānāabhinibbutattā [var. Bi, abhinippaticittā,
> Pd, abhinibbūticittā],
> hatthattam [var. Ck, hatthattham, Cs Bd, hattatthaṃ] āyantimamaṇḍajā
> pure.
> For fifty years we have lived (vasimha, 1st pers. plural aorist?) in
> this cave of rock,
> O feathered ones (romakā; Lüders does
> not think it means “feathered” per 1954: 32, footnote 4). Formerly
> they came, the
> egg-born ones, not hesitating, with a calm mind, taking my hand.
>
> Commentary:
> ♦ tatthasamādhikānīti [var. samadhitāniti, samādhikāniti] samādhikāni
> [mama adhikāni]. romakāti[ropakā]rūmaya uppanna [dumāya
> uppanna/uppannā],sudhotapavāḷena [var., -lena]samānavaṇṇanettapādatāya
> [sahanavaṇṇe
> netta pādamakāya]  bodhisattaṃ pārāvataṃ [var. pārāpataṃ,
> pārāsataṃ] ālapati.asaṅkamānāti evaṃ atirekapaññāsavassāni imissā
> pabbataguhāya vasantesu amhesu ete aṇḍajā ekadivasampi mayi āsaṅkaṃ
> akatvā abhinibbutacittāva [abhinibbutacitā] hutvāpubbe mama hatthattaṃ
> [hatthatthaṃ] hatthappasāraṇokāsaṃ[pasāraṇokāsaṃ] āgacchantītiattho.
> samādhikāni means abundant. romaka means “Born from a
> tree (romaka/ropakā/rūmaya/dumāya? or born with feathers?), he
> addresses the
> bodhisattva who is a pigeon, with the same feet, eyes and colour with
> thoroughly clean sprouts(?pavāla).”
> Lüders call this “unverständlich” and I agree.
> asaṅkamānā means thus, for more than fifty years, when we were
> dwelling in this mountain cave, these egg-born (birds) each day had no
> fear of
> me and were perfectly tranquil formerly,  and came and took my hand
> whenever it was stretched out.
> The word has four different forms: romaka, ropaka, ruumaya and dumaaya
> in the different recensions, so it seems like no one was quite sure of
> its meaning. The commentator's explication of the word does not seem
> to make sense (unless I am translating it wrong). Any help would be
> appreciated,
>
> Metta, Bryan
>
> Lüders, H. 1954. Beobachtungen über die Sprache des Buddhistischen
> Urkanons. Berlin: Akademie - Verlag.
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>

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