Essay name: Purana Bulletin
Author:
Affiliation: University of Kerala / Faculty of Oriental Studies
The "Purana Bulletin" is an academic journal published in India. The journal focuses on the study of Puranas, which are a genre of ancient Indian literature encompassing mythological stories, traditions, and philosophical teachings. They represent Hindu scriptures in Sanskrit and cover a wide range of subjects.
Purana, Volume 6, Part 2 (1964)
129 (of 234)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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July, 1964] FIRST VERSE OF BHAGAVATA-MAH膧PUR膧峁咥 379 as the light of sun is mistaken for water, water for earth and
earth for water, and who always removes M膩y膩 by His own
effulgence.'
This benedictory verse indicates the homage of the author
towards the Absolute Brahman (艢r墨k峁涐梗峁嘺) recognised as the
ultimate reality in this Pur膩峁嘺. The verse ends with the words
'we meditate on the supreme reality'. The words 'Para' has been
frequently used in the sense of supreme God (Parame艣vara)'.,
The form 'dhimahi' is in optative (linga lak膩ra) from the root
Dhai cintay膩m to meditate. The form is the Vedic one, otherwise
it should be 'dhy膩yema' in first person plural in optative, according
to the later grammatical rules. The 膩tmanepada is justified in
the Vedic grammar by the aphorism 'vyatyayo bahulam'
(P. 3, 1, 85). By the rule 'chandasyubhayat ba' (P. 3, 4, 117),
it is s膩rvadh膩tuka and 膩rdhadh膩tuka both. As a result of this
the 'sa' of 'siyut' is dropped due to its being s膩rvadh膩tuka, while
suffix sap is not added because of its being ardhadh膩tuka. The
sampras膩ra峁嘺 is done by the rule of bahulaka and the vowel is
long by the apporism 'Hala岣�' (P. 6, 4, 2). The plural of 'dhimahi'
could be justified by 'asmado dvayo艣ca' (P. 1; 2, 59). According
to this rule the plural is optional... The only exception to this
rule is in case there is a vise峁峁嘺. 'Savise峁峁嘺sya prati峁dha岣�',
(V膩rtika 721). Example 'Pa峁璾raham bravimi'. In the present
example there is no vise峁峁嘺 of dh墨mahi. Subsequently the
plural form is justified.
The plural form dhimahi includes the author and all the
disciples. It is true that by the aphorism 'asmado dvayo艣ca',
(P. 1, 2, 59), the word 'asmat' could be used in plural when
there was no vi艣e峁na but lak峁峁嚹� in the singular sense would be
unavoidable. This fact opens two difficulties.
1. In case the 艣akyartha of the word 'asmat' (without a
vise峁峁嘺) is possible in plural, the lak峁峁嚹� cannot be
1. Param Parame艣varam Tami艣var膩峁嚹乵 paramam mahe艣varam, tam
devat膩n膩峁� paramam ca daivatam Patim patin膩m paramam purast膩t, vid膩ma
devam bhuvane艣 ami岣峺am //
Svetasvatara-Upanisad, 6. 7.
