Aurangzeb as a Yogi

Author(s): G. W. Briggs
Source: Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 54, No. 2 (Jun., 1934), pp. 203-204
Published by: American Oriental Society
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/594638
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Brief
Communications
Brief
Communications
be advanced for such a
change.
But the reader need not be
exposed
to further
speculations.
The sole
object
of this note has been to
point
out a
particular
idiomatical
correspondence
between Akk. and
West-Semitic. Some of the details remain
elusive;
for
once, they
are not essential.
E. A. SPEISER.
University
of
Pennsylvania.
Aurangzeb
as a
Yogi
On the west side of India there is a sub-sect of the
Yogis bearing
the name Handi
Pharang
NSth.
They
have an establishment in
Poona. Their name is accounted for as follows.
Sakkarnath,
disciple
of
Gorakhnath,
in his
wanderings,
once came to a land
ruled
by
a low-caste
raja,
who seized him and ordered him to cause
a rain of
sugar,
on
pain
of torture. Sakkarnath
performed
the
miracle and then buried the
raja
alive. Twelve
years later,
the
Yogi
returned and found the
king
a
skeleton,
restored him to life
and made him his
disciple
and cook. The
raja
had not been
reformed as the result of his
punishment.
One
day
he took out
some of the
pulse
that he was
cooking
for his master and tasted it.
Bhairava,
who chanced to
appear
that
day
in
person,
refused to
accept
an
offering
of the food. The reason was discovered and the
raja
was
punished by having
the
pot (handi)
which contained the
food
hung
from his neck. He was
obliged
to wander the
livelong
day, getting
food out of the
pot.
His
punishment
lasted for four
years,
after which he was
pardoned.
But his followers still bear
the name,
HandI
Pharafig. (See Rose, Glossary
of
Tribes and
Castes
of
the
Panjab,
etc.,
Vol.
2, pp.
395,
396.)
There is at
Trimbak,
eighteen
miles back of
Nasik,
in the
hills,
a
monastery
of the
Bairag panth
of the
Kanphata Yogis.
The
establishment is a few hundred feet below the source of the
Godavari. On three sides of a
large
stone
platform,
which faces
the
monastery,
are
samddhs,
or tombs of
Yogis,
one of which is
said to have contained the
body
of
Aurangzeb,
the last of the
great
Moghuls.
The
story,
as told at that
place
one
evening
to the
writer,
is as follows.
Aurangzeb
became a follower of
Gorakhnath,
but the
disciples
of the
great Yogi
refused to eat with him. So
Aurangzeb
buried himself alive. After twelve
years
he came out of his tomb
as Mrtaknath. He was
only
a skeleton when he came
forth, but,
7
be advanced for such a
change.
But the reader need not be
exposed
to further
speculations.
The sole
object
of this note has been to
point
out a
particular
idiomatical
correspondence
between Akk. and
West-Semitic. Some of the details remain
elusive;
for
once, they
are not essential.
E. A. SPEISER.
University
of
Pennsylvania.
Aurangzeb
as a
Yogi
On the west side of India there is a sub-sect of the
Yogis bearing
the name Handi
Pharang
NSth.
They
have an establishment in
Poona. Their name is accounted for as follows.
Sakkarnath,
disciple
of
Gorakhnath,
in his
wanderings,
once came to a land
ruled
by
a low-caste
raja,
who seized him and ordered him to cause
a rain of
sugar,
on
pain
of torture. Sakkarnath
performed
the
miracle and then buried the
raja
alive. Twelve
years later,
the
Yogi
returned and found the
king
a
skeleton,
restored him to life
and made him his
disciple
and cook. The
raja
had not been
reformed as the result of his
punishment.
One
day
he took out
some of the
pulse
that he was
cooking
for his master and tasted it.
Bhairava,
who chanced to
appear
that
day
in
person,
refused to
accept
an
offering
of the food. The reason was discovered and the
raja
was
punished by having
the
pot (handi)
which contained the
food
hung
from his neck. He was
obliged
to wander the
livelong
day, getting
food out of the
pot.
His
punishment
lasted for four
years,
after which he was
pardoned.
But his followers still bear
the name,
HandI
Pharafig. (See Rose, Glossary
of
Tribes and
Castes
of
the
Panjab,
etc.,
Vol.
2, pp.
395,
396.)
There is at
Trimbak,
eighteen
miles back of
Nasik,
in the
hills,
a
monastery
of the
Bairag panth
of the
Kanphata Yogis.
The
establishment is a few hundred feet below the source of the
Godavari. On three sides of a
large
stone
platform,
which faces
the
monastery,
are
samddhs,
or tombs of
Yogis,
one of which is
said to have contained the
body
of
Aurangzeb,
the last of the
great
Moghuls.
The
story,
as told at that
place
one
evening
to the
writer,
is as follows.
Aurangzeb
became a follower of
Gorakhnath,
but the
disciples
of the
great Yogi
refused to eat with him. So
Aurangzeb
buried himself alive. After twelve
years
he came out of his tomb
as Mrtaknath. He was
only
a skeleton when he came
forth, but,
7
203 203
Brief
Communications
Brief
Communications
after his
appearance,
flesh came
upon
his bones. In due course
Gorakhnath ordered him to cook food for the
Yogis present.
He
did
so,
but when the food was
ready
he tasted it to see if it were
properly
seasoned. The food was declared unclean and the
pot
was
hung
over his head. Hence he is called Siddha HandI
Pharafig
Nath. He went off to
Poona,
where to this
day
his sect reside at
Handi
Pharaig
Nath.
G. W. BRIGGS.
Drew
University.
A Note on
Bhagavadgitd X,
30
In the tenth
adhyaya
of the
Bhagavadgita,
Krsna
proclaims
his
greatness
and
glory by declaring that,
in each order of
beings,
he
is the best
being
of that order. He
says:
"
Among
the
Adityas
I
am
Visnu; among
the
heavenly
bodies I am the
Sun,
. . .
among
the mountains I am
Meru; among
the
weapons
I am the thunder-
bolt,"
etc.
In this
enumeration,
the second
pada
of sloka 30 kalah
kalayatdm
aham has been
generally
translated in the
following way:
"
Among
those that count I am Time."
Schlegel
translates: "
Tempus ego
numeros
modulantium;
"
Wilkins: "I am time
amongst compu-
tations;" Telang:
"
I am the
king
of death
(Kala, Time)
among
those that
count;"
Barnett: "Of them that make count I am
Time;"
Deussen:
"
Fur die Zahlenden bin ich die
Zeit;"
Senart:
"Je suis Kala
(le Temps)
entre tout ce
qui
se
compte."
All those translations are based on the commentaries and
espe-
cially
on the
commentary
of
Nilakan.tha,
who
explains
the word
kalayatdm by ganana.m
kurvatdm.
It seems
strange
to me that one
may say
that time is the best
among
those who make
count,
or that time counts. Barnett tries
to
explain
the text in the
following way:
" The words contain a
verbal
play upon K&la,
"time
",
and
calayati,
"to count ". The
meaning
is rather abstruse. The fundamental
conception
in count-
ing
is that of succession in time. Now in Hindu
logic
time is a
single omnipresent
and external substance in which all determinate
existence is
lodged,
and the instrumental cause
by
which the mind
is led to formulate the terms
'past,' 'present,'
and
'future,'
which
are the basis of all
reckoning.
Thus
time,
not the
mind,
is the
after his
appearance,
flesh came
upon
his bones. In due course
Gorakhnath ordered him to cook food for the
Yogis present.
He
did
so,
but when the food was
ready
he tasted it to see if it were
properly
seasoned. The food was declared unclean and the
pot
was
hung
over his head. Hence he is called Siddha HandI
Pharafig
Nath. He went off to
Poona,
where to this
day
his sect reside at
Handi
Pharaig
Nath.
G. W. BRIGGS.
Drew
University.
A Note on
Bhagavadgitd X,
30
In the tenth
adhyaya
of the
Bhagavadgita,
Krsna
proclaims
his
greatness
and
glory by declaring that,
in each order of
beings,
he
is the best
being
of that order. He
says:
"
Among
the
Adityas
I
am
Visnu; among
the
heavenly
bodies I am the
Sun,
. . .
among
the mountains I am
Meru; among
the
weapons
I am the thunder-
bolt,"
etc.
In this
enumeration,
the second
pada
of sloka 30 kalah
kalayatdm
aham has been
generally
translated in the
following way:
"
Among
those that count I am Time."
Schlegel
translates: "
Tempus ego
numeros
modulantium;
"
Wilkins: "I am time
amongst compu-
tations;" Telang:
"
I am the
king
of death
(Kala, Time)
among
those that
count;"
Barnett: "Of them that make count I am
Time;"
Deussen:
"
Fur die Zahlenden bin ich die
Zeit;"
Senart:
"Je suis Kala
(le Temps)
entre tout ce
qui
se
compte."
All those translations are based on the commentaries and
espe-
cially
on the
commentary
of
Nilakan.tha,
who
explains
the word
kalayatdm by ganana.m
kurvatdm.
It seems
strange
to me that one
may say
that time is the best
among
those who make
count,
or that time counts. Barnett tries
to
explain
the text in the
following way:
" The words contain a
verbal
play upon K&la,
"time
",
and
calayati,
"to count ". The
meaning
is rather abstruse. The fundamental
conception
in count-
ing
is that of succession in time. Now in Hindu
logic
time is a
single omnipresent
and external substance in which all determinate
existence is
lodged,
and the instrumental cause
by
which the mind
is led to formulate the terms
'past,' 'present,'
and
'future,'
which
are the basis of all
reckoning.
Thus
time,
not the
mind,
is the
204 204