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Keshav Srinivasan
Keshav Srinivasan
05:40
@Tezz You may be interested in this excerpt from Shabara's commentary on the Purva Mimamsa Sutras: gdurl.com/tfur It discusses a Yagna describes in the Vedas which takes 1000 years to perform.
@Tezz First a Purvapakshin says that this Yagna must be intended for Devas or Gandharvas, since humans cannot live for a thousand years. Then another Purvapakshin argues that it cannot refer to Devas or Gandharvas, since the Purva Mimamsa school argues that Devas and Gandharvas are not allowed to do Yagnas. And the Purva Mimamsa school argues that all stories of gods doing thousand year Yagnas are mere Arthavada.
@Tezz So the second Purvapakshin argues that this Yagna is to be performed by humans who are extremely long-lived. The Purvapaksha argument is that we observe medicines that can remove wrinkles and change hair from gray to black, so there may also be medicines that extend the length of life.
@Tezz It's surprising that ancient Indians had medicines to remove wrinkles and change hair color.
@Tezz Anyway, Shabara's ultimate conclusion is that "thousand years" really means "thousand days". The Purva Mimamsa school was reluctant to believe in anything miraculous, supernatural, or out of the ordinary like gods, Swarga, humans living for long periods of time in past ages, etc.
@Tezz The Purva Mimamsa school didn't even believe in the notion of Yugas, Kalpas, etc., because they thought that all scriptural passages mentioning them are mere Arthavada. They thought the Earth has existed forever, that humans have existed forever on the Earth, etc.
@SwiftPushkar Concerning Vedic references to Vamana, see my question here:
4
Q: What is the earliest reference to the Asura Mahabali?

Keshav SrinivasanIn modern times, Vishnu's most popular incarnations are Rama and Krishna. But that was not always the case; in ancient times Vishnu was most popularly associated with his incarnation as Vamana the dwarf. The story of Vamana is told in the most detail in the Puranas, for instance at the end of t...

mythology vishnu vedas rig-veda vamana
@SwiftPushkar Also see my answer here:
13
A: Vishnu - how has his understanding developed and what was his role initially?

Keshav SrinivasanFirst of all, to answer your side question, yes, there is something that is more particular to Vishnu that both Vaishnavite and Shaivites would acknowledge about him, and that is that he is the god of preservation. That is to say, Vaishnavites would say that Vishnu is the preserver but he is als...

 
2 hours later…
The Destroyer
The Destroyer
07:34
@Tezz Did Adishankara compose Mahisasura Mardini Stotram?
greenmesg.org/mantras_slokas/…
अयि गिरिनन्दिनि नन्दितमेदिनि विश्वविनोदिनि नन्दिनुते
गिरिवरविन्ध्यशिरोऽधिनिवासिनि विष्णुविलासिनि जिष्णुनुते ।
भगवति हे शितिकण्ठकुटुम्बिनि भूरिकुटुम्बिनि भूरिकृते
जय जय हे महिषासुरमर्दिनि रम्यकपर्दिनि शैलसुते ॥ १ ॥
Sree Charan
Sree Charan
@TheDestroyer He did. But his signature is missing.
The Destroyer
The Destroyer
@SreeCharan Ok. As you might know, this stotra is very famous here and every movie that shot in Vijayawada plays this stotram due this kanaka Durgamma. But Greenmesh page says, this is also accredited to Tenali Rama Krishna.
Sree Charan
Sree Charan
07:56
@TheDestroyer Yes. I know the stotra and my sister can reecite it orally. All these days, I thought sankaracharya wrote it. I don't know tenali ramakrishna wrote it.
Also Was vaidnathashtakam written adi shankara?
Was vaidyanathashtakam written by adi shankara?
The Destroyer
The Destroyer
@SreeCharan Not sure.
Sree Charan
Sree Charan
@TheDestroyer Kamakoti website has list of hymns written by adi shankara. There is no name of mahishasura mardini, vaidyanathashtakam.
Vaidyanathashtakam seems very peaceful. It is attributed to Lord shiva at vaidyanatha jyothirlinga.
The Destroyer
The Destroyer
08:11
@SreeCharan I didn't know this. Thanks! I will listen it.
Tezz
Tezz
08:56
@KeshavSrinivasan haha.. It's very interesting to read Mimamsa Bhasyas...
@KeshavSrinivasan "It's surprising that ancient Indians had medicines to remove wrinkles and change hair color.".. Interesting thing...
@KeshavSrinivasan "The Purva Mimamsa school didn't even believe in the notion of Yugas, Kalpas, etc., because they thought that all scriptural passages mentioning them are mere Arthavada. "... Are there passages in Bhasya which specifically calls these things as Arthavãda..?
@TheDestroyer I'm not sure whether he composed MahisasuraMardini Stotra or not.. it also doesn't ends with "Eti Sri Adi Shankaracharya Virachitam..."
@KeshavSrinivasan btw what do you think of 1000 yrs. sacrifice..?..
Keshav Srinivasan
Keshav Srinivasan
09:17
@Tezz No, Shabara doesn't specifically address them. But the Purva Mimamsa school believed that quite literally all passages in Hindu scripture which did not explicitly tell you to do something is Arthavada.
@Tezz But in the excerpt I linked to Shabara does call a scriptural passage describing Brahma doing thousand-year Yagna Arthavada.
@Tezz I think the thousand-year Yagna really is a thousand years long, not a thousand days long. There are plenty of scriptures that describe people doing Yagnas that are a thousand years long or more.
@Tezz And I think the Panchavimsha Brahmana of the Sama Veda lists a bunch of differen Yagnas of different length from least to greatest and it puts the thousand year Yagna after the hundred year Yagna.
@Tezz By the way, the Rig Veda quote about humans living for a hundred years is mentioned in the chapter. Shabara brings it up to show that humans cannot live for a thousand years. The Purvapakshin argues that the verse actually means "humans can live for hundreds of years", not merely 100 years. Shabara argues against that on the basis of grammar.
@Tezz The Purvapakshin also says that we observe that some humans live for longer than a hundred years, so that Vedic verse does not restrict how long a human can live. Shabara never responds to that argument though.

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