Nepal and Kathmandu

In the next year's spring I'll have a two weeks trip to Nepal. In the mean time I have to gather and assimilate all the information I can find about these places.

Please leave your ideas regarding the "must do in Nepal" here.






High resolution Nepal map

Spoken Sanskrit resources

This post, at Elisa's suggestion, is about resources on spoken Sanskrit. Since in order to speak in Sanskrit you need at least an dialog partner if not a whole environment (friends, family) speaking this language, a surrogate would be just to listen (and trying to understand) other speaking. For this purpose there are several resources around the net.

On now famous sanskritdocuments.org website, one can find radio news in Sanskrit on an about two day basis. Another resource which I enjoyed very much is the 1983 movie Adi Shankaracharya by G.V. Iyer now available on google video. See bellow.

On Sri Aurobindo's ashram website are also available some audio and video files with spoken Sanskrit.



Ādi Śaṅkarācārya

Great Idea

Like so many other great ideas that seem obvious after someone states them, this is not an exception. In a discussion with Elisa Freschi about easy sanskrit texts for begginers, she suggested that it is easier to read texts that one is familiar with. This is how I come to remember that once I stumbled upon a Sanskrit translation of the Bible. For the westerner who, in most cases, was raised as Christian, this is indeed an easy and sometimes fun text to read. Here are the links:
Sanskrit Bible Vol 1 (5 books of Moses and the book of Joshua)
Sanskrit Bible Vol 2 (historical books from judges to Esther)
Sanskrit Bible Vol 3 (poetical and devotional books from Job to Canticles)
Sanskrit Bible Vol 4 (prophetical books)
New Testament in Sanskrit
Enjoy!

The wonder of Sanskrit

sāṃkhyam asmābhir jñāyate: alepako nirguṇaḥ kṣetrajñaḥ puruṣaḥ

can be translated in two ways:

1. I am conversant with Sankhya: The soul is stainless, without Qualities, and the Knower of the field of experiences.

2. I am conversant with Sankhya: This person uses no cosmetics, has no merits, he is a plowman.

The translation is taken from "The Quarter of Causeries" Translated by Csaba Dezső & Somadeva Vasudeva.

IIGRS Programe announced

Finally the full programme is online! There are twenty lectures plus few special ones:

• Inaugural Lecture:The Hidden Collections: The Possibility for a Census of Indic manuscripts in the U.K. by Professor Christopher Minkowski, Boden Professor of Sanskrit, University of Oxford;
• Workshop: How to find the date of Indic texts and manuscripts by Professor Christopher Minkowski, Boden Professor of Sanskrit, University of Oxford;
• Key-note Lecture by Professor Alexis Sanderson, Spalding Professor of Eastern Religions and Ethics, All Souls College, University of Oxford.

Nepal script

9 lessons ('till now) of Nepal script. Very useful for reading Nepalese manuscripts.
Lesson 1: basic alphabet
Lesson 2: conjuncts of ka - ṅa
Lesson 3: conjuncts of ca - ña
Lesson 4: conjuncts of ṭa - ṇa
Lesson 5: conjuncts of ta - na
Lesson 6: conjuncts of pa - ma
Lesson 7: conjuncts of ya - ha
Lesson 8: conjuncts of śa - jña
Lesson 9: conjuncts of ya, ra, la, va

Nice word

viṭajña - Pimpologist*.

I met this word in "The Quartet of Causeries" of which I am delighted. I definitely recommend it.

Enjoy!

Buddha kathā - part 3

ekadā rātrau siddhārtho bhāryāṃ putraṃ prāsādañcātyajat | so aśvam ārohad vanañ cāgacchat | vane so'śvamapyajat | sa keśānakṛntannadyāñcākṣtipat | sa sarvāṇi bhūṣaṇānyapyanale'kṣipat | so'vadat - adhunāhammunirbhaveyamiti | tataḥ sa satyasya darśanāya grāmādgrāmaṃ vanādvanaṃ deśāddeśamabhrāmyat |
In a night, Siddhārtha abandoned the wife son and palace. He mounted the horse and left to the forest. In the forest he also abandoned the horse. He cut the hair and threw it in the river. He also threw in the fire all ornaments. He said: now I will become an hermit. Therefore for the sake of the vision of truth he wandered from village to village, from forest to forest from region to region.
sa yaṃ yaṃ munimapaśyattaṃ taṃ so'pṛcchat | sa yadyatpustakamalabhata, tattat pustakaṃ so'paṭhat | tathāpi sa satyaṃ nābodhat | ekadā so'cintayat - yadyahamammaṃ na bhakṣayeyam, jalamapi na pibeyam, tarhyahaṃ satyaṃ paśeyam iti | tataḥ so'annaṃ jalañcātyajat | sa vṛkṣasyādho'sīdat |
He questioned each and every hermit he saw. He read each and every book he obtained. However he didn't learned the truth. Once he was thinking: If I'll not eat food nor drink water then I may see the truth. So he renounced to the food and water. He sat below a tree.
kintu sa satyaṃ nābodhat | so'manyata - yadyahamannañjalañca tyajeyamahaṃ maraṇameva labheya na satyam | tato dhyānenaivāhaṃ munirbhaveyamiti | tato'nantaraṃ sa yadā vṛkṣasyādho dhyānāyāsīdattadā sa satyamabodhat | tadā sa buddho'bhavat |
But he didn't learned the truth. He thought: If I renounce the food and water I will obtain only death not truth. Therefore I'll become an hermit only by meditation. Then, later when he sat at the base of the tree for meditation, then he found the truth. Then he became Buddha.

sa sarveṣāñjanānāṃ gururabhavat | janā buddhamapṛcchan - he guro, namaste | asmabhyaṃ satyaṃ kathaya | kathaṃ vayaṃ duḥkhaṃ tyajemeti |buddhastānabhāṣata - he janāḥ, icchā duḥkhasya kāraṇam | yadi yūyam icchāṃ tyajeta tarhi yuṣmākaṃ jīvane duḥkhaṃ naiva jāyeta | ye sukhamicchanti ta eva duḥkhaṃ vindanti | ye sukham necchanti ta eva sukhaṃ labhanta iti |
He became the guru of all people. People asked Buddha: Oh teacher, salutations to you. Tell us about the truth. How we should abandon the suffering? Buddha told them: Oh men, desire is the cause of suffering. If you abandon the desires then in your life the suffering will never win. Only those who want the pleasure obtain the suffering. Only those who do not want the pleasure will obtain it.
janā buddhamanaman | te taṃ kusumair apūjayan | tasya vacanāni ca pustakeṣvalikhan | tāni ca pustakānyapūjayan | kintu janā icchāṃ na kadāpy atyajan | tatasteṣāṃ duḥkham adyāpi na śāmyati |
People saluted Buddha. They worshiped him with flowers. And his words they wrote in books. And they worshiped those books. But people never abandoned desires. Therefore even today the suffering is not extinguished.

Buddha kathā - part 2

yadā māyādevī sukhārthaṃ vane'bhrāmyat tadā vana(y) eva tasyāḥ putro'jāyata | sa siddhārthaḥ |
When Māyādevī was wandering for pleasure in the forest, then, right in the forest her son was born. He is Siddhārtha.
yadā bālaṃ siddhārtham munyo'paśyaṃs tadā te'bhāṣanta - he śuddhodana, eṣa tava putro yadi nṛpo bhavettarhi sa sarvasya lokasya nṛpo bhavet | kintu yadi sa loke duḥkhaṃ paśyettarhi sa munireva bhavet | tadā sa sarvasya lokasya gururbhavediti |
When hermits saw the boy Siddhārtha they spoke: Oh Śuddhodana, if this son of you will become a king then he will become the king of entire world. However if he will see the suffering in the world then he will became an hermit. Then he will became the guru of entire world.
yadā śuddhodano nṛipo munīnāṃ tadvacanam abodhat tadā so'cintayat - mama putro nṛpa eva bhavatu | sa sarvasya lokasya nṛpo bhavatu | sa mā vanaṅ gacchatu | mā ca sa munir bhavatv iti |
When king Śuddhodana learne this word of the hermits he thought: let my son to be king. Let he be hte king of entire world. Let him not go to forest. An he should not become hermit.
nṛpaḥ siddhārtasya kṛte kanakasya prāsādamaracayat | sa taṃ prāsādaṃ ratnairabhūṣayat | tasya prāsādasya purataḥ paścācca vaneṣu hradā abhavan | teṣu hradeṣu sarvadā kamalānyavardhanta | haṃsāśca teṣu hradeṣu sukhenānṛtyan | tasmin prāsāde pratidinaṃ nāryaḥ kusumānāṃ mālā aracayan siddhārthāya cāyacchan | tatra siddārthaḥ sukhamevālabhata | sa duḥkhaṃ na kadāpyapaśyat | so'cintayat - loke sukham eva bhavati | duḥkhaṃ na kutracidapi vartata iti |
For the sake of Siddhārtha the king built a palace of gold. He adorned this palace with precious stones. In the forests in front of this palace and in the back were lakes. In these lakes always grew lotuses. And swans in these lakes were dancing with happiness. In this palace everyday women made garlands of lotuses and offered to Siddhārtha. There Siddhārtha found only happiness. He never saw suffering. He thought: in the world there is only happiness. The suffering nowhere exists.
ekadā siddhārthaḥ prāsādād bahiragacchat | sa grāme'bhrāmyat | tatra grāme sa kañcid vyādhitaṃ naraṃ, kañcidvṛddhaṃ naraṃ, kañcicca mṛtaṃ naramaikṣata | tataḥ sa duḥkhamabodhat | sa kañcana muniṃ cāpaśyat | tasya munermukhe siddhārthaḥ sukhamevāpaśyat | siddhārtho'manyata - ahaṃ duḥkhaṃ necchāmi | tataḥ sukhāyāhaṃ munirbhaveyamiti | sa punaḥ svaṃ prāsādamagacchat |
Once, Siddhārtha went outside of the palace. He was wandering in a village. There in the village he saw an ill man, an old man and a dead man. Therefore he learned [of] the suffering. And he saw an hermit. On the face of this hermit Siddhārtha saw only happiness. Siddhārtha thought - I do not want the suffering. Therefor I, for the sake of happiness, will become an hermit. He went again to his palace.
yadyapi sa bhāryayā putreṇa ca saha prāsāde'vasattathāpi sa sarvadā duḥkhasya kāraṇamacintayat | kuto narasya jīvanaṃ duḥkhaṃ bhavati | kuto munirgṛhantyajati vanañca gacchati | kathaṃ sa vane sukhaṃ labhate | yaśodharā mama bhāryā | rāhulo mama putraḥ | kutra mama sukham | ahaṃ tābhyāṃ saha vasāni ? athavā tau tyajāni vanāñca gacchāni ? etat sa sarvadācintayat |
Even if he, together with his wife and son, lived in the palace he also always thought to the cause of suffering. From where the enlivening suffering of the man arises? Why the hermit leaves the house and go to the forest? How he obtains the happiness in the forest? Yaśodhara is my wife. Rāhula is my son. Where is my happiness? Should I stay with them ? Or rather should I leave them and go to the forest? On this he always reflected.

Buddha kathā - part 1

purā bhāratadeśe kapilavastunagare śuddhodano nāma nṛpo'bhavat |
Long ago, in India in Kapilavastu town lived a king named Śuddhodana.
tasminnagare sarve janāḥ sukhenāvasan |
In this town all people lived with happiness.
janānāṃ sukhena nṛpo'pi sukhamalabhata |
By people's happiness even the king was happy.
sa nṛpaḥ sarvāṇi śāstrāṇyabodhat, sarvadā ca satyamevābhāṣata |
This king kew all sacred writings and always talked the truth only.
tasya bhāryā māyādevī |
His wife was Māyādevī.
tasyāḥ sarve guṇā avartanta |
She had all the qualities.
yadā yadā janāśśuddhodanaṃ māyādevīṃ caikṣanta, tadā tadā te'manyanta - ya etayoḥ putro bhavet so'pyasmākaṃ nṛpo bhavet | īśvaro'smākaṃ nṛpāya putraṃ yacchatviti |
Each time people saw Śuddhodana and Māyādevī, every time they thought: which son of them may be born that one may be our king;"Let god grant to our king a son!"
śuddhodanasya bhāryā sarvadeśvaramārthayata - mama putro jāyatām |tasya matiśśaktirguṇāśca vartantām |
Śuddhodana's wife was always aking god: "Let me give birth to a son! Let him have mind, power and qualities!
svairguṇaiḥ śaktyā matyā ca sarvāllokāñjayatu |
By his qualities, power and mind let he conquer all worlds!
sarve janā mama putraṃ sarvadā namantu pūjayantu ca |
Let all people always respect and worship my son!
mama putraḥ sarvebhyo janebhyaḥ sukhayyacchatu |
Let my son to bring the happiness of all people!
sa sarveṣāñjanānānduḥkhaṃ haratviti |
Let him to destroy the sorrow in all the people!