Monday, April 12, 2010

the many names of sky

sanskrit has many synonyms for critical words. most of the times, the words, synonyms describe some attribute of the original word at hand.

here are some for sky -

  • dyauH = द्यौः = where there is lightening; from dyut = lightening.
  • abhram = अभ्रम् = one with movement (of clouds). it also means clouds, that move around ; from abhr = to move about
  • vyoma = व्योम = that which covers (like a blanket); from vye = to cover
  • puShkaram = पुष्करम् = that which nourishes (puShTim); by rains, the sky nourishes the earth
  • ambaram = अम्बरम् = covering, clothing; that which covers the earth
  • nabhaH = नभः
  • antarikSham = अन्तरिक्षम् = that which is seen between (the earth and the sky). so technically, antarikSha is space, but is used for sky as well.
  • gaganam = गगनम्
  • anantam = अनन्तम् = without end, limitless
  • kham = खम् =
  • AkAsham = आकाशम्  =
  • viShNupadam = विष्णुपदम् = step of viShNu. viShNu, in his vAmana avatAra, took three steps (trivikrama) and with one covered the earth, with second the sky and didn't know where to put the third step. the benevolent king balI offered his head, so that the king could his promise of charity of 3 space worth of "land".


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Grzegorz said...

I'm interested in that word "antarikṣam".
I have seen some of meanings of that word and now I want to know what does it really mean, especially in terminology of vedic cosmology. Could you explain this?

ps. In the puruṣa sūktam it is said:
"nābhyā āsīd antarikṣaṁ śīrṣṇo dyauḥ sam avartata . (10.90.14a)"

shashi said...

antarikSham = अन्तरिक्षम् = antaH + Iksham = seen in between = that which is seen between (the earth and the sky).

it is spelt both as antarikSham or antariikSham (short or long i vowel)

so what is seen in between sky and earth is antarIkSham.
the vedic sukta:
नाभ्या आसीत-अन्तरिक्षम् ...(RV 10.90.14)
here nAbhyA is not from nabha (sky), but from nAbhi (navel)

from navel was antarikSham, from head sky (heavens) was gathered, from feet the earth, from ears the directions [and thus] other regions were formulated (akalpayan)

as for the spirituality, the 'vision' of this, you alone can experience it, no one can make you do it. the seers or the interpreter can only give you metaphors, descriptions, and guided with positive energy, you can visualize in your own way.

Anonymous said...

This is wonderful!

Grzegorz said...

Thank You.
This blog is cool place to learn sanskrit.

lakshmi mv said...

A very good blog to know the sanskrit meanings.

sudeepa said...

Very nice. We learnt these as paryayvachis in our grammar classes. May be u can have a similar blog about Earth- bhu,bhoomi, dhara,dharini,dharitri, vasundhara...

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