Kabul Museum birch-bark manuscript epigraph segments read rebus as Meluhha hieroglyphs of Bronze Age

Gandhara was the link between the Silk Road, the Tin Road and Sarasvati-Sindhu civilization sites. Buddhism and trade networks had a symbiotic relationship.Buddhism provided support to the merchant networks and merchants supported Buddhism by donations.

Thus manuscripts in Kharoshti and Meluhha epigraphs are a means of spreading both Bauddham and trade. The possibility of continued use of Meluhha epigraphs -- together with kharoṣṭī manuscripts -- during the spread of Buddhism from 1st century BCE cannot be ruled out.

"The Early Buddhist Manuscripts Project was founded at the University of Washington in September 1996 to promote the study, edition and publication of twenty‐seven birch‐bark scrolls, written in the Kharoṣṭhī script and the Gāndhārī language, that had been acquired by the British Library in 1994." If these birch-bark scrolls are not forgery, why should this Kabul Museum mss. be presumed to be a forgery -- merely because there is no consensus, yet, on the cipher used for Meluhha hieroglyphs?

One instance is the Kabul Museum birch-bark manuscript which has to be authenticated and dated.

Artifact with wooden box and label. ID 1000, 7085 in: Western Himalaya Archive Vienna 2009.

ID: SN05 1000, 7086

Photo focused on the lower portion of the artifact.

Partial enlargement of the bottom left-hand corner of the artifact.

Two views of the Kabul Museum manuscript with Meluhha hieroglyphs. Closeup photo of the artifact. Media identity number SN05 1000:7087 in Western Himalaya Archive Vienna 2009.

See: http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2011/11/indus-signs-on-birch-bark-folio-in.html

Segmentation of texts After Fig. 5 by Lucy Zuberbuehler (2009, A comparison of a manuscript with the Indus Script, Univ. of Bern, Fac. of Lettres, Bachelor thesis prepared under the guidance of Prof. Dr. Roland Bielmeier). http://www.docstoc.com/docs/103016650/A-comparison-of-a-manuscript-with-indus-script---Lucy-Zuber-Buehler-(2009) (Embedded)

Comparative charts presented by Lucy Zuberbuehler showing concordance of hieroglyphs between Kabul mss and Indus Script corpora:

After Fig. 8 Near identical graphemes in the Kabul manuscript and the Indus Script (Indu script hieroglyphs are based on Corpus compiled by Parpola, Asko, 2000, Deciphering the Indus Script, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, pp. 7-78)

Fig. 9 Near identical correspondenes in mirror image

Fig. 10 Strong resemblances with fewer strokes

Fig. 11 Uncertain resemblances due to obstructions

Fig. 12 Fair resemblances

Fig. 13 Modifications of other Kabul signs

Fig. 14 No obious resemblances

Fig. 15 Comparison of alternative segmentation

Fig. 16 Comparison of alternative allograph divisions

Notes:

The artifact is a rectangular birch-bark with seven lines of Meluhha hieroglyphs. It is kept in the Sultan Museum in Kabul, founded by Ahmad Shah Sultani, a trader.

No provenience information is available, though the artifact has been archived in Western Himalaya Archive, Vienna 2009.

The birch-bark mss is kept in a wooden box depicting a narrative of three riders on horseback, brandishing clubs.

Lucy's documentation is entirely based on three photographs kept in the West Himalaya Archive of Vienna.

Considering that the University of Washington Buddhist Manuscript project has been substantially based on such birch-bark and other manuscripts, this particular birch-bark mss. should be ab initio be accepted as authentic and further researches carried out on the message contents which are mostly an assemblage of Meluhha hieroglyphs commonly deployed on Indus Writing Corpora.

One notable feature of the hieroglyph assemblage is that the Kabul Museum mss. does not exhibit comparable pictorial motifs taken from Indus Writing Corpora.

One conjecture is that the birch-bark fragment may be a documented summary of consignments of stone- and metal-ware sent on caravans from Gandhara guarded by the horse-riders.

Another conjecture is that the scribe who prepared the birth-bark mss. demonstrates the continued use of Meluhha hieroglyphs, as evidenced by the Sohgaura copper plate with a line of Meluhha hieroglyphs followed by an inscription in Brahmi.

Given the symbiotic relationship between traders and Bauddham practitioners who also produced kharoṣṭī manuscripts of sacred texts of Bauddham, it is possible that the Kabul mss. with Meluhha hieroglyphs may also use some kharoṣṭī syllabic signs to denote the names of parties involved and other bill-of-lading information of the trade transaction/consignments of the trade network.

See:

http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2012/10/a-comparison-of-manuscript-with-indus.html

http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2011/11/indus-signs-on-birch-bark-folio-in.html

http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2011/11/manuscript-has-been-discovered-with.html

Comment by Wim Borsboom (Nov. 19, 20, 2011):

If the birch bark IVC 'Kabul Manuscript' and the 5th century Buddhist Gandharan 'Los Angeles Manuscript' are comparable, and if we can go by the average length of the typical birch tree stripes (lenticels) then the dimension of one 'IVC Kabul Manuscript' folio is only approximately 2 by 3.6 inches or about the size of a business card.

If the small dimensions of the "Kabul IVC Manuscript", as I am suggesting, are correct, then it is surprising that Lucy Zuberbühler who wrote her "undergraduate thesis (!)" (Farmer*) on the Kabul IVC Manuscript, did not catch the following (OR WAS NOT questioned on her assumption of the dimensions.):
L. Z.'s bells should have been ringing, when she read in the 2001 birch-bark conservation report by S. Sayre Batton "...When Buddhist sutras are found *inside* sculptures..." In 'ancient birch-bark manuscript conservation' circles, it is known that certain MSS are often kept inside statues, sometimes even small ones.

Birch-bark mss. Separation Anxiety: The Conservation of a 5th century Buddhist Gandharan Manuscript - Susan Sayre Batton

Daniel Salas has noted a remarkable occurrence of Indus glyphics sequence on the Kabul mss. and compares with an almost identical sequence of glyphics appearing on a Zebu seal with Indus script inscription:

One segment of the Kabul museum birch-bark manuscript is deciphere as follows:

Hieoglyphs r. to l.: notch, spoke of wheel, liquid measure, dual seedling, wide-mouthed pot with infixed notch, structure (Building?)

Readings: खांडा [ khāṇḍā ] m A jag, notch Rebus: khāṇḍā ‘tools, pots and pans, metal-ware’; eraka 'nave of wheel' Rebus: eraka 'copper molten cast'. arā 'Spokes (of wheel)' Rebus: āra 'brass'; ranku 'liquid measure' Rebus: ranku 'tin';. kolmo 'seedling' Rebus: kolimi 'smithy, forge' dula 'pair' Rebus: dul 'cast metal'; baṭi 'broad-mouthed, rimless metal vessel'; rebus: baṭi 'smelting furnace'; khāṇḍā Rebus: khāṇḍā ‘tools, pots and pans, metal-ware’;sangaḍa’frame of a building’ Rebus: jangaḍ ‘entrustment articles'.

Sustantive message can thus be read as: (This is) a native metal consignment. Consignment is on entrustment basis. The bill-of-lading details are: moltencast copper, brass, tin (artifacts, cast metal) worked on smithy/forge; tools, pots and pans, metalware.

Hieroglyph: The zebul: adar ḍangra. Rebus:

aduru ḍhangar‘native metalsmith’. Rebus: aduru ‘native metal’ (Ka.) aduru = gan.iyinda tegadu karagade iruva aduru = ore taken from the mine and not subjected to melting in a furnace (Kannada) (Siddhānti Subrahmaṇya’ śāstri’s new interpretation of the Amarakośa, Bangalore, Vicaradarpana Press, 1872, p. 330) Alternative reading: khũṭ ‘zebu’. Rebus: khũṭ ‘guild, community’ (Semantic determinant of the ‘jointed animals’ glyphic composition). kūṭa joining, connexion, assembly, crowd, fellowship (DEDR 1882) Pa. gotta ‘clan’; Pk. gotta, gōya id. (CDIAL 4279)

khũṭ Brahmani bull (Kathiawar G.); khũṭro entire bull used for agriculture, not for breeding (G.)(CDIAL 3899). khũṭro = entire bull; khũṭ = brāhmaṇi bull (G.) khuṇṭiyo = an uncastrated bull (Kathiawad. Gujarat) khū̃ṭaḍum a bullock (used in Jhālwāḍ)(G.) kuṇṭai = bull (Tamil) cf. khū̃dhi hump on the back; khuī˜dhũ hump-backed (G.)(CDIAL 3902). Rebus: kūṭa a house, dwelling (Sanskrit) khũṭ = a community, sect, society, division, clique, schism, stock; khũṭren peṛa kanako = they belong to the same stock (Santali) khūṭ Nag. khũṭ, kūṭ Has. (Or. khūṭ) either of the two branches of the village family. Rebus: kuṭi, ‘smelting furnace’ (Mundari).kuṭhi, kuṭi (Or.; Sad. koṭhi) (1) the smelting furnace of the blacksmith; kuṭire bica duljaḍko talkena, they were feeding the furnace with ore; (2) the name of ēkuṭi has been given to the fire which, in lac factories, warms the water bath for softening the lac so that it can be spread into sheets; to make a smelting furnace; kut.hi-o of a smelting furnace, to be made; the smelting furnace of the blacksmith is made of mud, cone-shaped, 2’ 6” dia. At the base and 1’ 6” at the top. The hole in the center, into which the mixture of charcoal and iron ore is poured, is about 6” to 7” in dia. At the base it has two holes, a smaller one into which the nozzle of the bellow is inserted, as seen in fig. 1, and a larger one on the opposite side through which the molten iron flows out into a cavity (Mundari)

Parpola had noted an occurrence of similar sequencing of Indus glyphics on inscribed metallic tools/weapons.

Indus script inscriptions on some metal tools/weapons.

Some glyphics on Dholavira signboard are also comparable to sequence in the Kabul mss.

Dholavira signboard glyphic sequence.

Kabul mss with the hieroglyph sequence is read rebus as follows:

खांडा [ khāṇḍā ] m A jag, notch Rebus: khāṇḍā ‘tools, pots and pans, metal-ware’;

Kōḍi corner; kōṇṭu angle, corner, crook. Nk. kōnṭa corner Rebus: kõdā ‘to turn in a lathe’ (Bengali)

aḍaren, ḍaren lid, cover (Santali) Rebus: aduru ‘native metal’ (Kannada) (Note: native metal denotes unsmelted metal, such as meteoric iron).

This is the middle segment of Dholavira signboard which has 3 segment messaging. This sequence of hieroglyphs has been read rebus. The cipher text and plain text are reproduced below.

Four hieroglyphs in sequence (from r. to l.): Native metal tools, pots and pans, metalware, engraving (molten cast copper)

खांडा [ khāṇḍā ] m A jag, notch, or indentation (as upon the edge of a tool or weapon). (Marathi) Rebus: khāṇḍā ‘tools, pots and pans, metal-ware’.

aḍaren, ḍaren lid, cover (Santali) Rebus: aduru ‘native metal’ (Ka.) aduru = gan.iyinda tegadu karagade iruva aduru = ore taken from the mine and not subjected to melting in a furnace (Kannada) (Siddhānti Subrahmaṇya’ śāstri’s new interpretation of the Amarakośa, Bangalore, Vicaradarpana Press, 1872, p. 330)

koṇḍa bend (Ko.); Tu. Kōḍi corner; kōṇṭu angle, corner, crook. Nk. kōnṭa corner (DEDR 2054b) G. khū̃ṭṛī f. ʻangleʼ Rebus: kõdā‘to turn in a lathe’(B.) कोंद kōnda ‘engraver, lapidary setting or infixing gems’ (Marathi) koḍ ‘artisan’s workshop’ (Kuwi) koḍ = place where artisans work (G.) ācāri koṭṭya ‘smithy’ (Tu.) कोंडण [kōṇḍaṇa] f A fold or pen. (Marathi) B. kõdā ‘to turn in a lathe’; Or.kū̆nda ‘lathe’, kũdibā, kū̃d ‘to turn’ (→ Drav. Kur. Kū̃d ’ lathe’) (CDIAL 3295) A. kundār, B. kũdār, ri, Or.Kundāru; H. kũderā m. ‘one who works a lathe, one who scrapes’, rī f., kũdernā ‘to scrape, plane, round on a lathe’; kundakara—m. ‘turner’ (Skt.)(CDIAL 3297). कोंदण [ kōndaṇa ] n (कोंदणें) Setting or infixing of gems.(Marathi) খোদকার [ khōdakāra ] n an engraver; a carver. খোদকারি n. engraving; carving; interference in other’s work. খোদাই [ khōdāi ] n engraving; carving. খোদাই করা v. to engrave; to carve. খোদানো v. & n. en graving; carving. খোদিত [ khōdita ] a engraved. (Bengali) खोदकाम [ khōdakāma ] n Sculpture; carved work or work for the carver. खोदगिरी [ khōdagirī ] f Sculpture, carving, engraving: also sculptured or carved work. खोदणावळ [ khōdaṇāvaḷa ] f (खोदणें) The price or cost of sculpture or carving. खोदणी [ khōdaṇī ] f (Verbal of खोदणें) Digging, engraving &c. 2 fig. An exacting of money by importunity. V लाव, मांड. 3 An instrument to scoop out and cut flowers and figures from paper. 4 A goldsmith’s die. खोदणें [ khōdaṇēṃ ] v c & i ( H) To dig. 2 To engrave. खोद खोदून विचारणें or –पुसणें To question minutely and searchingly, to probe. खोदाई [ khōdāī ] f (H.) Price or cost of digging or of sculpture or carving. खोदींव [ khōdīṃva ] p of खोदणें Dug. 2 Engraved, carved, sculptured. (Marathi)

eraka ‘knave of wheel’ Rebus: eraka ‘copper’ (Kannada) eraka ‘molten cast (metal)(Tulu).

S. Kalyanaraman

March 12, 2014

Annex on bhaga 'divine' in bhagavato okkanti inscription on Bharhut pillar

BAGA, an Old Iranian term for “god,” sometimes designating a specific god.

i. General.

ii. In Old and Middle Iranian.

iii. The use of baga in names.

i. General

Baga- is attested in early and late Iranian with two meanings (1) agent noun “distributor,” glossed by Parsi Sanskrit vibhaktar- and (2) noun of action and result “portion.” Beside the noun, the verb bag- “give or receive portions” is in frequent use: bag-, present baj- and baxš-, participle baxta-, and nominal derivative bāga-. The cognate words are cited in full in Dictionary of Khotan Saka, p. 300: Avestanbaž-, baxta-, bāga-; Sogdian βaxš-, βxt-, βγn-; Zoroastrian Pahlavi baxš-, baxt; Khotan Saka būṣṣ-, būta-; Old Indian (Sanskrit) bhájatiṃbhaktá-, bhága-, bhāgá, traced in Indo-European in J. Pokorny, Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern and Munich, 1959, p. 107 s.v. bhag-.

The agent noun baga- “distributor” was adopted as a name for “god” and “gods.” In Old Persian baga- occurs beside maθišta bagānām “greatest of gods” for Ahuramazdā. It renders the Akkadian Semitic ilu “god.”

In the Avesta the word yazata- “worshipful” was preferred, the later Zor. Pahl. yazdand Ossetic izäd, in Greek script isdi- in the name Isdigerdēs, Yazdkirt, Armenian Yazkert. The other word of divinity, dai- “shine,” is retained once in the Avestan word dyaoš “from the sky” (genitive from dyau-) and in daiva- of the Avestan phrase daēvāiš-ca mašyāiš-ca “with gods and men.” Normally this word for the ancient gods was developed to “devils” in the Zoroastrian tradition. The North Iranian Khotan Saka also had developed dyūva- “devil” from daiva. A trace of the older “god” can be seen in the name Dēv-dād “created by god.” Xerxes in a Persepolis inscription reported daivadānam viyakanam “I destroyed the house of devils” (XPh 37).

In the later Zoroastrian books Pahlavi and Pazand baga- became baγ (bkˈ, bγˈ, Pāzand baγ) and occurs associated with yazata- in the phrase yazdān baγān “gods” (bkʾn, bγʾn). A lost nask “book” of the Avesta (a word preserved in its earlier non-technical sense in Caucasian Georgian naskʾ-v-i “knot,” verbal naskʾ-va) was calledBaγ (bkˈ) and Baγān. The Avestan baγō.baxta- can be rendered either “bestowed as a portion” or “distributed by the gods,” the second meaning can be supported by the compound (Dēnkard, ed. Madan, p. 603.6) baγ-tāšīt “created by gods.” The Aramaic ALḤA “god” was interpreted by baγ; it is used in the Ḥājjīābād inscription and in the inscription of Šāpūr I, Parthian line 1 mzdyzn ALḤA, *mazdēẓn baγ, Greek masdaasnēs theos. The king Ḵosrow I is called im baγ “his present Majesty” (Dēnkard, p. 413.9). Šāpūr son of Ohrmazd is quoted in Škand-gumānīk Vičār (ed. P. J. de Menasce, Fribourg, 1945, pp. 118-19, 10.70) ōi baγ šāhpūr ī šāhą šāh i hōrməzdq “the god Šāpūr king of kings son of Ohrmazd.” The baγ yazdkart is cited in Dēnkard, p. 949, 21. The word baγa- gave Sogdian βγ (in Arabic script this β- was expressed by the letter f with three dots on it, which in normal Arabic could be replaced by f). The Buddhist Sogdian employed βγ- of the Buddha P 2.1137-45 βγʾn βγtm pwty “the most godlike of gods Buddha.” The Khotan Saka had preferredgyastānu gyastä “god of gods” from yazata-. Sogdian had the plural βγʾyšt, *βaγišt, gen. plural βγʾn, *βaγān, and βγʾstʾn, *βaγastān for “paradise.”

The Kušan bagapouro (from baga-puθra-) is represented in Turfan Parthianbγpwhr and New Persian faγfūr, and found in Armenian čen-bakour, the Chinese imperial title ṭʿien-tsï “son of heaven,” to which the Old Indian word was deva-putra-. Manichean and Christian texts use this same word for “son of god.”

Turfan Parthian had bg, *baγ with plural baγān and adjective baγānīγ. Turfan Persian had developed -y- from -γ- in by, *bay, plural baʾān (bʾʾn) and adjectivebayānīγ. This bai is found in New Persian bē-doxt, bē-loft from *baga-duxtā“daughter of god” for the planet Venus. About A.D. 800 Iranian baγ is present in Kirkut (Qiṛγiz) bai, written by the Chinese sign buâi (Mathews, Chinese-English Dictionary, no. 4991, modern pei) cited in JA, 1950, p. 298. The Kirkut adopted the Turkish language only in the 7th-8th centuries.

Khotan Saka has beʾga-, baʾga-, and be- in the title beʾgarakä, baʾgarakä, andberakä for Turkish bägräk. From Turkish, in proper names Ossetic has bī “prince,” as in Baras-bī “tiger, prince.”

Turkish took the title bäg, beg, and later bey; in early Turkish in Brāhmī script it was bhek, and in Byzantine Greek the Khazar title was written mékh. The formbägräk occurs in a Turfan Manichean source. In Arabic script the Turkish title wasbag, baḵ, and bāk.

The sacred fire called farn-baγ “the distributor (god) of farn” (farn was equated with Aramaic GDHǰ “fortune”) was located at Kārīān in Fārs. The Pāzand read the name as farō-bag and in Armenian it probably gave hour-bak.

In Kushan inscriptions this baga- is vaka- and vvaga-in the name Vaka-mihira and Vvaga-mihira “the god Miθra.” The v- and vv- are an attempt to express the fricative β. The Kushan bakana-pati- “temple official” is βγn-pt in Sogdian. Armenian has bagin (q.v.) “shrine, altar” from Parthian.

Choresmian from Toprak-kala has βγy for the sixteenth day of the month corresponding to mtr “Miθra,” as Bīrūnī gave fyγ, *βaγ, from βaγi for the same day.

The word baga- occurs in many proper names in ancient Persia. In Greek these names are written with Baga- and Mega-. The name bg-srw, *baga-srava- occurs in an Aramaic papyrus from Egypt.

Two toponyms contain the word baga- in Persia, others are in Armenia. The rock of Behistūn, Bīsotūn is on tò Bagístanon óros. The Bundahišn cites Baγ-dāt ī baγān-dāt “Baghdad which is created by the god(s)” (TD₂, p. 205.12).

In the sense of “portion” Gathic Avestan has baga-, beside later baγa- and baγā-, which is glossed by Zor. Pahl. baγ, bažišn, and baxtārīh.

The derivative baxta- “distributed, allotted” also is frequent later. The Avestan phrase in Vištāsp yašt 38, baxta-ca nivaxta-ca, is explained to mean pat nēvakīh ut frazandān “possessed of good things and children” where “possessed” is Pahlavibaxtadār (baxtiyār). The baxt “fortune” takes the form of a varrak ī vazurg “great ram” mounted behind Artaxšaθr (Ardašīr) in his flight from Artapān (Ardavān).

The noun derivative bāga- is also important in connection with baga-. A later form is attested in Khotan Saka haṃbāya- (sing. haṃbā, plural haṃbāya) “portion” corresponding to Turfan Parthian ʾmbʾg, *ambāγ, Turfan Persian hmbʾw, *hambāv, “rival,” Zor. Pahl. hambāγ, Pāzand hambāi, hambāe “companion.” Through connection with “possessions” the Iranian bāy gave Turkish bai “rich,” whence Mongol bayan “rich.” In Ossetic the Turkish bai- occurs in the personal family name Bai-tuγantä “rich” and “bird of prey.” As a “portion of land” New Persian has bāγ “garden” and Pāzand has bāγastą i vahəšt “garden of Paradise,” that is Garō’amān, and vahišt is in Zor. Pahlavi bō’astān “garden as place of perfumes.” From Alanian (that is older Ossetic) Caucasian Čečen has (with many other words of Alanian origin) the word bai “meadow, lawn,” plural beš, with Ingušbai, plural bäš (the plural suffix is -aš and -s-).

This bāy “rich” is also found in the Finno-Ugrian Ostyak way.

(H. W. Bailey)

ii. In Old and Middle Iranian

The old IE. term for the heavenly gods, the cognate of OInd. devá-, Lat. deus, etc., was generally devalued in Iranian to “false or evil god” and ultimately “demon” (Av.daēva-, Old Pers. daiva-, Mid. Pers. dēw, etc.). In the sense “god,” this word was replaced either by yazata- “(a being) worthy of worship” (Av. yazata-, Mid. Pers.yaz(a)d, NPers. īzad, etc.) or by baga-.

It is not likely that OIr. baga- derives from a word meaning “god” in IE., despite the occurrence of bogŭ “god” in the Slavonic languages (probably as a result of Iranian influence). Etymologically, baga- “god” belongs to the verbal root bag “to distribute, allot” and may be equated with OInd. bhága-, a divine epithet probably meaning “dispenser; generous one,” beside which there exists also a second nounbhága- “distribution, allotted portion” equivalent to Av. baγa- “portion, lot,” Slavonic *bogŭ in derivatives such as ubogŭ “poor” (from “*portionless”). It is this latter word which is personified in the Rigveda as the minor deity Bhaga (one of the Ādityas, a group headed by Varuṇa and Mitra). (See P. Thieme in B. Schlerath, ed.,Zarathustra, Darmstadt, 1970, p. 401.)

Av. baga- occurs only once in the Gāθās, in a much-debated passage (Y. 32.8) where it possibly means “portion” or “distribution.” In the later Avestan texts baγa- occurs occasionally as a title of divinities (Ahura Mazdā, Māh, Mithra), but it is debatable whether it should still be understood in the earlier sense of “dispenser” (cf. OInd. bhága-) or already as “god.” The development of the latter meaning is securely attested in Old Persian, where baga-, translated by words meaning “god” in Babylonian and Elamite, is the only generic term for the divinities worshipped by the Achaemenids.

There is no certain trace of baga- in the Mid. Ir. Saka dialects, where forms derived from yazata- (Khot. gyasta-, Tumshuqese jezda-) are used instead, while Islamic Choresmian has adopted Ar. ʾllh for “God” (but cf. Chor. (‘)βγ(y)k “doll” from *baga-ka-). All other attested Mid. Ir. languages retain forms derived from baga- in the sense “god”: Mid. Pers. bay (plur. bayān, baʾān), Parth. baγ, Bactr. bago, Sogd.βγ-. All these forms are used as honorific titles, not only of gods but also of kings and other men of high rank, in which case the translation “lord” is usually appropriate, e.g., Bactr. i bago šao Kanēški “the lord king Kanishka.” In Zoroastrian Pahl. im bay “this lord” and ōy bay “that lord” mean “His (present) Majesty” and “His late Majesty” respectively. A peculiar use of the plur. form to refer to the monarch is found in the Sasanian inscriptions (and perhaps in the Sogd. “Ancient letters,” see W. B. Henning, “Soghdisch βγʾʾn-,” ZDMG 90, 1936, pp. 197-99), e.g., Inscr. Parth. LKM ʾLḤYN (išmāh baγān) “Your Majesty.” A derivation of the Turk. lordly title bäg, later bey, from Iranian is superficially attractive but quite uncertain (see G. Doerfer, Türkische und mongolische Elemente im NeupersischenII, Wiesbaden, 1965, pp. 402-06).

It is probable that baga- “god” sometimes designates a specific deity as “the god”parexcellence. Various attempts have been made to identify “the god” so referred to, as Ahura Mazdā, as Mithra, or as an Iranian equivalent of the Vedic Varuṇa (see M. Boyce, “Varuna the Baga,” further identifying Varuṇa with the Av. Apąm Napāt [q.v.]), but no basis has ever been stated for the assumption that baga- “the god” in a personal name such as *Baga-dāta- “given by (the) god” must refer to the same divinity at all periods and in all parts of the Iranian world. However, strong evidence that Baga was sometimes used as a by-name of Mithra is provided by calendrical data first exploited by J. Marquart (Markwart), Untersuchungen zur Geschichte von Eran I, Göttingen, 1896, pp. 63-65; II, Leipzig, 1905, pp. 129, 132-34 (see also V. A. Livshits, “The Khwarezmian Calendar and the Eras of Ancient Chorasmia,” Acta Antiqua Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 16, 1968, pp. 444-46, for Chor. data). Thus, the seventh month of the year is named after Mithra in Mid. Pers. Mihr māh, Arm. Mehekan, early Chor. mtr, but after Baga in Old Pers. *Bāgayādiya (attested in El. transcription) and Bāgayādi(š) (q.v.), Sogd. βγkʾn(c)(cf. the similar formations used to name the ninth month: Mid. Pers. Ādur māh, Arm. Mehekan, early Chor. ʾtrw, Old Pers. Āçiyādiya (q.v.) and *Āçiyādi(š)). Likewise, the sixteenth day of the month is known as Mihr rōz in Mid. Pers., mtr in early Chor., myš in the Sogd. calendar given by Bīrūnī, etc., but as fyγ (for *βyγ) in Bīrūnī’s Chor. calendar, βγy-rwc in a Sogd. document from Mount Mug, bgy in a Chor. inscription.

A different interpretation of these facts was proposed by W. B. Henning, “A Sogdian God,” BSOAS 28, 1965, pp. 242-54. Chiefly on the basis of an etymology of Sogd.βγʾny-pš-ktʾkw “wedding” as “making of a Baga-union” and a reference to βγy, apparently as a god distinct from my’rʾ “Mithra,” in a Sogd. marriage contract, he identifies Baga with the Vedic Bhaga: both in India and in Iran, B(h)aga would be a god with a “special interest in marriage” and closely associated (but not identical) with Mit(h)ra. This theory has been supported with onomastic data by P. Gignoux, “Le dieu Baga en Iran,” Acta Antiqua Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 25, 1977 (1980), pp. 119-27, but it has also been strongly challenged, see especially A. Dietz, “Baga and Miθra in Sogdiana,” in Ētudes mithriaques, Acta Iranica 17, Tehran and Liège, 1978, pp. 111-14, and S. Zimmer, “Iran. baga—ein Gottesname?” MSS 43, 1984, pp. 187-215, and cannot be regarded as proven.

Bibliography:

The article by S. Zimmer just cited includes a useful discussion of most problems concerning baga-, while the Old and Mid. Ir. usage is surveyed by M. Boyce, “Varuna the Baga,” in Monumentum Georg Morgenstierne, Acta Iranica 21, Leiden, 1981, pp. 59-73, esp. 61-65.

On the relationship between OIr. baga- and OInd. bhága-, Slavonic bogŭ see M. Mayrhofer, Kurzgefasstes etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindischen II, Heidelberg, 1963, pp. 457-59.

Regarding H. W. Bailey’s suggested reading and interpretation of Khot. *vvūvayauas a royal title derived from *baga-yauna- (e.g., in The Culture of the Sakas in Ancient Iranian Khotan, Col. Lect. Ser. 1, Delmar, 1982, p. 11) see R. E. Emmerick in Studies in the Vocabulary of Khotanese II, ed. R. E. Emmerick and P.O. Skjærvø, Vienna, 1987, pp. 132-34.

(N. Sims-Williams)

iii. The Use of Baga in Names

Baga- as a name element occurs in names of towns, e.g., Bagadāta-, modern Baghdad “given by baga” or “established by baga,” *Bagadāna- “temple (?) of (the) god(s),” Old Armenian Bagaran, a town and a village (see Hübschmann), with derivative suffix -ka- Bactrian bagolaggo “altar” (or proper name “The Sanctuary”), today Baḡlān, name of the region (see Henning), Bagastāna- in Media “place of the gods,” so named after the nearby Bīsotūn carvings and inscriptions,Bag(e)is in Lydia; rivers, e.g., Bagrades, today Nābendrūd, Bagossala, probably modern Bug, Ukraine; and mountains, e.g., tò Bagístanon óros at Bagastāna, see above, Bagôon óros between Areia and Drangiana (see Pauly-Wissowa, II, 2, cols. 2765-74; S. I, col. 237). Most of the names, however, are personal names and exclusively men’s names. All three Indo-European name types are attested, namely, one-stem-names (“short names”), derivatives (mostly hypocoristica), and compound names. Short names are seldom (e.g., Baga inscription of Priene, 1st cent. A.D.; perhaps Vaga, “Indoscythian” stratega inscription, ca. 20 A.D.). The hypocoristica (e.g., Bagaios, Bagauka-) have been treated in many articles by R. Schmitt (see Schmitt, 1982 and “Indogermanische Chronik”). Of compound names,Bagabigna- and Bagahuxša- are attested in the Old Persian inscriptions (see IPNB), but more than 60 other Old Iranian names are found from the sixth or even eighth century B.C. in Aramaic, Armenian, Babylonian, Egyptian, Elamite, Greek, Hebrew, Indo-Arian, Latin, Lydian, and Lykian tradition, see Schmitt, 1982 with references, also to the studies on the phonetic shape of Old Iranian baga- in these languages respectively. The Middle Iranian names are only partially published, see Gignoux, 1980a, 1980b, and forthcoming parts of Iranisches Personennamenbuch. At present, four baga names are known from epigraphical Middle Persian: ʾtwrbg, bgʾtwr, bgʾwhrm[zd], plnbgy (this itself part of compounds), and one from Sogdian: βγyfrn. On the linguistic classification and interpretation of these compound names, see Schmitt, 1981, and Zimmer, 1984.

Contrary to the opinion of Gignoux, 1980a and b, these names do not provide any evidence for the existence of an Iranian deity “Baga.” See the detailed analysis of the arguments in Zimmer, 1984. Old Iranian baga-, from Indo-Iranian *bhaga-, means “allotment, distribution,” later also “god” [but see also baga i, above], and in Middle Iranian bag/bay “god, lord” as a mode of address of gods and noble men. Nowhere in Iranian is this word a name. Only in India did the concept of “allotment, distribution” become the Āditya Bhaga.

Mayrhofer’s suggestion (Etymological Sanskrit Dictionary II, p. 457) that baga- in Iranian names replaces the old *daiva- whose meaning had been changed to “evil deity” by Zarathustra, is quite attractive, but hard to prove.

The Old Persian month name Bāgayādi- (q.v.) is interpreted by R. Schmitt as “(month of) worship of the god,” against Henning’s suggestion “(month of) fertilizing (?) the fields” (comparing Middle and Modern Persian bāḡ “garden” [q.v.]). This interpretation is supported by the parallel formationAçiyādiya/*Açiyādiš (Elamite) “(month of) fire-worship” (cf. the Middle Persian month Ādur, Armenian Ahekan; see i, above). This could imply a special worship of Miθra (?) in one month, and of Ātar in the other, perhaps because of some major feasts celebrated in these months.

For place and personal names containing Baga-, see, e.g., bagaran; bagawan; bagayarīč; bagazušta; baghdad; bagratids.

Bibliography:

Ph. Gignoux, “Le dieux Baga en Iran,” Acta Antiqua Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 25, 1977 [1980], pp. 119-27 (1980a).

Idem, “Les noms propres en moyen-perse épigraphique,” Pad nām ī yazdān, Université de la Sorbonne Nouvelle, Travaux de l’Institut d’Ētudes Iraniennes 9, 1979 [1980], pp. 35-100 (1980b).

W. B. Henning, “Surkh Kotal,” BSOAS 18, 1956, pp. 366-67, Acta Iranica 15, 1977, pp. 503-04.

W. Hinz, Altiranisches Sprachgut der Nebenüberlieferungen, Wiesbaden, 1975.

H. Hübschmann, “Die Altarmenischen Ortsnamen,” Indogermanische Forschungen16, 1904, pp. 410-11.

M. Mayrhofer, A Concise Etymological Sanskrit Dictionary (Kurzgefasstes Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindischen), Heidelberg, 1965-80. Idem,Onomastica Persepolitana, Vienna, 1973, esp. 8.184-8.244.

M. Mayrhofer and R. Schmitt, eds., Iranisches Personennamenbuch, Vienna, 1977ff. (IPNB). R. Schmitt, “Altpersisch-Forschung in den Siebzigerjahren,”Kratylos 25, 1980 [1982], pp. 1-66.

Idem, “Indogermanische Chronik, chap. V c 3,” Die Sprache, Vienna, twice yearly.

Idem, review of Gignoux, 1980b, Studia Iranica 10, 1981, pp. 154-59.

St. Zimmer, “Iran. baga- —ein Gottesname?” MSS 43, 1984, pp. 187-215 (with further references).

R. Zwanziger, Studien zur Nebenüberlieferung iranischer Personennamen in den griechischen Inschriften Kleinasiens, Ph.D. dissertation, Vienna, 1973.

(H. W. Bailey, N. Sims-Williams, St. Zimmer)

Originally Published: December 15, 1988

Last Updated: August 22, 2011

This article is available in print.
Vol. III, Fasc. 4, pp. 403-406

http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/baga-an-old-iranian-term-for-god-sometimes-designating-a-specific-god

Sanskrit bhaga is a term for "lord, patron", but also for "wealth, prosperity". The cognate term in Avestan and Old Persian is baga, of uncertain meaning but used in a sense in which "lord, patron" might also apply. A Slavic cognate is bog "god". While the word "bog" denoted nearly all Slavic gods, the word Deva in its cognate Div was used only for the creator god - Rod, the Slavic equivalent ofBrahma.^{[citation needed]} The semantics is similar to English lord (from hlaford "bread warden"), the idea being that it is part of the function of a chieftain or leader to distribute riches or spoils among his followers. The name Baghdad shares its origins with the Middle Persian baga (baga-data: "god given", modern Persian: "Baghdad")

Personified, Bhaga is one of the Adityas, a god of wealth and marriage in Hinduism. Virabhadra, a great powerful hero created byShiva, once blinded him. In the Rigveda Bhaga is the god who supervises the distribution of goods and destiny to each man corresponding to his merits. The word apparently, is cognative to "Bhagavan" and "Bhagya", terms used in several Indian languages to refer to God & destiny respectively.

In some references Bhag, Bhaga or Bhagya is miss-termed as Lord Sun. In fact Bhagya is the son of Lord Sun. Father Sun awarded him with the powers to give away or take away anything from the human race. He is the real and practical benefactor among all the 33 Crore deities.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhaga

Bhagavan, also written Bhagwan or Bhagawan, from the Sanskrit nt-stem bhaga-vant-(nominative भगवान् Bhagavān) literally means "possessing fortune, prosperous" (from the nounbhaga, meaning "fortune, wealth", cognate to Slavic bog "god", Russian богатый (boga'ch)"wealthy"), and hence "illustrious, divine, venerable, holy", etc.^[1]

In some traditions of Hinduism it is used to indicate the Supreme Being or Absolute Truth, but with specific reference to that Supreme Being as possessing a personality (a personalGod).^[2]^[3] This personal feature indicated in Bhagavan differentiates its usage from other similar terms^[4] such as Brahman, the "Supreme Spirit" or "spirit", and thus, in this usage,Bhagavan is in many ways analogous to the general Christian conception of God.

Bhagavan used as a title of veneration is often translated as "Lord", as in "Bhagavan Rama","Bhagavan Krishna", "Bhagavan Shiva", etc. In Buddhism and Jainism, Gautama Buddha,Mahavira and other Tirthankaras, Buddhas and bodhisattvas are also venerated with this title. The feminine of Bhagavat is Bhagawatī and is an epithet of Durga and other goddesses.

The title is also used by a number of contemporary spiritual teachers in India who claim to be Bhagavan or have realized impersonal Brahman.

^ Macdonell Sanskrit-English dictionary
Jump up^ Who is Krishna? "God the person, or Bhagavan"
Jump up^ About Bhagwan? "Know about Bhagwan"
Jump up^ Bhag-P 1.2.11 "Learned transcendentalists who know the Absolute Truth call this nondual substance Brahman, Paramatma or Bhagavan"

In [bhagavad gita] it clearly stated that bhagavan is just the avatar of supreme lord in the earth in other words the avatars of supreme lord as being human is termed as Bhagavan.

vadanti tat tattva-vidas

tattvam yaj jnanam advayam

brahmeti paramatmeti

bhagavan iti sabdyate

Srimad Bhagavatam 1.2.11: Learned transcendentalists who know the Absolute Truth call this nondual substance Brahman, Paramatma or Bhagavan

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhagavan

The Bhagavata Purana (1.2.11) states the definition of Bhagavan to mean the supreme most being:

The Learned Know the Absolute Truth call this nondual substance Brahman,Paramatma or Bhagavan.^[a]

The Sanskrit word bhagavan is explained in the Vishnu Purana (6.5.74, Venkateshvara edition 1910) by the great authority, Parashara Muni, the father of Vyasa Deva, defines Bhagavan as one who possesses six opulences completely, as follows:

The Supreme Personality who possesses all riches, all strength, all fame, all beauty, all knowledge and all renunciation is called Bhagavan. There are many persons who are very rich, very powerful, very beautiful, very famous, very learned, and very much detached, but no one can claim that he possesses all riches, all strength, etc., entirely.^[b]

The Bhāgavat religion of early Hinduism is documented epigraphically from around 100 BCE, such as in the inscriptions of the Heliodorus pillar, in which Heliodorus, an Indo-Greek ambassador from Taxila to the court of a Sunga king, describes himself as a Bhagavata ("Heliodorena bhagavatena"):

This Garuda-standard of Vasudeva (Vishnu), the God of Gods
was erected here by the Bhagavata Heliodoros, the son of Dion, a man of Taxila, sent by the Great Greek (Yona) King Antialcidas, as ambassador to King Kasiputra Bhagabhadra, the Savior
son of the princess from Benares, in the fourteenth year of his reign."^[c]

[Archaeological Survey of India, Annual Report (1908-1909)]

^ vadanti tat tattva-vidas/ tattvam yaj jnanam advayam/ brahmeti paramatmeti/ bhagavan iti sabdyate
Jump up^ aiśvaryasya samagrasya vīryasya yaśasaḥ śriyaḥ/ jñāna-vairāgyayoś caiva/ ṣannāḥ bhaga itīraṇā
Jump up^ Devadevasa Va [sude]vasa Garudadhvajo ayam/ karito i[a] Heliodorena bhaga-/ vatena Diyasa putrena Takhasilakena/ Yonadatena agatena maharajasa/ Amtalikitasa upa[m]ta samkasam-rano/ Kasiput[r]asa [Bh]agabhadrasa tratarasa/ vasena [chatu]dasena rajena vadhamanasa

The word "Bhagava" is used many times to refer to the Buddha in the Pali suttas. The term "Bhagava" has been used in Pali Anussati or recollections as one of the terms that describes the "Tathagatha".

In the Buddha anussati, Bhagavan is defined the following way:

Iti pi so Bhagavā

Thus is Buddha,

1) Arahaṃ - deserving homage.

2) Sammā-sambuddho - perfectly awakened.

3) Vijjā-caraṇa sampanno - perfect in true knowledge and conduct.

4) Sugato - well gone (to Nibbana)

5) Lokavidū - knower of the worlds

6) Anuttaro purisa-damma-sārathi - incomparable leader (lit. charioteer) of persons to be tamed.

7) Satthā deva-manusānaṃ - teacher of gods and humans.

8) Buddho - awakened one.

9) Bhagavāti - Blessed One.

Sākamunisa bhagavato

Greek meridarch (civil governorof a province) named Theodorus records how he enshrined relics of the Buddha in kharoṣṭī inscriptions. They are on a vase found inside a stupa, dated to ca. 1st cent. BCE (reign of Menander of his successor)(Tarn, p. 391).

Theudorena meridarkhena pratithavida ime sarira sakamunisa bhagavato bahu-jana-stitiye (Trans. The meridarch Theodorus has enshrined relics of Lord Shakyamuni, for the welfare of the mass of the people).

Theodorus was a "meridarch" (Civil Governor of a province) in the Swat province of the Indo-Greek kingdom in the northern Indian sub-continent, probably sometime between 100 BCE and the end of Greek rule in Gandhara in 55 BCE.

He is only known from a dedication written in kharoshthi on a relic vase inserted in a stupa in the Swat area of Gandhara, dated to the 1st century BCE (line-for-line translation):

:"Theudorena meridarkhena:"pratithavida:"ime sarira:"Sakamunisa bhagavato:"bahu-jana-stitiye"

:"The meridarch Theodorus :has enshrined :these relics:of Lord Shakyamuni,:for the welfare of the mass of the people"

:(Swāt relic vase inscription of the Meridarkh Theodoros [http://depts.washington.edu/ebmp/etext.php?cki=CKI0032] )

This inscription represents one of the first known mention of the Buddha as a deity, using the Indian bhakti word Bhagavat ("Lord", "All-embracing personal deity"), suggesting the emergence ofMahayana doctrines in Buddhism.

It is also one of the examples of direct involvement of the Greeks with the Buddhist religion in India.

Theodorus is considered as contemporary or slightly posterior to another Indo-Greek named Heliodorus, whose c.100 BCE inscriptions have been preserved in the Heliodorus pillar.

References

*"Monnaies Gréco-Bactriennes et Indo-Grecques, Catalogue Raisonné", Osmund Bopearachchi, 1991, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, ISBN 2-7177-1825-7.
* "The Shape of Ancient Thought. Comparative studies in Greek and Indian Philosophies" by Thomas McEvilley (Allworth Press and the School of Visual Arts, 2002) ISBN 1-58115-203-5
* "Buddhism in Central Asia" by B.N. Puri (Motilal Banarsidass Pub, January 1, 2000) ISBN 81-208-0372-8
* "The Greeks in Bactria and India", W.W. Tarn, Cambridge University Press.

http://en.academic.ru/dic.nsf/enwiki/1162426

Scroll. Taxila, India Silver, Ca. 1st Century I.E. National Museum, New Delhi

Year 136, on the 15th day of the first month, ashadha, on this day were established relics of the Lord by Urasaka, of the sons of Imtavhria, the Bactrian, the resident of the town of Noacha. By him these relics of the Lord were established in his own bodhisattva chapel, in the Dharmarajika compound of Takshasila for the bestowal of health on the Great King, the King of Kings, the Son of Heaven, th Kushana, in honour of all Buddhas, in honour of all Prtyekabuddhas, in honour of the Arhats, in honour of all beings, in honour of mother and father, in honour of friends, ministers, kinsmen, and blood relations, for the bestowal of health upon himself. May this pioud donation lead to Nirvana. (Text and translation based on Konow. 1929:77).

Kabul Museum birch-bark manuscript epigraph segments read rebus as Meluhha hieroglyphs of Bronze Age

Trending Articles

Practice Sheet of Right form of verbs for HSC Students

Download: FK ft Shenky – Nakuyewa ”Prod by: Shenky”

How to win at Markstrat (Markstrat Tips and Tricks) – Vodites

Ominde Commission Report and Recommendations – Ominde Report of 1964

Bureau of Internal Revenue: Regional Offices (Directory)

GO 53 on Enhancement of Ex-gratia upto 5 Lakhs Toddy Tappers in Telangana

Cakewalk CA-2A Leveling Amplifier v2.0.1.97 WiN, v2.0.1.96 OSX Incl Keygen

Mp3 Download: Mdu - Kunjenjenjena

How the kill the job , when DTP request running for long hours.

Microsoft Intune から展開しているアプリのアップデートについて

18-year-old girl was beaten for half an hour by two Northampton men in 'an...

Car crash in Dunton Bassett leaves driver in critical condition

Macky 2, Two Others In Road Accident

Application log 00000000000000089514: Could not convert queue DLVST90CLNT

Detroit mafia: D’Anna Brothers agree to plea deal

Delivery block field greyed out using VA02

Muloraki Au

【個人撮影】スマホのプライベート映像♪「中に出さないで///」カラオケ屋での生ハメ撮りが流出ｗ【リベンジポルノ】＠PornHub

BREAKING NEWS: Diamond Platnumz Is Reported Dead After Ghastly Car Accident

FIAT 500 B0111 B0112