Mortal Combat and the Hereafter: saṃparāya and sāṃparāya in Sanskrit Literature

Sāṃparāya is a comparatively rare word in Sanskrit literature that has been translated in various ways, among them ‘battle’, ‘the next world’, and ‘transit to the next world’. It is a nominalized adjective derived from saṃparāya, which is in turn derived from the rarely used verb sam+parā+i (to p...

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Main Author: Haas, Dominik A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Fondazione Università Ca’ Foscari 2024-12-01
Series:Bhasha
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Online Access:http://doi.org/10.30687/bhasha/2785-5953/2024/02/004
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author Haas, Dominik A.
author_facet Haas, Dominik A.
author_sort Haas, Dominik A.
collection DOAJ
description Sāṃparāya is a comparatively rare word in Sanskrit literature that has been translated in various ways, among them ‘battle’, ‘the next world’, and ‘transit to the next world’. It is a nominalized adjective derived from saṃparāya, which is in turn derived from the rarely used verb sam+parā+i (to pass away, to decease). The aim of the present paper is to establish the basic meanings of sāṃparāya as well as of its base, saṃparāya, and to investigate how they are used in Sanskrit literature. To this end, text passages from a range of sources are discussed. It is shown that in pre-medieval literature, saṃparāya and sāṃparāya are generally used as variants of one and the same noun, and that this noun has two basic meanings: ‘mortal combat, battle’ and ‘the postmortal, the hereafter’. The plethora of meanings recorded in modern dictionaries were mostly derived from later, highly context-specific commentaries.
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spelling doaj-art-f945cbf3659f408b8af69ce7cd3e22832024-12-18T13:07:26ZengFondazione Università Ca’ FoscariBhasha2785-59532024-12-013210.30687/bhasha/2785-5953/2024/02/004journal_article_18577Mortal Combat and the Hereafter: saṃparāya and sāṃparāya in Sanskrit LiteratureHaas, Dominik A.0Universität Wien, Österreich Sāṃparāya is a comparatively rare word in Sanskrit literature that has been translated in various ways, among them ‘battle’, ‘the next world’, and ‘transit to the next world’. It is a nominalized adjective derived from saṃparāya, which is in turn derived from the rarely used verb sam+parā+i (to pass away, to decease). The aim of the present paper is to establish the basic meanings of sāṃparāya as well as of its base, saṃparāya, and to investigate how they are used in Sanskrit literature. To this end, text passages from a range of sources are discussed. It is shown that in pre-medieval literature, saṃparāya and sāṃparāya are generally used as variants of one and the same noun, and that this noun has two basic meanings: ‘mortal combat, battle’ and ‘the postmortal, the hereafter’. The plethora of meanings recorded in modern dictionaries were mostly derived from later, highly context-specific commentaries. http://doi.org/10.30687/bhasha/2785-5953/2024/02/004Afterlife. Battle. Death. Prakrit. sam+parā+i
spellingShingle Haas, Dominik A.
Mortal Combat and the Hereafter: saṃparāya and sāṃparāya in Sanskrit Literature
Bhasha
Afterlife. Battle. Death. Prakrit. sam+parā+i
title Mortal Combat and the Hereafter: saṃparāya and sāṃparāya in Sanskrit Literature
title_full Mortal Combat and the Hereafter: saṃparāya and sāṃparāya in Sanskrit Literature
title_fullStr Mortal Combat and the Hereafter: saṃparāya and sāṃparāya in Sanskrit Literature
title_full_unstemmed Mortal Combat and the Hereafter: saṃparāya and sāṃparāya in Sanskrit Literature
title_short Mortal Combat and the Hereafter: saṃparāya and sāṃparāya in Sanskrit Literature
title_sort mortal combat and the hereafter samparaya and samparaya in sanskrit literature
topic Afterlife. Battle. Death. Prakrit. sam+parā+i
url http://doi.org/10.30687/bhasha/2785-5953/2024/02/004
work_keys_str_mv AT haasdominika mortalcombatandthehereaftersamparayaandsamparayainsanskritliterature