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Traditional attribution · Essential works

The number debate with Bandin (Mahābhārata 3.132–134)

अष्टावक्रीय (Aṣṭāvakrīya), Mahābhārata 3.132–134

Aṣṭāvakra, acuarela de principios del siglo XIX
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Aṣṭāvakra's answers to the gatekeeper, to King Janaka and to the disputant Bandin. They include the maxim on true old age, which lies in knowledge and not in grey hair, and the tournament of improvised stanzas on the numbers from one to thirteen, in which each figure evokes ritual, cosmological and philosophical groups (two friends, Indra and Agni; twelve months of the year; thirteen metres). Commentators read in it a controversy between doctrines about the unity of the Self.

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Editions and translations · 2

EnglishSánscrito

Authorship note

Verses the Mahābhārata places in Aṣṭāvakra's mouth within the episode narrated by Lomaśa; they belong to the epic, a collective and anonymous composition, and are not an independent work.

Editions and translations

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English

  • The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa: Vana Parva

    Bharata Press (Pratap Chandra Roy), Calcuta, 1884

    Translation: Kisari Mohan Ganguli

    Secciones CXXXII–CXXXIV; dominio público.

Sánscrito · संस्कृतम्

  • The Mahābhārata, vol. 3: Āraṇyakaparvan (edición crítica)

    Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Poona, 1942

    Edición crítica dirigida por V. S. Sukthankar; capítulos 132–134.

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Sources

  • Mahābhārata, Āraṇyakaparvan 3.132–134 (ed. crítica de Poona: V. S. Sukthankar et al., Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, 1942). Traducción inglesa: Kisari Mohan Ganguli (trad.), The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, vol. «Vana Parva», Calcuta, Bharata Press (Pratap Chandra Roy), 1884, secciones CXXXII–CXXXIV (Tirtha-yatra Parva), pp. 396–407.

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