THE Doctrine of Maya - HolyBooks.com

"""""""""""""HISTORY OF THE WORD "MAYA"cthat the two meanings prajnd and kapatalare themost common, and sometimes run parallel. Forinstance, even in the very first hymn (R.V. i. n. 7).in which the word appears as mdyabhih (and mdyinam),Sayana seems to waver between these twomeanings, and leaves the reader to make his own("choice. He explains mdyabhih by kapatavisesaih(lit. by special stratagems, artifices ")but addsat the same time that it may also mean prajnabhihby wondrous powers/ Griffith) . Wilsonadopts the first meaning, by stratagems/ Ludwig2 translates it as durch ubernatiirliche Kraft."Rosen 3 also renders it asBut thesepraestigiis."are not the only meanings accepted by tradition.In R.V. hi. 27. 7 Sayana explains mdyaydby karmavisaydbhijndnena," 4 i.e., by knowledgeof sacred This rites."meaning appears to us tobe rather far-fetched. In R.V. iii. 60. i he rendersthe same word as karmabhih. 5 In iii. 61. 7, mdydis translated aspower," glory prabharupa,"lit. in the form of effulgence or light. In R.V.1Which mean artifice, deception, cunning. Germ. List,Betrug, Kunst, Kraft, etc.2Ludwig, Der Rigveda. Prag, 1878.3Fridericus Rosen, Rigveda-Samhita, Liber Primus,Sanskrite et Latine, London, 1838.4Sayana derives this meaning thus : mimitejamtekarma miyate anayeti va maya karmavisayajnanam (rootma, to know), 3rd conj. mimite, or ma, to measure, miyate.5Sayana adds miyante jfiayanta iti mayah karmani.:Cf. also R.V. x. 53. where "9, Sayana says Karmana-:maitat."