Essay name: Purana Bulletin
Author:
Affiliation: University of Kerala / Faculty of Oriental Studies
The "Purana Bulletin" is an academic journal published in India. The journal focuses on the study of Puranas, which are a genre of ancient Indian literature encompassing mythological stories, traditions, and philosophical teachings. They represent Hindu scriptures in Sanskrit and cover a wide range of subjects.
Purana, Volume 9, Part 1 (1967)
137 (of 228)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
Download the PDF file of the original publication
Jan., 1967] XANDRAMES OF THE CLASSICAL ACCOUNTS 129 It is a word
neuter gender: as it is, we cannot apply it to a man.
like sh膩sana, meaning "mastery" or "subdual", which also being
neuter cannot go into a personal name unless there is h after it as
in the well-known name of Indra, Pakashasanah, which that god
carries as the subduer of or master over the demon P膩ka. So the
one whose offspring is Chandr膩msa must bear the name Nakhap膩na岣�.
Our text does not contradict such an assumption, since the only
instance in which his name appears is the word Nakhapana-jah
and, when there is already h at the end of a word, Sanskrit
grammar will not allow another in the midst of the expression.
The absence of h after pana is just what we should expect if the
original name were Nakhapana岣� to personify "nail-protection."
The purpose of employing this term instead of Nakhakutta
would seem to be the demarcation of the barber in question from
others of his profession: here was a barber who rose to a special
post in the household where he worked and thus deserved a
distinguishing appellation. And this compound applellation may
be taken in an ironic double sense to yield the idea of protecting
nails by means of nails. The aptness of the double sense will at
once be seen if we remember Diodorus and Curtius. The father
of Xandrames or Agrammes was really the nailed protector of
nails, for he clove his way through everything to the supreme
authority while doing his barber's job. In his relation to the sons
of his sovereign he is actually spoken of by Curtius as setting up the
"pretence of acting as guardian to the royal children" while
planning to "put the young princes to death". In the word
"guardian" we have actually the echo of the Puranic pana岣�,
"protector" he continued to protect the princes' nails as their
"guardian" when all the time digging his own, as it were, deep
into their lives.
The Exact Chronological Position
Chandr膩msa's chronological position too is just where it
should be if he were Xandrames-in the post-Andhra and pre-
Gupta interval. He is in a group of rulers whom the Pur膩峁嘺s
mention after naming Vindhya艣akti. On the one hand we are
1. Pargiter, op. cit. pp. 72-3.
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