The name Gautam or Gautama (Sanskrit: ????, /ɡɑw.t??.m?/ IAST: Gautama) is related to Gotama (????)[1]
and is also written as Gowthama, Gauthama or Goutama.
The name is a compounded word derived from the Sanskrit word "G? (??)" and Sanskrit root "Tama:(??:)". "Tama: (??:)" (with a visarga substitute for final "s (??)" in "Tamas (????)")[2] means, inter alia, “darkness”[3][4]
and "G? (??)" means, inter alia, "rays of light".[5][6]
Together they mean dispelling darkness (of the night) by the rays of light (of the dawn). [7]
[8]
[9]
Metaphorically, the combined word indicates the one, who dispels ignorance by the brilliance of his spiritual knowledge. [7]
[8][9]
"????: (Gotama:)" and "???? (Gotama)" both signify the same word. The difference between "????: (Gotama:)" and "???? (Gotama)" in Sanskrit is grammatical. Gotama is the form of the stem or root (??????????) "?????" whereas "Gotama:" is the form of the nominative singular case (?????? ???????). [10] The final "a" in "Gotama:" is clearly pronounced while the final "a" in "Gotama" is not pronounced. [10]
The name "Gotama" initially originated during the early Rigvedic times and the name "Gautama" later developed as a vrddhi (au "?" for o "?") [11]
patronymic from Gotama. [1] In the Rigveda Samhita the descendants of Gotama are also called Gotama while in later Vedic literature they are called Gautama.[12] The name "Gautam" is a masculine name. The feminine descendants are known as "Gautami".[13]
[1]
The great Rigvedic sage, Dirghatamas, a descendant of Maharishi āngiras, was born blind (physically or noetically!).[14][15] His name means the one, who is in long and eternal darkness.[15]
He was very much afflicted by his blindness and he prayed to the various gods like Agni; he was relieved of this defect and became very wise.[15] Then he came to be called by the name of Gotama.[16] He was the reputed purohit or chief priest of King Bharata (Aitareya Brahmana VIII.23), one of the earliest kings of the land, from which India as Bharata (the traditional name of the country) was named.[17] Dirghatamas is also the chief predecessor of the Gotama family of rishis that includes Kakshivan, Rahugana, Nodhas and Vamadeva.[17]
The Rigveda Samhita and the Sathapatha Brāhma?a of the ?ukla Yajurveda mentions one Gotama as a son of Rāhúga?a, the chief priest of the Kuru empire, who himself was also called Gotama.[18] Nodhas, son of Gotama, was also called Gotama who composed several new hymns in honour of Indra.[18]
The author of the Dharamasutra was the son or grandson of the sage Aucathya, and the grandson or great-grandson of sage Au?anasa.[19] The aphoristic law-book, usually attributed to the Maharishi Gautam, is in reality a manual belonging to a Gautama Karana (or Kare?upāli).[20] The Va?sa Brāhma?a of the Sāmaveda mentions four members of the Gotama family among the teachers who transmitted that Veda to posterity, viz. Gatri, Sumantra Babhrava, Sa?kara, and Radha.[12]
The Vālmiki Ramāyana mentions a Gautama, who had his hermitage in Mithila where he lived with his wife, Ahalya.[21] The Vayu Pura?a refers to a sage named Ak?apāda, who was the founder of the Nyāya philosophy, as Gotama or Gautama.[22] Ak?apāda was the same as Ahalya's husband Gautama of Mithila.
The Chandogya Upanishad of the Sāmaveda mentions another teacher named Haridrumata as Gautama.[12] The Kathopanishad of the ?rsna Yajurveda mentions the sage Nachiketa, who conversed with Yama on the mystery of life, as Gautama; which evidently was a generic name as his father is also mentioned as Gautama in the same text.[21] Gautama is also the patronymic of some other descendent rishis of rishi Angiras, such as - Aruni Uddālaka, Saradvat, Satananda, Kripāchariya, father of Ekata, Dvita, and Trita.[1]
Besides descendent rishis of rishi Angiras, some other prominent persons, who were born after Vedic age, are also called as Gautama.
The teachings of Mahavira as represented in the scriptures are said to have been collected by his disciple called Indrabhūti. This disciple is also known as Gautama or Gautama Swami.[23]
Buddha (Siddhartha, also known as Shakyamuni because he was born in the Shakya clan), regarded as the founder of Buddhism, is also known as Gautama.[24]
Notes
edit- ^ a b c d Williams, Monier (1872), A Sanskrit-English Dictionary: Etymologically and Philologically Arranged with Special Reference to Greek, Latin, Gothic, German, Ango-Saxon and Other Cognate Indo-European Languages, Oxford: The Clarendon Press, p. 301
- ^ Kale, Moreshwar Ramchandra (1961), A Higher Sanskrit Grammar for the use of Schools and Colleges, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, p. 5
- ^ Apte, Vaman Shivram (1890), The Practical Sanskrit-English Dictionary Containing Appendices on Sanskrit Prosody and Important Literary and Geographical Names of Ancient India (fourth 1965 ed.), Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, p. 468, ISBN 0-89581-171-5
{{citation}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help) - ^ Williams, Monier (1872), A Sanskrit-English Dictionary: Etymologically and Philologically Arranged with Special Reference to Greek, Latin, Gothic, German, Ango-Saxon and Other Cognate Indo-European Languages, Oxford: The Clarendon Press, p. 364
- ^ Apte, Vaman Shivram (1890), The Practical Sanskrit-English Dictionary Containing Appendices on Sanskrit Prosody and Important Literary and Geographical Names of Ancient India (fourth 1965 ed.), Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, p. 412, ISBN 0-89581-171-5
{{citation}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help) - ^ Williams, Monier (1872), A Sanskrit-English Dictionary: Etymologically and Philologically Arranged with Special Reference to Greek, Latin, Gothic, German, Ango-Saxon and Other Cognate Indo-European Languages, Oxford: The Clarendon Press, p. 296
- ^ a b Sri Aurobindo (1998), The Secret of the Veda with Selected Hymns, The complete Works of Sri Aurobindo, vol. 15, Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram Publication Department, pp. 123–172
- ^ a b Sri Aurobindo (1998), The Secret of the Veda with Selected Hymns, The complete Works of Sri Aurobindo, vol. 15, Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram Publication Department, pp. 276–284
- ^ a b "Gotras", www.salagram.net
- ^ a b Goldman, Robert P.; Goldman, Sally J. Sutherland (1980), Devavanipravesika: An Introduction to the Sanskrit Language (Third 1999 ed.), Berkeley: Center for South Asia Studies, University of California, p. 60-63
- ^ Kale, Moreshwar Ramchandra (1961), A Higher Sanskrit Grammar for the use of Schools and Colleges, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, p. 11
- ^ a b c The Nyaya Sutras of Gotama, translated by Vidyabhusana, Satis Chandra, Bahadurganj, Allahabad: The Panini Office, Bhuvaneswari Asrama, 1913, p. iii
- ^ Apte, Vaman Shivram (1890), The Practical Sanskrit-English Dictionary Containing Appendices on Sanskrit Prosody and Important Literary and Geographical Names of Ancient India, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, p. 415
- ^ The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa Translated into English Prose from the Original Sanskrit Text, translated by Ganguli, Kisari Mohan (Electronic ed.), Sacred-texts.com in collaboration with Distributed Proofing, 2020, p. 225 (Book 1, Sambhava Parva, Section CIV)
- ^ a b c Asya Vamasya Hymns (The Riddle of the Universe), Rgveda 1-164, Sanskrit Text with the Bhasyas of Sayana and Atmananda and with English Translation and Notes, translated by Raja, C. Kunhan, Madras: Ganesh & Co. (Madras) Pvt. Ltd., 1956, p. xxi
- ^ The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa Translated into English Prose from the Original Sanskrit Text, translated by Ganguli, Kisari Mohan (Electronic ed.), Sacred-texts.com in collaboration with Distributed Proofing, 2020, p. 154 (Book 12, Santi Parva, Part 3, Section CCCXLII)
- ^ a b Frawley, David, "The Hymns of Dirghatamas in the Rig Veda" (PDF), mandhataglobal.com, p. 2
- ^ a b The Nyaya Sutras of Gotama, translated by Vidyabhusana, Satis Chandra, Bahadurganj, Allahabad: The Panini Office, Bhuvaneswari Asrama, 1913, p. ii
- ^ The Sacred Laws Of The Aryas As Taught In The Schools of Apastamba, Gautama, Vasishtha and Baudhayana Part I Apastamba and Gautama, translated by Buhler, Georg, Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1879, p. xIv
- ^ The Sacred Laws Of The Aryas As Taught In The Schools of Apastamba, Gautama, Vasishtha and Baudhayana Part I Apastamba and Gautama, translated by Buhler, Georg, Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1879, p. xIvi
- ^ a b The Nyaya Sutras of Gotama, translated by Vidyabhusana, Satis Chandra, Bahadurganj, Allahabad: The Panini Office, Bhuvaneswari Asrama, 1913, p. iv
- ^ The Nyaya Sutras of Gotama, translated by Vidyabhusana, Satis Chandra, Bahadurganj, Allahabad: The Panini Office, Bhuvaneswari Asrama, 1913, p. v
- ^ The History of the Mediaeval School of Indian Logic, translated by Vidyabhusana, Satis Chandra, Calcutta: The Calcutta University, 1909, p. 2
- ^ The History of the Mediaeval School of Indian Logic, translated by Vidyabhusana, Satis Chandra, Calcutta: The Calcutta University, 1909, p. 57