bhakti - GA

Source: TW

The arrogant V1s & the true devotee of questionable heritage trope:

  • kavaSa ailUSa who was expelled by the RSis from a sattra on account of his maternal heritage (she was a dAsa woman; I suspect druhyu heritage). Expelled to the desert & suffering from thirst he sees the aponaptrīya sūkta and in the desert, the waters of the sarasvatI run to him.

  • The innocent, naive devotee whose silly actions still please the deity: kaNNappa nAyanmAr’s spitting water on rudra as ablution to a creative mind, can be said to be prefigured in the story of apālā who chews the soma plant with her teeth to press out the juice indra!!

विश्वास-टिप्पनी

“Evā́ ‘syāí múkhāt sómaṁ nír adhayat” (JB 1.4.3.6)

APĀLĀ . A daughter of the great sage, atri. Suffering from leprosy and hence forsaken by her husband apālā stayed with her father and started tapas to please indra. One day, on her way home from the river, apālā tasted the soma which was meant to be offered to indra and hearing the sound produced then Devendra appeared before apālā. She gave the soma to indra, who was so pleased with her that he cured her of her leprosy. (ṛgveda, 8-91).

  • purANa encyclopedia

In the Vedic version there was no leprosy (but some other skin condition), husband, or tápas. Apālā́ pressed sóma between her teeth to rid herself of the condition, and Índra took the sóma from her. Índra then granted her her desire for hair to grow on her father’s head, her father’s field (i.e. crops), and her belly (so that she would become marriageable), in addition to giving her Sun-like skin.

  • निखिलः
  • The trope of the devotee who risks everything for his cherished deva: could be said to be prefigured in the story of Rjrashva who, seeing a she-wolf (and recognizing it as the divine animal it was; I.e. Sent by the ashvinau), offered a hundred sheep to satiate it and was blinded by his father as a consequence! However, the ashvinau, pleased with him, gave back his eyes.

The motif of Ashvinau restoring eyesight appears in the itihasa and the puranas in two other stories - cyavana and upamanyu.

विश्वास-टिप्पनी

Also, ‘न ऋते श्रान्तस्य सख्याय देवाः’ इति ऋक्-संहितायाम् उद्घोषितः ।

Not to mention para-vedic roots of atimArga shaiva-s.