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SriRangaSri List Archive: Message 00083 May 2004

 
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  Pranams to all bhaagavathaas,

  Recently I heard the opportunity to listen a speech of a great scholar, who 
said that KO in Tamil means King and puram means the city, which means Gopuram 
means the city of the King.  Our king is Lord Narayana or Shiva .  So also 
KoVil in tamil means the Ill ( Illam)
of the KO, also known as KOVIL.  KO+ Ill is KOIL or KOVIL.
I have just given another interpretation.  That is all.

Daasan,
Prof.Dr.R.Rajagopalan.


On Mon, 24 May 2004 sudarshan madabushi wrote :
>Dear friends,
>
>A good friend and member of this group has written to
>me asking me about the etymology of the Sanskrit word
>"gOpuram" -- temple-tower. It's a very intriguing
>question indeed.
>
>Honestly, I do not know the exact linguistic origin of
>the word. I am only speculating wildly when I say that
>"gOpuram" comes from "gO puram" where "gO" probably
>refers to cows or cow-shed, "gO shAla", and "puram"
>means "city", "neighbourhood" or "residence". In
>ancient days, temples in India did have separate
>quarters inside the temple precincts to house many
>cow-sheds. Often these cowsheds were built abutting
>the temple tower (as can be seen even now in the
>Kanchi Varadaraja temple), giving hence the
>temple-tower its unique name of "gO puram" -- the
>"residence of cows".
>
>My other guess is that the "gO" in the word might
>refer to God's "tirUnAma" of "gOvinda" or "gOpAla".
>Since the temple is a residence ('puram') of Govinda
>or Gopala, its great tower was probably given the
>distinctive name of "gO puram". I'm however a little
>uneasy with this explanation, because when I look at a
>Shiva or Shakthi temple in India I find the tower
>there too being called "gOpuram" and I know that the
>word "gO" is not used to designate or otherwise
>associated with the deities, Shiva or Amba.
>
>Between the two theories above, I personally prefer
>the 'cows' & 'cowsheds' one. Cows or "gO" are said to
>be utterly and completely 'sAttvic' creatures and are
>the natural favourites of the Almighty. That is why
>Vedic adepts have said that if one has a problem
>finding a suitable place to perform a Vedic "yagnya"
>(rite of sacrifice) like "agni-hOtra" or daily
>"owpAsana", one need look no further than the nearest
>'gO shAla'. It is easily the second-best place for
>'yagnyA-karma' next to a properly sanctified
>'yagnya-shAla'.
>
>I have another observation to make here.
>
>The very soil inside a temple is said to be supremely
>sacrosanct. We should ask ourselves why it is so. If
>there are indeed any "gO shAla-s" within a temple and
>the herds are often led about, here and there, within
>the precincts, then the soil they trample upon is said
>to become "gO dhULi" -- the dust thrown up by
>cow-hoofs. This fine dust blown off the hoofs of cows
>is held to be sacred since in the 'Krisha-avatAr', the
>Lord as a simple cow-herd at Brindavan lovingly tended
>these blessed creatures and, in the process, was
>perennially being peppered by the dust and grime they
>kicked up as they went around grazing. Krishna of
>Brindavan must have been a real sight indeed covered
>as He was, all the time, in hoof-dust! This is the
>reason why it is said that of all the names or
>"tirUnAma" given to Krishna, the one he cherished most
>as being the aptest one for him was -- "gOvindan".
>
>Now, whenever a pilgrim in India enters into the
>portals or the "gOpuram" of any temple, he is expected
>to mentally re-live the scenes of the "krishnAvatAra"
>and imagine too, as well, the "gO dhULi" spread fine
>all across the cowherd, Krishna's person. The soil
>upon the temple-grounds is to be regarded as the same
>dust that came off the hoofs of those blessed cows at
>Brindavan. Why? Because those cows of Krishna's times
>are to be reverentially regarded as the ancestors of
>the cows now being witnessed by the pilgrim in the 'go
>shAla' of the temple.
>
>Thus, the long and short of it all is this:
>
>The tower that guards the sacred, "sAttvic" soil of
>"gO dhULi" strewn and spread all across the temple
>grounds -- such a tower, quite appropriately, gets the
>name "gO puram".
>
>                 **************
>
>These are just a few of my unschooled thoughts.
>Sanskrit is such a bewitchingly beautiful language it
>is always a delight to theorize with licence upon its
>ancient linguistic roots.
>
>I now request real scholars of Sanskrit on this list
>to please throw more linguistic light on the etymology
>of the word "gOpuram".
>
>Thanks and regards,
>
>dAsan,
>Sudarshan
>
>
>
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