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Oppiliappan List Archive: Message 00134 May 2004

 
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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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