LEONID KULIKOV
UCLouvain / Ghent University kulikovli@googlemail.com
KUMĀRA: VEDIC (AND NON-INDO-EUROPEAN?) ROOTS OF A PURĀṆIC LEGEND
The present paper offers an analysis of the Kumāra myth (born from the Śiva’s spilt seed and Pārvatī and subsequently breastfed by six Kr̥ttikās [Pleiades]), well-known from the Purāṇic literature. It is argued that the origin of this god (also known as Skanda and Kārttikeya) can be traced back to the Vedic period and, most probably, as far as the R̥gveda. Even though in Vedic texts the form Kumāra is usually not interpreted as a theonym, but only as the substantive meaning ‘child, boy, young man’, there are a few obscure contexts, where alternative interpretations are possible. I will demonstrate that some parallels to the Indian Kumāra myth can be found in other Indo-European mythologies, in particular, in some Greek myths, such as the myth of Kronos. Altogether, these Indo-European legends may originate in some Near Eastern mythologies. This may also account for the origin of the etymologically unclear Sanskrit form Kumāra, which is traditionally explained (essentially after Böhtlingk/Roth’s lemma in PW II, 337 “bedeutet wohl eher leicht—als schwer—dem Tode anheimfallend”) as “*zart, schwach” (Mayrhofer, EWAia I, 368). I argue that the etymology of Kumāra should be reconsidered, and the form can rather be understood as “associated with / causing bad death”.