cīraka (6303)

cīraka
Entry 6303, Page 231, Col. 1

(cIraka, cIraka)
cīraka¦, m. or nt. (in mg. 1 = Pali id., Skt. cīra), (1) strip, primarily of cloth, bark, or the like: °ka-vadhrāṇi, here of strips of flesh, Mv i.19.9 (prose); of either cloth or bark garments, i.19.11 (prose), see vārṣikā; (2) in Mmk, lock or braid of hair, artificially arranged (compared to a strip) = Tib. (skra, hair) zur phud (hair-knot), Lalou, Iconographie 66 f. (but I do not think, with Lalou, that this or any cpd. ever refers to a diadem); Mañjuśrī's head is adorned with five such, but some passages suggest that in this he was like an ordinary youth in festive garb, sarvabālālaṃkārabhūṣitaḥ (ed. °ta-) pañcacīrakopaśo- bhitaḥ Mmk 41.24; pañcacīrakopaśobbhita-(text °taṃ) [Page231-b+ 71] śiraṃ bāladārakālaṃkārālaṃkṛtaṃ 305.6; (kumārākāra- cihnitaḥ) pañcacīrakamūrdhāno 436.3; note especially pañcacīrakopaśobhitaṃ ekacīrakopaśobhitaṃ śikhopaśo- bhita-śiraskaṃ (so read for text °bhitaṃ aśiraskaṃ!) vā rājaputraṃ mūrdhābhiṣiktaṃ kṣatriyaputraṃ vā…49.13 (the youth symbolizes Mañjuśrī, cf. 49.16 f.); Mañjuśrī is pañcacīrakopaśobhitaḥ 41.24; with more specific reference to his head, pañcacīrakaśiraskaḥ 62.8; similarly 68.16; 75.14; (3) also in Mmk, cīraka-mudrā is a position of the two hands, interlocked, in which one index finger is made to project (muktvā) between the two thumbs, so that it resembles a hair-braid: (anyonyasaktāṅgulimuṣṭayoḥ pra- deśinīṃ muktvā aṅguṣṭhayugalaṃ [prob. read °la-]madh- yataḥ, eṣā sā Mañjuśrīḥ) tvadīyā aparā cīraka-mudrā 382.(15--)17; prob. this is alluded to by ekacīrakam (sc. mudram; see s.v. mudra) 355.27, also sacred to Mañjuśrī; its description in 382.15 ff. occurs in a list of mudrās the names of which refer (presumably because of their shape) to various parts of Mañjuśrī's body, e.g. tvadīyā vak- tramudrā 382.11, etc. (note esp. 383.1 ff. śravaṇo grīvā bhujau etc., without specific descriptions).