varāṅga (13298)

varāṅga
Entry 13298, Page 470, Col. 2

(varANga, varANga)
varāṅga¦, adj. (Skt. vara-aṅga; in Skt. recorded as Bhvr. only in a gloss in Amarakośa; not noted Pali or Pkt., but see below), lit. having excellent (bodily) members; so Tib. yan lag mchog, on LV and Mvy: ep. of heroic sons,…śūrāṇāṃ vīrāṇāṃ °ga-rūpiṇāṃ parasainyapra- mardakānāṃ Mv i.49.5; 193.18; ii.158.17 and LV 18.6; of the four divisions of an army, rājā caturaṅgād bala- kāyād vara-varāṅgān hastino 'śvān rathān manuṣyāṃś ca vahaneṣv āropya Tāmradvīpaṃ saṃprasthitaḥ Divy 527.27, the king loaded on boats the severally (i.e. in each department; vara-va°) best-membered elephants, horses, chariots, and men from his four-membered army, and…; varāṅga-balam Mvy 8211, strength of a varāṅga. Acc. to pw 7.372, the mg. would be elephant (so Skt. Lex.) in Mvy and Divy (so also Index to Divy). But the word in Divy clearly applies to all four regular divisions of an Indian army, specifically named here; if it meant elephant it would duplicate hastino. And in Mvy it is placed between mahānagna- and praskandi-balam (see these words), and separated from prākṛtahasti and gandhahasti-b° in 8208--9. In MPS 31.21 a varāṅga's power rates very high, just below that of an ardha-nārāyaṇa, above that of a mahānagna and praskandin. PTSD s.v. vīra regards this as ‘distorted’ from vīraṅga-as in Pali; on the con- trary, I believe the Pali cliché DN i.89.5 etc. is compressed from an original closer to Mv i.49.5 etc.; it reads puttā …sūrā vīraṅgarūpā parasenappamaddanā (vīraṅga- for BHS vīrā varāṅga-).

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