[Advaita-l] Onion and Garlic

[Raghav Kumar]

Sir,

the fact that garlic was imported from Rome in ancient india makes for
interesting reading.
1.Can you give any historical/literary references to back up this idea of
import of garlic, please ?
2. another quesiton - in the Jaradgava-vakya the word rumayam is taken to be
'in Rome' ( as we know it). Can you again show some reference to show that
ancient Rome was called Rumaa in sanskrit ?

all in all, an interesting shloka and piece of information.
On Mon, Jan 17, 2011 at 12:34 PM, Srikanta Narayanaswami <
srikanta.narayanaswami at yahoo.com> wrote:

> The story of Ramana telling his mother regarding Onion is true.Once it
> seems the
> devotees who visited the Ashram brought bags and baga of onion.On a certain
> day
> which was auspiciously special he made fun about thyis with his mother.He
> said:Mother,today they have brought only onions.I suppose the shrubs of
> onion
> will not entangle to your legs thus preventing your going to Kailas or
> vaikunta!.
>
> But,both onions and garlic are prohibited for the sathwik foods.In the
> olden
> days(now also)the traditionalists and orthodox refrain from taking
> onions.As for
> garlic,according to Ayurveda it has thraptic values.It is supposed to cure
> for
> gastric disorders(vayu).Asafoetida(hing) is replaced in the place of garlic
> to
> cure gaseous disorders.It seems this garlic was imported from Rome.In
> Sanskrit,it has the name,"Lashunam",and in latin this has the
> name,"Lasnia".There had been commerce from India to Rome during the Chola
> period.The colour of garlic,extremely white, shows that probably it was
> imported
> from Rome.It was used for garnishing.It has a pungent smell and used as a
> medicine,both for external and internal usage.
>
> In the Sabara bhashya(quoted in the Padmapada's Panchapadika),we read this
> interesting couplet.
> This is called "Jaradgava vakya".It reads:
>
> "Jaradgavah kambalipadukabhyam dwaristhite gayati madrakani!
> tam prcchati  Brahmanih putrakama"'Rajan,Rumayam lashunasya ko agrah"?!!
>
> Which means ,a aged Ox wearing velvet footwear stands at the door singing
> songs
> of Madra desha.
> A Brahmani who is desirous of progeny asks him,"Oh Rajan,in Roma what is
> the
> price of garlic"!
>
> This is quoted by Padmapada,to show as long as the implication of the
> statement
> and its context are not clear,it will remain just like the
> "Jaradgava"vakya.This
> is quoted by Pamapada while explaing the "Adhyasa Bhashya"of Shankara.
>
>
>  N.Srikanta.
>
>
>
>
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