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ArchivesRe: meaning of Shreyan
in reply to a message by তন্ময় ভট
Thanks a lot for your comments. While searching on the web, I discovered that this name/word occurs in the Gita and is translated as superior, i believe. I am not very familiar with sanskrit, but would you know if shreyan and shreyas are different forms of the same word?
thanks!
-Manish
“Shreyan svadharma vigun parartha swanishtat
Svadharma nidhan shrey paramdharma bhayabhav”
Superior is the law of one’s own nature, through lacking in merits, to that of another even though well observed. Death in working out the law of one’s own nature is superior, but an alien law is fraught with risk
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Replies
Yes.
Note that the -a- in this shreyan is long and open like in English car. (I was thinking of a short a as in English about when I wrote that shreyan is not a form in Sanskrit: my fault.) This comparative adjective `better' is unlikely as a name, but possible.
Incidentally, I am a bit puzzled by the Sanskrit that you used. In a shloka, the meter used in this, each of the four feet should have eight syllables (fifth light, sixth heavy, seventh alternating starting with heavy). In the bhagavadgItA, the form is sometimes violated in detail, but not so much. I would transcribe 3.35 as
shreYAnsvadharmo viguNaH paradharmAtsvanuSThitAt
svadharme nidhanaM shreyaH paradharmo bhaYAvahaH
in a slightly different transliteration scheme. The meaning you give is roughly correct (cultural terms like `law of one's own nature' is difficult to meaningfully translate): the ending `fraught with risk' I would translate as `brings fear'.
Note that the -a- in this shreyan is long and open like in English car. (I was thinking of a short a as in English about when I wrote that shreyan is not a form in Sanskrit: my fault.) This comparative adjective `better' is unlikely as a name, but possible.
Incidentally, I am a bit puzzled by the Sanskrit that you used. In a shloka, the meter used in this, each of the four feet should have eight syllables (fifth light, sixth heavy, seventh alternating starting with heavy). In the bhagavadgItA, the form is sometimes violated in detail, but not so much. I would transcribe 3.35 as
shreYAnsvadharmo viguNaH paradharmAtsvanuSThitAt
svadharme nidhanaM shreyaH paradharmo bhaYAvahaH
in a slightly different transliteration scheme. The meaning you give is roughly correct (cultural terms like `law of one's own nature' is difficult to meaningfully translate): the ending `fraught with risk' I would translate as `brings fear'.
1