Removing The Sheen From Buddhism

[Husky]

1. On #226:

And similar sets of important numbers including 32 Ganapatis, 108 Shiva moorties, shata rudrIyam and the rest. These are all numbers significant to Hindu religion, and they were significant to Hindus long before either Buddhism or Jainism made claims to them. In exhalting a limited set of specifically 63 + 1 devotees in Shaiva tradition, the Hindus of the Tamizh regions were naturally acting on ancient Hindu tradition in doing so.

DwaadashaakSha's comment pasted in #232 gives one of the important reasons why this set of Ganapatis is 32 in number:

An important critique, Mr. Pramod. However I think a main point is missed out here. People find Hindu texts as armchair recommendations while Buddhist *meditations* to be solutions: precisely because they *read* Hindu texts while go through some form of practice for other traditions including Buddhism. If you ask Arun Shourie whether he contrasted Buddhist meditation with any of the 32 Upanishadic vidyas, the answer is anyone's guess. The locus standi of comparison is a problem.

2. And on this bit from #226:

Further, one of the images IIRC has the head of an ajA, a la how the Amman vigraha at one of the Shakti PeeThas also has the head of a ajA - ajAmukhi devI. Also, one of the 4 VedapuruShas - the Yajus one I think - has the head of what seems to be a ajA/meSha to me, but then meSha represents/embodies yagnya.)

May perhaps also be a play on words, since ajA ("unborn") is an Upanishadic reference to Prakriti from sa~Nkhyam. Repeat excerpt:

The theory of the three Gunas, which bind the Purusha, is adumbrated in this Upanishad in the passage IV.5, where it speaks of the "Aja" ('female unborn'), red, white and black in colour, and producing offspring resembling her.

Constant references to Amman being prakRiti are frequently seen in various descriptions and in her embodiment. E.g. the 3 sacred lines adorning Amman moorties' necks (which stand for the 3 guNas). The colours of the 3 guNas mentioned above are repeated in various parts of Amman, including the description of her eyes: the white of the eye, the red of [the edges of] her eyes and the black of the mai/kohl, or something.



So it's not far-fetched to entertain that ajAmukhi Amman - with the mukham of an ajA - is a perfect if literal embodiment of her name ajA. (Since Amman is a literal embodiment of the vedam.)

In any case, it's also an appropriate female form to match the various male Hindu Gods who appear with/have the heads of MeSha-s and Aja-s.