[Buddha-l] RE: seeking the Pali and Sanskrit term for "holy/religious/, sacred objects"

[Richard Nance]

Stephen wrote:

>The reason why this category is devoted to the material things that are
>offered is simply because that is exactly what the Tibetan actually says --
>"Names for the equipment / things for offering".

True. But while we're at it, we might as well refine the translation
still further: "equipment / things" is a fine translation of the
Tibetan "yo byad", but the underlying Sanskrit is still more specific:
it's pari.skaaraa.h, which might be rendered more precisely as
"ornaments" or "adornments."

What we're faced with, then, is a Sanskrit compound --
offering-ornaments (puujapari.skaaraa.h) -- which could be analyzed in
various ways, the most plausible being a .sa.s.thii tatpuru.sa:
"ornaments of (or for) offering."  This is certainly clearer than the
translation that I offered in my original post; it's also arguably
clearer than the one you've just offered. Now that the pedantry has
been duly flexed, it's worth noting that neither of these refinements
really helps Sally to answer a salient question: whether "ornaments of
(or for) offering" are among the objects that she would wish to
classify as "sacred" or "holy". This is a question that I think she'll
have to answer for herself; on this point, the Mahaavyutpatti doesn't
provide much in the way of guidance.

Best wishes,

R. Nance