उत्तङ्कuttaṅka

उत्तङ्क (uttaṅka) is a Sanskrit word meaning variant reading, the name of a Rishi, a sage, a Brahma rshi residing on the Meru slopes, the priest of Mandhatri. Its 6 recorded definitions are grouped into 3 contexts, among them Uttaṅka as a Ṛṣi (Sage) in Epic and Puranic Lore, Lexicographical Note on Spelling, Uttaṅka as a Purohita.

Definitions: 6

View Declension Tables , 48 forms

Meanings by context

Uttaṅka as a Ṛṣi (Sage) in Epic and Puranic Lore

4 definitions

the name of a Rishi

— Macdonell Sanskrit-English Dictionary

the name of a Rishi

— Cappeller Sanskrit-English Dictionary

a sage

उत्तङ्क (uttaṅka) [Printed book page 696-1]
Uttaṅka (so B., C. mostly Uta°), a ṛṣi. § 11 (Parvasangr.):

I, 2, 364.—§ 17 (cf. Pauṣyap.): U. was the disciple of

Veda; having resisted the temptations of the wife of Veda, he

obtained leave to depart, but first wished to bring Veda some

gratuity for his instruction, and having uttered this wish two

times, he was ordered to procure the ear-rings of Pauṣya's

queen for the wife of Veda. Having met with a bull

(Airāvata) and a man (Indra) mounted upon it, he ate of the

dung and drank of the urine (amṛta) of that bull, “as his

master had formerly done.” Coming to the abode of Pauṣya,

he could not discover the queen before he had purified himself

properly from the leavings of his last meal. He and Pauṣya

cursed one another. Having obtained the ear-rings, U. returned

to his master. On the road Takṣaka, the king of the

serpents, in the shape of a mendicant, stole the ear-rings and

proceeded to Nāgaloka. Indra, with the thunderbolt, made

a hole through which U. entered the Nāgaloka, where he

hymned the serpents. He there saw two damsels (= Dhātṛ

and Vidhātṛ) sitting over a loom, weaving a fabric with black

and white threads (night and day), further, he saw a wheel

(= the year) with twelve spokes (= the months) turned by

six boys (= the seasons), and then a man (Parjanya) mounted

on a horse (Agni). At the injunction of the man U. blew

into the anus of the horse, whence there issued flames of fire

with smoke, which were about to consume the Nāgaloka.

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Takṣaka then gave back the ear-rings and U. was borne by

the horse to his master's abode. His master explained to

him all he had seen during his journey. U. then proceeded

to Hāstinapura and told Janamejaya, who had some time before

returned victorious from Takṣaśilā, to burn Takṣaka, who

had bitten Parikṣit to death, and caused Kāśyapa to turn

back without relieving Parikṣit, at a snake-sacrifice: I, 3,

††747 (°nāmānaṃ), ††748, ††749, ††753, ††756, ††757 (Utta°

also C.), ††758, ††759, ††761, ††762, ††763, ††764, ††765,

††770, ††771, ††772, ††773, ††776, ††778, ††779, ††780,

††787, ††789, ††790, ††791, ††793, ††796, ††805, ††815,

††816, ††818, ††819, ††820, ††821, ††822, ††823, ††832,

833, (836), (840), 848, 849, 850.—§ 56 (Parikṣit): I, 50,

1991 (ṛṣer U°sya, sc. parābhavaṃ, all. to § 17).—§ 57

(Janamejaya): I, 50, 2014 (°sya priyaṃ kartuṃ, do.).—

§ 474b (Dhundhumārop.): III, 201, 13491 (maharṣiḥ),

13492, (13494), 13504, (13505), 13507 (gratified Viṣṇu

who granted him boons).—§ 476 (do.): III, 202, 13523,

13524, (13525); 203, 13546, 13550 (U. urged Bṛhadaśva

to slay Dhundhu, but Bṛhadaśva directed him to Kuvalāśva).

—§ 478 (do.): III, 204, 13589 (°āśramaṃ), 13591 (°āśramā-

bhyāse, there Dhundhu had his abode), 13592, 13594, 13619

(U. accompanied Kuvalāśva when he set out to slay Dhundhu).

—§ 784b (Anugītāp.): When Kṛṣṇa, on his way from

Hāstinapura to Dvārakā, had entered the desert, he beheld

U., who enquired whether he came after having reconciled

the Kurus and the Pāṇḍavas. Kṛṣṇa told him the matter;

filled with wrath U. threatened to curse him; Kṛṣṇa warned

U. (who had practised brahmacarya from the day of his

infancy) against destroying his penances [by a curse] (XIV,

53). U. agreed that Kṛṣṇa should first tell him “that

faultless adhyātma”, and Kṛṣṇa explained his own identity

with the creator and destroyer of all things. “R., V.,

Dai., Y., G., Rā., N., and Aps. have sprung from me; etc.

Dharma, whose essence is compassion for all creatures, is my

eldest-born offspring, and has sprung from my mind; I am

Viṣṇu, Brahmán, and Śakra (i.e. Indra).” He always acts

as those beings in whose order he lives (XIV, 54). U. pre-

vailed upon Kṛṣṇa to show him his eternal Vaiṣṇava or

universal form, and praised Kṛṣṇa, who granted him the

boon to have water wherever he wished for it (water

being scarce in such deserts) by thinking of Kṛṣṇa. Once,

when U. was wandering thirsty in the desert, and thought of

Kṛṣṇa, he saw a naked Cāṇḍāla (mātaṅga) all besmeared with

dirt, surrounded by a pack of dogs, and carrying a sword,

and bow, and arrows; from his urinary organs there issued

copious streams of water; he invited U. to accept this water;

U. refused and even censured Kṛṣṇa, the Cāṇḍāla dis-

appeared. Kṛṣṇa came and said that the Cāṇḍāla was

Indra, whom he had ordered to give amṛta to U. in the form

of water, and that Indra at first had refused to do it, but at

last had agreed on the condition that U. should accept it in

that way. Kṛṣṇa ordained that on those days in which U.

would feel a desire for water, there should rise clouds raining

savoury water over this desert and that they should be named

U.-clouds; even to this day such clouds shower rain on the

arid desert (XIV, 55): Asked by Janamejaya about the

penances of U., Vaiśampāyana related that U.'s preceptor

Gautama, having permitted thousands of disciples to return

home, was so pleased with the devotion of U. that he would

not dismiss him, even after 100 years, and decrepitude over-

took U.; one day when he threw the load of fuel he had

fetched on the earth, one of his matted locks, white as silver,

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had become entangled with the load and fell on the earth;

beholding that sign of old age, U. gave himself up to loud

lamentations; the beautiful daughter of his preceptor, at the

command of her father, sought to hold the tears of U. in her

hands, but her hands seemed to burn with the dropping tears,

and she was obliged to let them fall on the earth; the earth

was unable to hold them. Asked by Gautama, U. explained

the matter. Gautama permitted him to leave him; as U.

spoke of the fee, Gautama said that he was already highly

gratified and that if U. became a young man of sixteen years,

he would give him his daughter in marriage. U. again

became a youth and accepted the maiden. As he spoke of

the fee to his preceptor's wife, Ahalyā said that she was

already gratified. U., however, insisted, and Ahalyā then

commanded him to bring her the celestial ear-rings which

were borne by the wife of Saudāsa, who had [through the

curse of Śaktri] become a cannibal. Gautama blamed

Ahalyā that she had sent U. to the cannibal. Ahalyā said

that she had done it unknowingly, and that Gautama would

protect U. U. met Saudāsa in a deserted forest (XIV, 56).

Saudāsa was of frightful mien, wearing a long beard smeared

with human blood, and looking like a second Yama; he

congratulated himself that he had met U. at the sixth hour of

the day when he was in search of food; U. maintained that

while one is employed for the sake of his preceptor, one

should not be injured; at last they agreed that when he had

brought his preceptor the ear-rings he should come back;

Saudāsa told U. to go and see the queen Madayantī (near a

forest fountain), as he could not himself see her at the sixth

hour. Madayantī told U. to bring her some sign from her

husband, as these ear-rings, when placed on the earth, would

be stolen by the Nāgas, if worn by one who is impure from

eating, they would be taken away by the Yakṣas, and if the

wearer fell asleep, the gods would take them away; “also

the maharṣis and the Rākṣasas watch for opportunities for

carrying them away; they always produce gold and shine

brightly at night; they protect against hunger, and thirst,

and fear, and he who wears them grows in size” (XIV, 57).

U. came back to Saudāsa, who gave him a sign. When he

had got the ear-rings, U. once more came back to Saudāsa,

and asked him about the meaning of the mystic words he had

caused him to say to Madayantī, as a sign. Saudāsa, referring

to his own terrible condition in consequence of his being

cursed [by Śaktri], said that he hoped that this gift to a

brahman might save him. U. asked Saudāsa to give him

such advice as is approved by the wise: “is it proper for

me to come back to thee or not?” Saudāsa said that he

would then tell him never to come back. When U., on his

way to Ahalyā, having bound the ear-rings in the folds of his

black deerskin, had proceeded for some distance he became

afflicted with hunger and climbed a bilva-tree (ægle marmelos),

hanging his deerskin on a branch, while he plucked some

fruits. Struck by some fruits the deerskin fell down, the

knot was untied, and a serpent of Airāvata's race carried

the ear-rings, holding them in his mouth, into an anthill.

Filled with wrath, U. with his staff, pierced that anthill for

thirty-five days, desirous of making a path to the nether

regions; the goddess Earth became anxious; Indra came

there in the disguise of a brahman afflicted with the sorrow

of U., and told him that the regions of the Nāgas are

thousands of yojanas distant; as U. did not desist, Indra

united the latter's staff with his thunderbolt, and struck

with the thunderbolt, the earth opened a way to the Nāgaloka

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(c). U. entered the Nāgaloka, very cheerless; then there

appeared to him a black steed with a white tail, whose face

and eyes were of coppery hue. He told U. to blow into his

anus, “which thou often didst at the retreat of Gautama in

former days”; the horse turned out to be Agni; U. did as

he was directed, a thick smoke enveloped the Nāgaloka, the

Nāgas, headed by Vāsuki, gave U. the ear-rings, which he

brought to Ahalyā (XIV, 58): XIV, 53, 1542 (muniśreṣ-

ṭhaṃ), 1544 (brāhmaṇaśreṣṭhaḥ), 1555, (1556); 54, (1563);

55, (1586), (1593), 1596, 1599, 1600, 1601, 1604, 1608,

1610, 1612, 1614, 1623 (°meghāḥ), 1624 (do.); 56, 1625,

1626, 1628, 1630, 1632, 1638 (vipraṃ), (1640), (1645), 1653,

1656, 1657, 1660; 57, (1664), (1666), (1673), (1675), 1676,

(1678), 1680, 1681; 58, 1692, (1699), (1701), 1721, (1723),

1730, 1734, 1737, 1746, 1750.—§ 784 (do.): XIV, 59,

1751, 1752. Cf. Bhārgava, Bhṛgūdvaha, Bhṛgukulodvaha,

Bhṛgunandana.

[ID=11250]

— Index to the Names in the Mahabharata

a Brahma rshi residing on the Meru slopes

— The Purana Index

Lexicographical Note on Spelling

1 definition

variant reading

— Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)

Uttaṅka as a Purohita

1 definition

the priest of Mandhatri

— The Purana Index

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Definitions on this page come from 5 works: Cappeller Sanskrit-English Dictionary, Index to the Names in the Mahabharata, Macdonell Sanskrit-English Dictionary, Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899), The Purana Index. Text from the Cologne Digital Sanskrit Lexicon.