DEVALAYA NOT TEMPLE A CLARIFICATION FOR PROPER USAGE
as in common usage the abode of god as a temple is taken to be after a close and careful examination we find there is no specific word for the abode of God in the old testament the words in common usage were bayit ora house and hekal or palace the ground plan was a copy of aroyal palace the closest word in sanskrit is devalalaya which transliterates into abode of GOD as aabode of God was considered as according to the holy bible devalaya is formed with two words deva and alaya transliterating into deva or God and alaya or abode or residence thus being the abode of God thus devalaya is the correct word fo the abode of god as it had been considered as since biblical times i.e. the old testament now coming to the commonly used word mandir a equivalent of temple as explained above there is no specific word for the abode of god howcome the word temple was considered approprite equivalent of abode of god sense even in sanskritic indic context which has been always devalaya not mandir even the word himalaya=him i.e. snow and alaya i.e. abode thus called himalaya i.e. abode of snowmandir in sanskrit means the same as ahouse or a palace never aabode of God as has been hereby proved we have been erroneously being using many terms in common usage taking a translated equivalent of the english word simply because we have developed aliking or ease for not taking pain for ascertaining that the word in use isa mere easy translation or atransliteration the former is a easy one but the latter you have to take pain forbut with the former you are at ease in comfort zone but the mother language is at risk while in the latter you honour the mother language hence transliteration is better than a mere translation the former is amimicry adopted for use but lacks the original senseand meaning whereas the latter is original in form,content,context,meaning and sensethus to conclude we must prefer transliteration over translation as it contains the essence of the original denotative meaning etymologicallyis far apt and betterthan the connotative in common usage a translation may be apt for academic and common usage but atransliteration having the essence of the original is the best.
Comments
Post a Comment