brahmadanda

English

Alternative forms

• brahmadaṇḍa (with diacritics)

Etymology

From Sanskrit ब्रह्मन् (brahman, “Brahma”) + दण्ड (daṇḍa, “rod, staff”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌbɹɑː.məˈdʌn.də/, /ˌbɹʌh.məˈdʌn.də/

Noun

brahmadanda (plural brahmadandas)

1. Literally, the rod of Brahma; also used of bamboo rods carried by Indian ascetics.
2. A form of punishment, apparently social excommunication.
3. (Indian mysticism) The spine.

Quotations

• 1915, The Yoga of Yama [1]

  This fennel-stalk is equivalent to the Brahmadanda, the bamboo rod of seven knots used by the Yogis and Sadhus. Physiologically it corresponds with the spinal column and the spinal ganglia, [...]

• 1975, Charles S. Prebish, “Buddhist Councils and Divisions in the Order,” in Buddhism—A Modern Perspective, Charles S Prebish, ed. [2]

  Ānanda relates that Buddha declared that after his death, the Brahmadaṇḍa penalty (i.e., social excommunication) was to be imposed on Channa, his childhood charioteer for renouncing the world like his master.

• 1993, Yves Bonnefoy, Asian Mythologies [3]

  All Vasiṣṭha has to do is counter with his Brahman’s stick—the brahmadaṇḍa—to annul the effect of Viśvāmitra’s weapons.

• (2005) Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, The Esoteric Papers of Madame Blavatsky [4]

  The Spinal Column is called Brahmadanda, the rod or stick of Brahma, and it is this which is symbolized by the bamboo rod carried by ascetics, the seven-knotted wand of the Yogi.