Śaṅku
Śaṅku · śaṅku, “a spear”
Grammar: masculine noun; the text glosses it spear.
Meaning: a spear, used as a likeness for the shape of ears.
In the scriptures: in the marks of the body, ears shaped like a śaṅku mark a king who makes enemies afraid (Bhavishya Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapter 26).
A fault. Śaṅku also means a fault, a pāpa (sin): the Telugu rendering of the Brahma Purāṇa glosses it so. Lomaharshaṇa tells the munis how Satyavrata, banished to the forest by his father, carried off Vasishṭha‘s kāmadhenu, the wish-granting cow, when meat grew scarce, killed her, and made the sons of Viśvāmitra also eat the meat. Vasishṭha said to him: “O cruel one! If you had not now committed these two śaṅkus, carrying off and killing the cow that is the guru’s wealth and eating the meat without prokshaṇa (sprinkling with consecrated water), I would without doubt have removed your first offence, the one against your father. Now, having committed three śaṅkus, you have become Triśaṅku.” So Satyavrata came to be called Triśaṅku, “the one of three śaṅkus” (Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 8).
Sources
- Bhavishya Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapter 26
- Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 8