'pupil', 'doll', 'child'

[Michael Witzel]

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Several  members have asked about the homunculus in the eye:

<.... guess at an
>explanation is that when one person looks carefully at his or her
>reflection in the pupil of another person's eye they will see what looks
>like a small person. Or a doll.

Yes. -- The small person in the eye is actually attested in the Upanisads,
e.g. at Brhadaranyaka Up. 4.2.3  (female one), or  Maitr. Up. 7.11 = Indra
in right eye, his wife in left eye.  etc. etc. --- The matter may go back
to the Rgveda (involved argument, though).
MW>
========================================================
Michael Witzel
Department of Sanskrit & Indian Studies, Harvard University
2 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge MA 02138, USA

ph. 1- 617-496 2990 (also messages)
home page:  http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/mwpage.htm

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