Kupamanduka

Kupamanduka/ Kupamanduka-nyaya (कूपमण्डूक) is a Sanskrit language expression. Literally it means; "frog in a well".[1] The phrase is used in relation to a person who foolishly considers his knowledge horizon as the limit of all human knowledge (much like a frog imagines his well to be the largest water body and cannot imagine an ocean that might be far more immense, or when the frog looks above, and seeing but a small circle of sky, thinks this to be the horizonal limits for everyone).[2]

Amartya Sen opines that its meaning carries a caution in opposition to insularity.[3] Kupamanduka denotes a propensity to bigotry and intolerance and the inability to be positive,[4] or paranoia.[5] Mohammad Bakri Musa likens it to the Malay language phrase katak di bawah tempurong (frogs under a coconut shell).[4] The story of the Koopamanduka is often told to children in India and forms a part of many folktales.[6] A similar idiom (chengyu), zh:井底之蛙, is also used in Chinese folklore.[7]

Examples of usage
  • "But due to the acute paucity of scientific psychological publications in India, we often suffer the disadvantages of a kupa manduka (frog in the well) existence."[8]
  • "Arrogance and infinite faith in their own wisdom are attributes of the kupa manduka,..."[9]
  • "I think it is not that we see ourselves as a kind of flourishing Kupamanduka, a well-frog confined to a little well but a culture, a civilization, a people that has soared in the world, interacted with the world and not been afraid of interaction."[10]

See also

Frogs in culture

References
  1. http://www.vaniquotes.org/wiki/Kupa-manduka-nyaya:_the_logic_of_the_frog_in_the_well_%28Books%29
  2. Pattanaik, Devdutt (2011-09-08). "Frog in the well". The Times of India. Retrieved 25 June 2013.
  3. Amartya Kumar Sen (1 July 2005). The argumentative Indian: writings on Indian history, culture and identity. Allen Lane. pp. 85–86. ISBN 978-0-7139-9687-6. Retrieved 25 June 2013.
  4. Mohammad Bakri Musa (2002). Malaysia in the Era of Globalization. iUniverse. p. 459. ISBN 978-0-595-23258-1. Retrieved 25 June 2013.
  5. Giuseppe Zaccaria (2001). International Justice and Interpretation / Internationale Gerechtigkeit Und Interpretation: Yearbook of Legal Hermeneutics. LIT Verlag Münster. p. 25. ISBN 978-3-8258-5766-0. Retrieved 25 June 2013.
  6. Ramanujan, A.K. (13 January 1994). Folktales from India (The Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library. New York: Pantheon books. ISBN 0679748326.
  7. Tsai, Irene (28 July 2008). The Frog in the Well (Chinese - English bilingual book) (Chinese Edition) (English and Chinese Edition) (1st ed.). Hong Kong: CE Bilingual Books LLC. ISBN 0980130514.
  8. Proceedings of the Indian Science Congress. Indian Science Congress Association. 1959. p. 206. Retrieved 25 June 2013.
  9. Shaukat Ullah Khan (2004). Saffronisation of education: instruments and strategies : an analytical critique of NCERT's national curriculum framework for school education syllabus & textbooks (history). Institute of Objective Studies. ISBN 978-81-85220-58-1. Retrieved 25 June 2013.
  10. Desai, Ashok V. (2005-02-22). "TWO WINTER CONCLAVES - Having a Travelling Indians' Day is perhaps not a bad idea". The Telegraph. Retrieved 25 June 2013.
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