The cat

[Madhav Deshpande]

The version of the story of the mongoose that is found in the HitopadeSa
(Lanman, Sanskrit Reader, p. 44) reads: cirakAlapAlitam imam
putranirviSezam nakulam ...  Besides the animals Thrasher refers to, even
trees are often treated in the same way by those who raise them.  This is
seen in KalidAsa's Shakuntalam, cf. verse: pAtum na prathamam vyavasyati
jalam yuzmAsv apItezu yA ... etc.  RaghuvamSa of Kalidasa describes a
DevadAru tree as having been adopted as a child by Shiva and Parvati: amum
puraH paSyasi devadArum putrIkRto'sau vRzabhadhvajena, yo
hemakumbhastananiHsRtAnAm skandasya mAtuH payasAm rasaj~naH.
                Madhav Deshpande

On Mon, 2 Feb 1998, Allen W Thrasher wrote:

> Mary Storm wrote:
>
> Did people in antiquity see pets in the same rather romantic way that
> modern society does? Was there a Puranic Rin Tin Tin ?
>
> There was the story (Pancatantra?) of the mongoose who saves his master's
> baby from a cobra but the master comes home and seeing his mouth bloody
> concludes he's killed the baby and kills him, but then discovers his error.
>
> The ancient pets were I think mongooses, birds of various sorts (parrots,
> mynas, geese), and deer.
>
> Allen Thrasher
>