The elephant naLagiri/nalagiri

[Rolf Koch]

I would suggest that nala is Middle Indian from Sanskrit nada "boaring"


Swaminathan Madhuresan wrote:

> This Dravidian naLa/nala meaning both 'good' and 'black' is
> interesting. In sangam texts, the brown color (mAmai) is celebrated,
> opposite of todays' Indian movies where Dalits appear in white
> colors! The IE notion of good=white/light and evil=black is at
> odds with the Dravidian nal/naL = good and black.
>
> SM
>
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