snake & mongoose in ancient India - note on the ku.sumbha(ka)-

[Arlo Griffiths]

I'd just like to note that the rendering 'mongoose', which was quoted by
P.K. Mansala for .RV 1.191.15/16,  ku.sumbhak;a- (indeed glossed nakula- by
Saaya.na; the passage itself is worth quoting: "ku.sumbhaka.h ku.m
p.rthivii.m sumbhati vilikhaniiti sarpaa.naa.m kutsita.m sumbhayitaa
nigrahiitaa ku.sumbhako nakula.h | sa te vi.sa.m haratv iti ;se.sa.h | yadi
na tathaa karoti taka.m kutsita.m ta.m nakulam a;smanaa bhinadmi
vidaarayaami |") is not accepted by earlier (e.g. Macdonell/Keith, Vedic
Index of Names and Subjects, s.v.) nor by more recent Vedists (e.g.
Mayrhofer. EWAia, s.v.).
    Furthermore, the indian exegetes were not unanimous in their
interpretation, as pseudo-Saaya.na, in his bhaa.sya on AV;S 2.32.6 glosses
ku.s;umbha- (with some mss. reading .suk;umbha-) as "avayavavi;se.sa-".
    So this RV passage had probably better not be used when we're trying to
write the ethological history of mongooses in India.

Arlo Griffiths

----------
>From: Paul Kekai Manansala <kekai at JPS.NET>
>To: INDOLOGY at LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK
>Subject: Re: snake & mongoose in ancient India
>Date: vri, 14 apr 2000 6:45 AM
>

> birgit kellner wrote:
>>
>
>>
>> (2) Regarding zoological issues: Is it probable that inhabitants of the
> Indian> subcontinent generally witnessed, during the first millenium C.E.,
> that> mongoose of some subspecies or another attacked and killed snakes (of
> some> subspecies or another)?
>
> The early portions of the Rgveda show knowledge of the relationship
> between the mongoose and the snake. Here are a few lines from Dr.
> Kalyanaraman's site:
>
> 1.191.15 May the insignificant mongoose (carry off) your venom,
>       (Poison); if not, I will crush the vile (creature) with a
> stone;        so may the poison depart (from my body) and go to distant
> regions.
>
>       [The mongoose: kus.umbako nakulah, the mongoose, whose
> hostility        to the snake is proverbial].
>
> 1.191.16 Hastening forth at the command (of Agastya), thus spoke the
>       mongoose: the venom of the scorpion is innocuous; scorpion, your
>       venom is innocuous.
>
> Regards,
> Paul Kekai Manansala
>
> --
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