Horse, unicorn, etc.

[Arun Gupta]

1. Why do we use the word "unicorn" to describe the creature depicted on
   so many Harappan seals ?  The classical unicorn is said to have the
   body of a horse; and the Harappan ones do not.

2. What is the Harappan creature ?  Is it merely a bull in profile,
   thereby showing only a single horn ?  Or is it a creature with some
   mythical significance ?

3. Why does Wendy O'Flaherty in her translation of RV 1.116 mention that
   "the donkey is sometimes said to pull the Asvins' chariot" and
   "the she-wolf for whome Rajrasva slaughtered the rams is said to
   have been one of the donkeys of the Asvins in disguise" ?

   Is "Asvin" a word the translator inserted there ? Would not Asvins
   have horses, not donkeys ? Or does the word "Asvin" predate the
   association of asva with horse ?

4. Could Indo-Aryans have translated the Harappan cult of the "unicorn"
   into the cult of the horse ?  Do we know of horse sacrifices from
   contemporary IE speakers ?

5. Paul Manansala wrote some time ago :

Equus sivalensis may be gone but domesticated horses with sivalensis
dentition, pre-orbital depression and 17 pairs of ribs are still found
in South and Southeast Asia.

O'Flaherty in translation of RV 1.162 has the axe cutting through the
thirty four ribs  -- any significance here ? Or are the extra pair of
ribs in equus caballus not really noticeable in any such axe cut ?

Sorry, but a fool can ask more questions than a wise man can answer.

-arun gupta