Kadamba

[George Hart]

Many years ago, Daniel Ingalls remarked that he wished to publish a  
book of plants with their Sanskrit names, giving pictures and the  
like.  I realize we have various databases and books that catalog the  
plants of South Asia, but to my knowledge we still have nothing that  
is meant for the scholar of premodern South Asia that gives the names  
of the plants in classical languages (Sanskrit, Tamil, Prakrit) with  
pictures and citations and identifies the plants.  In translating from  
Tamil, I find many many plant names (and some fauna also) whose  
identification is problematic, and the discussion here on kadamba  
shows the same is true in Sanskrit.  I find myself going on the  
internet and trying to discover what each plant could be and what it  
looks like -- using the Tamil Lexicon for the Latin names.  I remember  
one occurrence in the NaRRiNai that describes a plant (I've forgotten  
which one and don't have time to look it up), saying it makes a sound  
like fingers snapping.  One modern commentator had a completely  
different interpretation, and I followed him in translating it --  
which led a Tamil journal to criticize my translation.  When I  
researched it on the internet I found that indeed the seed pod  
explodes -- which means that fingers snapping is the correct  
translation.  A comprehensive book -- or better on-line database --  
allowing one to look up Sanskrit/Tamil/Prakrit names (and names in  
other South Asian languages) would be invaluable.  If someone is  
looking for a challenging and fascinating project, this would be a  
good one.