new EJVS issue 17-2: Vajracharya on Unicorns

[Klaus Karttunen]

Long ago I read in a book by the paleontologist Björn Kurtén that there was also one in Europe (in fact two-horned, but the horns were grown together). The Western legend of the unicorn animal (Hans Henrich has right, there are no such animals in Indian traditions) is a confusion of the Ekasrnga legend (in the Physiologus) and the classical accounts (by Ctesias and Megasthenes) of the one-horned Indian ass or horse, probably referring to rhinoceros -- seasoned with the narwhal teeth. There is wide literature on the subject, apparently unknown to the author of the article.
Best,
Klaus

Klaus Karttunen
Professor of South Asian and Indoeuropean Studies
Asian and African Studies, Department of World Cultures
PL 59 (Unioninkatu 38 B)
00014 University of Helsinki, FINLAND
Tel +358-(0)9-191 22674
Fax +358-(0)9-191 22094
Klaus.Karttunen at helsinki.fi




On Dec 6, 2010, at 5:26 PM, Alexandra Vandergeer wrote:

> Perhaps I am a bad reader, but to me it is as if the author of Unicorns in Ancient India truly believes there existed once in the wild an artiodactyl animal with one horn only in South Asia. Since there is not the slightest hint whatsoever in the whole article as to the taxonomy of this enigmatic creature, it is unclear whether the author presents his personal opinion or that of the Vedic Indians (who might perhaps have believed indeed in such a ruminant).
> 
> The only single-horned artiodactyl ungulates I am aware of roamed northern America during the Mio-Pliocene, such as Synthetoceras and family and the dromomerycids.
> 
> Alexandra van der Geer
> 
> ________________________________
> 
> From: Indology on behalf of Michael Witzel
> Sent: Sun 28-11-2010 5:44
> To: INDOLOGY at liverpool.ac.uk
> Subject: [INDOLOGY] new EJVS issue 17-2: Vajracharya on Unicorns
> 
> 
> 
> Dear List Members,
> 
> we are happy to announce a new issue of the Electronic Journal of 
> Vedic Studies:
> 
> Vol.17 Issue 2, Nov. 29, 2010:
> 
> 
> Gautama V. Vajracharya
> 
> Unicorns in Ancient India and Vedic Ritual
> 
> 
> It is available at: <http://www.ejvs.laurasianacademy.com/>
> as quick download (compresssed pdf 1 MB) and as slower download (11 
> MB pdf).
> 
> 
> Issue 3 (Y. Vassilkov on Siberian rattle-mirrors with early Indian 
> motifs) to follow shortly.
> 
> 
> Best,
> MW
> 
> 
> ============
> Michael Witzel
> witzel at fas.harvard.edu
> <www.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/mwpage.htm>
> 
> Dept. of Sanskrit & Indian Studies, Harvard University
> 1 Bow Street,
> Cambridge MA 02138, USA
> 
> phone: 1- 617 - 495 3295, 496 8570, fax 617 - 496 8571;
> my direct line:  617- 496 2990
>