[INDOLOGY] INDOLOGY Digest, Vol 73, Issue 17

Sat Feb 16 18:49:49 UTC 2019

Errata: Hindī *ciṃkārā, *Pañjābī *cakārā. *The latter is apparently *Cervus
Muntjac*, though. Also, my mention of giraffes was only to illustrate  the
members of *Pecora*, and not to suggest that Sanskrit would have had a name
for them! Diego Loukota.

On Sat, Feb 16, 2019 at 12:35 PM DIEGO LOUKOTA SANCLEMENTE <
diegoloukota at ucla.edu> wrote:

>
>   The issue of the chinkara interested me, so I went first to Turner's
> dictionary. Varāhamihira in his *Bṛhatsaṃhitā* mentions a *chikkara* in
> 85.20b, 38b, and 44a in the context of omens. The 1946 translation of
> Subrahmanya Sastri and Ramakrishna Bhat makes a mess of the situation by
> translating the first "musk rat (or civet cat)," the second as "a kind of
> deer" (but reading a chimaeric *dhikkara*) and the third as "jackal?."
> But Pañjābī *cakāra* and Hindī *chikārā* (whence the English term) make
> very likely that we are dealing here with the same animal. MW does give for
> *chikkara* "a kind of animal" and for *chikkāra* "a kind of antelope,"
> both entries literally translated  from the big St. Petersburg lexicon of
> Böhtlingk and Roth. Burrow ("Dravidian Studies VII," BSOAS 12 (1948), p.
> 379, §145) suggests a Dravidian origin for the Sanskrit word on the basis
> of Kannada *cigari*.
>   Nevertheless, although *chikkara*/*chikkāra* may have at some point
> become the scientific Sanskrit term for the species *Gazella Bennettii*,
> I feel that for general purposes the ubiquitous Sanskrit *mṛga* may have
> been broad enough to encompass all the infra-order *Pecora* (deer,
> antelopes, giraffes, and whatnot). Perhaps our seeing *mṛga* as "deer"
> rather than as "antelope" is best seen as the inheritance of a restrictive
> choice on the part of Victorian translators? (as the mostly wrong "swan"
> for *haṃsa*, etc.). Common usage Sanskrit seems to me rather sloppy in
> some departments of animal taxonomy, with *pataṃga* being almost any
> flying insect except for the hyper-fetishized bees (butterflies, moths, and
> even locusts) etc.
>   In a passage of the *Mūlasarvāstivādavinaya* dealt with by Schopen (*Buddhist
> Monks*, 232), instructions are given on the *dharmacakrapravartana*
> symbol to be engraved on the monastery's seals ("in the middle draw the
> wheel, and on both sides [draw] **mṛga*s: on top the name of the owner of
> the monastery should be drawn," *dbus su 'khor lo bris la glo gnyis su ri
> dgas 'og tu gtsug lag khang gi bdag po'i ming bri bar bya'o*, Derge, 'Dul
> ba, Tha 8a6-7). The word given in the Tibetan is *ri dags* ("mountain
> beast") which is the standard translation of *mṛga*. I sense that had the
> ancient translators seen anything unusual like *chikkara* they would not
> have used the generic term.
>   I hope this is of any use!
>
>   *namaskaromi*,
>
>   Diego Loukota
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Sat, Feb 16, 2019 at 11:00 AM <indology-request at list.indology.info>
> wrote:
>
>> Send INDOLOGY mailing list submissions to
>>         indology at list.indology.info
>>
>> To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
>>
>> http://list.indology.info/mailman/listinfo/indology_list.indology.info
>>
>> or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
>>         indology-request at list.indology.info
>>
>> You can reach the person managing the list at
>>         indology-owner at list.indology.info
>>
>> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
>> than "Re: Contents of INDOLOGY digest..."
>> Today's Topics:
>>
>>    1. Chinkara (a gazelle) (John Huntington)
>>    2. Re: Chinkara (a gazelle) (Olivelle, J P)
>>    3. Re: Chinkara (a gazelle) (John Huntington)
>>    4. Continuing my Krishna verses (Madhav Deshpande)
>>
>>
>>
>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>> From: John Huntington <john.darumadera at gmail.com>
>> To: Indology <indology at list.indology.info>
>> Cc:
>> Bcc:
>> Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2019 13:27:42 -0500
>> Subject: [INDOLOGY] Chinkara (a gazelle)
>> Dear list members,
>>
>> I am working on a very modest terminology and illustrated list of animals
>> that occur in Buddhism. Unfortunately one, the Chinkara a (small gazelle)
>> which repeatedly appears to either side of the Dharmachakra in most
>> sculptures oof the first turning, does not appear to have a verifiable
>> Sanskrit name. In essence, it is the "deer" of the 'deer park' translation
>> of "mṛgadava."
>>
>> The creature depicted does not (or *very* rarely) has branched antlers
>> (a deer characteristic) but gently curving horns which it does not shed (an
>> antelope gazelle characteristic).
>>
>> My sincere appreciation for any help or references.
>>
>> Best to all
>>
>> John
>>
>>
>>
>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>> From: "Olivelle, J P" <jpo at austin.utexas.edu>
>> To: John Huntington <john.darumadera at gmail.com>
>> Cc: Indology <indology at list.indology.info>
>> Bcc:
>> Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2019 18:41:56 +0000
>> Subject: Re: [INDOLOGY] Chinkara (a gazelle)
>> Hi John:
>>
>> Can you post a picture of the animal?
>>
>> Patrick
>>
>>
>>
>> On Feb 15, 2019, at 12:27 PM, John Huntington via INDOLOGY <
>> indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
>>
>> Dear list members,
>>
>> I am working on a very modest terminology and illustrated list of animals
>> that occur in Buddhism. Unfortunately one, the Chinkara a (small gazelle)
>> which repeatedly appears to either side of the Dharmachakra in most
>> sculptures oof the first turning, does not appear to have a verifiable
>> Sanskrit name. In essence, it is the "deer" of the 'deer park' translation
>> of "mṛgadava."
>>
>> The creature depicted does not (or *very* rarely) has branched antlers
>> (a deer characteristic) but gently curving horns which it does not shed (an
>> antelope gazelle characteristic).
>>
>> My sincere appreciation for any help or references.
>>
>> Best to all
>>
>> John
>> _______________________________________________
>> INDOLOGY mailing list
>> INDOLOGY at list.indology.info
>> indology-owner at list.indology.info (messages to the list's managing
>> committee)
>> http://listinfo.indology.info (where you can change your list options or
>> unsubscribe)
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>> From: John Huntington <john.darumadera at gmail.com>
>> To: "Olivelle, J P" <jpo at austin.utexas.edu>
>> Cc: Indology <indology at list.indology.info>
>> Bcc:
>> Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2019 17:35:51 -0500
>> Subject: Re: [INDOLOGY] Chinkara (a gazelle)
>> Thank you Patrick,
>>
>> They are a beautiful Gazelle/Antelope that is amazingly wide spread in
>> India, pakistan and even in Iran. I have attached a picture on one that I
>> have edited. I have travelled across most of the subcontinent and never
>> seen one that I can recall
>>
>> On Fri, Feb 15, 2019 at 1:41 PM Olivelle, J P <jpo at austin.utexas.edu>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi John:
>>>
>>> Can you post a picture of the animal?
>>>
>>> Patrick
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Feb 15, 2019, at 12:27 PM, John Huntington via INDOLOGY <
>>> indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
>>>
>>> Dear list members,
>>>
>>> I am working on a very modest terminology and illustrated list of
>>> animals that occur in Buddhism. Unfortunately one, the Chinkara a (small
>>> gazelle) which repeatedly appears to either side of the Dharmachakra in
>>> most sculptures oof the first turning, does not appear to have a verifiable
>>> Sanskrit name. In essence, it is the "deer" of the 'deer park' translation
>>> of "mṛgadava."
>>>
>>> The creature depicted does not (or *very* rarely) has branched antlers
>>> (a deer characteristic) but gently curving horns which it does not shed (an
>>> antelope gazelle characteristic).
>>>
>>> My sincere appreciation for any help or references.
>>>
>>> Best to all
>>>
>>> John
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> INDOLOGY mailing list
>>> INDOLOGY at list.indology.info
>>> indology-owner at list.indology.info (messages to the list's managing
>>> committee)
>>> http://listinfo.indology.info (where you can change your list options
>>> or unsubscribe)
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>> From: Madhav Deshpande <mmdesh at umich.edu>
>> To: Indology <indology at list.indology.info>
>> Cc:
>> Bcc:
>> Date: Sat, 16 Feb 2019 06:36:42 -0800
>> Subject: [INDOLOGY] Continuing my Krishna verses
>> Continuing my Krishna verses
>>
>> तासामितस्तत: कृष्ण सरन्तीनां निरोधनम् ।
>> यदि कुर्यां ततो गूढं तव पश्यामि सन्मुखम् ।।६५५।।
>> [तासाम् = चित्तवृत्तीनाम्]
>> O Krishna, if I could restrain these [modulations of my mind] crawling
>> here and there, then I can see your hidden beautiful face.
>>
>> Madhav M. Deshpande
>> Professor Emeritus
>> Sanskrit and Linguistics
>> University of Michigan
>> [Residence: Campbell, California]
>> _______________________________________________
>> INDOLOGY mailing list
>> INDOLOGY at list.indology.info
>> http://list.indology.info/mailman/listinfo/indology_list.indology.info
>>
>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://list.indology.info/pipermail/indology/attachments/20190216/041ea0f6/attachment.htm>