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] *mṛgas: 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 LoukotaOn Sat, Feb 16, 2019 at 11:00 AM <indology-request@list.indology.info> wrote:Send INDOLOGY mailing list submissions to
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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@gmail.com>
To: Indology <indology@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 allJohn
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Olivelle, J P" <jpo@austin.utexas.edu>
To: John Huntington <john.darumadera@gmail.com>
Cc: Indology <indology@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@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
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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: John Huntington <john.darumadera@gmail.com>
To: "Olivelle, J P" <jpo@austin.utexas.edu>
Cc: Indology <indology@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 recallOn Fri, Feb 15, 2019 at 1:41 PM Olivelle, J P <jpo@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@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
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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Madhav Deshpande <mmdesh@umich.edu>
To: Indology <indology@list.indology.info>
Cc:
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Date: Sat, 16 Feb 2019 06:36:42 -0800
Subject: [INDOLOGY] Continuing my Krishna verses_______________________________________________Continuing my Krishna versesतासामितस्तत: 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. DeshpandeProfessor EmeritusSanskrit and LinguisticsUniversity of Michigan[Residence: Campbell, California]
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