I was reminded that I had not quoted the Sanskrit passage. Sorry!
The servant who impersonates Bhiṣāyaka is described as tṛṇacchanna. This is the relevant wording:

 

sthāne Bhiṣāyakasyaitāv ādiśya svānujīvinam |

tṛṇacchannaṃ mahāratnaiś caitryāṃ pūjayatas sma tau || Jonar. RT 44 ||

 

The scarecrow function also seems to have been fulfilled by wooden figures carved in the shape of birds of prey:

 

yat kārukḷptakoṇasthadārugāruḍamūrtibhiḥ |

trastāś caranto nāyānti pakṣiṇas tan nabho’dhvanā || Śrīvara RT III.175 ||

 

"When they get scared by the wooden figures of Garuḍa on the juts of the [palace] where the craftsmen have placed them, the birds fly about in the air [and] do not return there."


WS


Am Sa., 6. Apr. 2024 um 15:12 Uhr schrieb Walter Slaje <walter.slaje@gmail.com>:
Dear Arlo,

> very literally the sense of bibhīṣikā/bibhīṣikā
I recall one proper name with a causative element of "scaring" (bhiṣāyaka) - unfortunately not with mumaṇḍi/ mumaṇḍī - in connection with a straw figure. The point is that a Yakṣa of this name was apparently the object of worship in the form of a scarecrow. This is illustrated by a story of two swindlers who relieved a naïve Kashmiri ruler (Paramāṇuka [1155-1164]) of his precious jewellery by having a servant covered with straw take the place of Bhiṣāyaka to accept this 'gift of jewellery' from the king and making him disappear into the forest with it. This how the amusing story ends:

"Today, you have satisfied Kubera by adorning him with a variety of jewels. He gave you his blessings and then disappeared before the eyes of the people."

[And that was not all:] the rogues thereupon caused the infantile, pitiable ruler to make them a gift as a token of favour. In this manner, by means of terrifying this weak king like a little child, the two bon-vivants completely plundered his treasure  (Rājataraṅgiṇī of Jonarāja 41-47, Pseudo-Jonarāja 1 [B 47-49]).

Best,
Walter

Am Sa., 6. Apr. 2024 um 13:21 Uhr schrieb Arlo Griffiths via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info>:
Dear colleagues,
I wish to thank the numerous colleagues who responded to my query on and off the list. In alphabetical order, they are Sadananda Das, Vincent Eltschinger, Rupert Gethin, Suhas Mahesh, Andrew Ollett, Walter Slaje, Harry Spier, Carmen Spiers. Forgive me if I forget anyone.
Below I assemble all the data I have received or found myself, starting with references to Michaël Meyer's most convenient aggregation (known to me) of all relevant modern dictionaries.
But all of this started for me with an attempt to help my student Zakariya Pamuji Aminullah edit the Sanskrit-Old Javanese lexicographic text part of the Old Javanese Candrakiraṇa (alias Chandakaraṇa) that he is editing for his PhD thesis. At the moment, his edition has two juxtaposed synonym sets (where Old Javanese ṅa means iti and introduces the Old Javanese terms corresponding to the Sanskrit ones).
307 Synonyms of Effigy
      cañcā, ṅa riṅgit.
308 Synonyms of Scarecrow
      kuṣmāṇḍī, ṅa pitakut. 
He has direct access to three Javanese palm-leaf manuscripts (J1, J2, J2) plus Lokesh Chandra's edition which was based only on a Romanized transcript of J1.
Lokesh Chandra. 1997. “Chanda-Karaṇa: The Art of Writing Poetry.” Cultural horizons of India, vol 6, by Lokesh Chandra, 140–242. Śata-Piṭaka Series 390. New Delhi: International Academy of Indian Culture and Aditya Prakashan.
Apparatus for the above passage:
riṅgit] EdLC, riṅgit[... J1, ruṅgīt J2, lac. J3 (larger gap)
riṅgit … (310.1) śiṅśapa] A gap due to loss intervenes in J1.
kuṣmāṇḍī] conj., mumaṇḍih EdLC, mumaṇḍī J2, lac. J1 (larger gap), lac. J3 (larger gap).
Alas, we have only one ms. that gives the OJ word pitakut, which expresses very literally the sense of bibhīṣikā/bibhīṣikā (the base takut means 'to fear', the prefix pi- adds causative meaning), and the corresponding Sanskrit was still preserved in ms. J1 when the person who made the transcription used by Lokesh Chandra had access to it in the course of the 20th c. and read mumaṇḍih, while we find mumaṇḍī in J2. Despite all the data received on Sanskrit terms meaning 'scarecrow', we still seem to have no word that is similar enough to mumaṇḍih/mumaṇḍī that Zakariya could adopt instead of the unconvincing conjecture kuṣmāṇḍī.
Since cañcā does seem to be standard term for 'scarecrow' while the terms tr̥ṇapuruṣa/tr̥ṇapūruṣa is also common in that meaning, while an authority like the Viśvaprakāśa combines them both in one synonym set (cañco nalādinirmāṇe cañcā tu tr̥ṇapūruṣe |), I am even wondering if we should radically intervene in the transmission to merge both entries into one and get two Sanskirt terms for a single Old Javanese gloss, like this:
307 Synonyms of Scarecrow
      cañcā, tr̥ṇapuruṣa, ṅa pitakut. 
Suggestions are welcome.
Best wishes,
Arlo
 
Dictionary entries
cañcā                  https://michaelmeyer.fr/sanskrit/meta/terms/ca%C3%B1c%C4%81
jharaṅka          https://michaelmeyer.fr/sanskrit/meta/terms/jhara%E1%B9%85ka
Text passages
Sanskrit 1. [Carmen Spiers]
lemma: *śakuniprapatana-.
attestation: Paippal¯¯dsaṁhitā 19.47.8 
māṁsam ivāsinā śakuniprapatanāṁ kr̥dhi | 
mr̥gām̐ anu pra pātaya marīcīr anu nāśaya ||
comment Carmen Spiers: "śakuniprapatanā- seems to refer to something like a scarecrow in Atharvaveda, Paippalāsaṁhitā 19.47.8b; though it is an epithet applied to a woman whom the speaker wishes to become insane or shunned, a masculine form meaning "scarecrow" might be the inspiration for it."
Sanskrit 2. [Suhas Mahesh]
lemma: tr̥ṇa-pūruṣa
attestation: Bhallaṭaśataka 1.74
saṁrakṣituṁ kr̥ṣim akāri kr̥ṣīvalena paśyātmanaḥ pratikr̥tis **tr̥ṇapūruṣo** 'yam |
stabdhasya niṣkriyatayāstabhiyo 'sya nūnam aśnanti gomr̥gagaṇāḥ pura eva sasyam ||
Sanskrit 3. [Suhas Mahesh]
lemma: tr̥ṇa-kr̥ta-kr̥trima-puruṣa
attestation: Nītidviṣaṣṭikā of Sundarapāṇdya 104
yo na dadāti na bhuṅkte vibhave sati naiva tasya tad dravyam |
**tr̥ṇa-kr̥ta-kr̥trima-puruṣo** rakṣati sasyaṁ parasyārthe ||
Sanskrit 4. [Andrew Ollett]
lemma: vīrut-tr̥ṇa-maya-puruṣa in
attestattion: Subhāṣitaratnakōṣa 264
kāmaṁ kūlē nadīnām anugiri mahiṣīyūthanīḍōpakaṇṭhē
gāhantē śaṣparājīr abhinavaśalabhagrāsalōkā balākāḥ
antarvinyastavīruttr̥ṇamayapuruṣatrāsavighnaṁ kathañcit
kāpotaṁ kodravāṇāṁ kavalayati kaṇān kṣētrakōṇaikadeśe 
Ingalls' translation:
By the streambank, up toward the hills,
close by where the buffaloes are lying,
the cranes stalk calmly through the young grass
hunting for fresh locusts;
the flock of doves, though hindered by their fear
of straw-filled scarecrows set therein,
yet manages to peck up grains of beggarweed
along a corner of the field.
Sanskrit 5. [Suhas Mahesh]
lemma: cañcā
attestation: Līlāvatīsāra 11.86 (L.D. Series edition)
mahākulaṁ kalāsthānaṁ yuvānam api khecaram |
manyate sva-guṇāhaṁyuś **cañcā**-sadhryañcam eva sā ||
Sanskrit 6. [Arlo Griffiths]
lemma: cañcā
attestation: Amaraṭīkāsarvasva ed. Ganapati Sastri, vol. IV, p. 172
manuṣyaḥ cañceva cañcāmanuṣyaḥ kharakuṭī nāpitaśālā | cañcā tr̥ṇamayaḥ puruṣo yaḥ kṣetrarakṣaṇāya kriyat
Sanskrit 7. [Suhas Mahesh]
lemma: *mr̥ga-kula-udbhēṣaka. 
See Prakrit 1 below.
Pali 1 [Rupert Gethin]
lemma: tiṇa-purisaka
attestation: Visuddhimagga 457 (XIV.113); Atthasālinī (111)
comment Rupert Gethin: In the Abhidhamma definition of saññā we find: yathā-upaṭṭhitavisayapadaṭṭhānā tiṇapurisakesu migapotakānaṁ purisā ti uppannasaññā viyā, 'Its footing is an object as presented, as when young animals have the cognition ‘people’ with regard to scarecrows.'
Prakrit 1 [Suhas Mahesh]
jahiṁ tumaṁ saccaviā viṇiaṁsaṇa-lolirī juānehiṁ |
te tattha cciya chette **maa-ula-ubbhesaā** jāā || Śr̥ṅgāraprakāśa p. 1195 (Josyer’s edition)
      ** Skt mr̥ga-kula-udbhēṣaka.






From: INDOLOGY <indology-bounces@list.indology.info> on behalf of Arlo Griffiths via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info>
 Sent: Sunday, March 31, 2024 1:17 AM
 To: INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info>
 Subject: [INDOLOGY] scarecrow
 
Dear colleagues,
Looking through NWS (search term Vogelscheuche), MW, and even the English-Sanskrit dictionaries at https://sanskrit-lexicon.uni-koeln.de/simple/, it is hard to find any words that evidently means 'scarecrow' in Sanskrit.
Would anyone be able to point me to words expressing this meaning with some degree of plausibility?
Best wishes,
Arlo Griffiths


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