200 "मा त्वा श्येन उद्वधीन्मा सुपर्णो." (Ibid) "वयसां योजिष्ठं बलिष्ठं यच्छ्येन: "(श. ब्रा.) " श्येनसदसि गृधसदसि सुपर्णसदसि" Birds in Sanskrit Literature “तद्यथाऽस्मिन्नाकाशे श्येनो वा सुपर्णो वा ...... "हंसभासश्येनसुपर्णादयः पतत्रिप्रवराः” In the following examples ":" are the carrion-eating "गृध्रा: श्येना बकाः कङ्का वायसाध सहस्रशः ।" "भासामिषादानुसृतैः श्येनं आमिषगृघ्नुभिः ।" 4. As alreay observed in Art. 51 the Eagles":- (Tait. Samhita²) 1. 2.42.2 and Sata. Brah. 3.3.4.15. 2. 4.4.7. 3. 4.3.19. 5.24.6. 5. 7.7.36; 7.97.13. 6. 2.5.20. 7. Verse 304 in the Chapter styled armsafire. 8. 5.4.11. (Brah. Up.³) (Bhagavata) Eagles :- ( महाभारत ) Similarly the name Tez has often been used for the Sea-Eagle (Art. 50). The flesh and bones of Te are ingredients in the preparation of a certain medicated oil in a recipe for the treatment of rheumatism, in wer it is difficult to say what particular bird is meant. If the author belonged to North India it may well be the Golden Eagle but if he was from the South the bird would be the White-bellied Sea-Eagle of the Indian Coast, or again the term may refer to the common Tawny Eagle. speaks of "Seven (हरिवंश) "सप्त सुपर्णा कवयः इति शुश्रुमा वयम्” (अ. वे. 8.9.17-18) and it has just been stated that at least six species of true Eagle are at present known to occur in India, where however as in the West the lammergeyer also has sometimes been regarded as a kind of large Eagle. It is the 'gier eagle' of the Bible, Leviticus, ch. "11,18 and Denteronomy, ch. 14,17. We have already seen in Art. 51 that the Lammergeyer stands midway between the Vultures and the Eagles so that by including it in the g or Eagle group we have seven Eagles representing the seven sages men- tioned in the verse from the Atharva-Veda. The êferta efgars places the ,, viz., the Lammergeyer, on a footing of equality with and for diffierent fire-altars and red in his commentary actually regards as a kind of via or Eagle:- Eagles, Falcons and Allied Birds "कङ्कालजी श्येनस्यैवावान्तरजातिभेदौ" । There cannot, therefore, be any objection to the inclusion of as the seventh member common to both the groups, Eagles and Vultures. 201 5. The original physical basis for as the t (snake-eater) was most probably the Sea-Eagle who picks up sea-snakes from the sea or sand- beach and devours them on a nearby tree, and the ancients must have obtained this knowledge either from their own maritime residence prior to their entry into India as a second wave along the Persian Gulf or from their maritime experiences along the Makran-Sind-Kathiawar-coast-line. The Sea-Eagle is certainly the bird who is the T of Acts 4 and 5 of the Nāgānanda Drama of Sriharşa. Here the old tradition of as a snake-eater is fully preserved and we find the Eagles taking snakes from the sea and eating them at fixed perches so that large heaps of bleached bones of snakes have formed under particular trees. This habit of the powerful Sea-Eagle was later transferred to the gr (Golden Eagle) of the Himalayas, who does not, however, kill or eat snakes. Support for the above view is to be found in the following verse where gf clearly refers to the Sea-Eagle:- क्रममाणं समीक्ष्याथ भुजगाः सागरंगमाः । त्र्योम्नि तं कपिशार्दूलं सुपर्णमिव मेनिरे । (रामायण) And yet a knowledge of the true habit of the Golden Eagle not killing snakes is clearly reflected in the story of g granting a boon to the great Cobra of the Jumna whom he subdued that the gf would no more eat snakes marked with his foot-print, viz., the spectacled Cobras and incidentally any snake:-- द्वीपं रमणकं हित्वा ह्रदमेतमुपाश्रितः । यद्भूयात्स सुपर्णस्त्वां नाद्यान्मत्पदलाञ्छितम् ॥ भागवत (10.16.63) 6. a means both a snake and an elephant, so that the name aft (elephent-eater) for Te came to be interpreted as 'the eater of snakes and elephants', though we must not overlook the possibility of an Imperial Eagle actually feeding, on rare occasions, upon the carcass of a dead elephant, as a probable event in support of the name. More probably however, the idea of eating an elephant was taken over from a belief common in Persia and the neighbouring countries of western Asia regard- ing the fabulous Roc or Rukh of immense size carrying off elephants to feed his young. Similarly the habit of the Lammergeyer, regarded as a 1. इत्येष भोगपतिना विह्तव्यवस्थो यान् भक्षयत्यहिपतीन् पतगाधिराज मास्यन्ति यान्ति च गताश्च दिनविवृद्धि तेषाममी तुहिनशैलरुचोऽस्थिकूटाः ॥ Act. 4.6, 2. 5.1.73. For further evidence on the point see section C of this Art. 3. Article on Roc., Ency. Brit., 11th Edition.
