236 Birds in Sanskrit Literature The former includes the magnificent Goshawks, the Crested Goshawks and the Shikras, and the latter contains all the Sparrow-Hawks. It may be added that the Shikras also are just Sparrow Hawks and nothing more. In Sanskrit the term via is often used in a wider sense to include the Hawks as well, for both tee and free apply the term to all hawking birds, viz., Falcons and Hawks (cf. श्येनो वाजिक: भट्टोत्पल on बृ० सं० 85.38 ). But they also have different names for the several types of Hawks trained for sport. The Goshawk, which occurs in two forms, is वाज, बाजी, वाजि, or वाजिक; the Crested Goshawks, the erg; the Shikras, the firs; and the Sparrow- Hawks, the वासा: and the बेसरा: 2. The terms and art do not occur in the lists of the birds of prey given in orgy and it appears that while powerful Hawks like the Goshawk were supposedly included in the term by both, the efigar separately mentions the weaker and smaller Sparrow-Hawks including the Shikras as the farger (gfer a sparrow, hence 'sparrow-killers'). Sanskrit lexicons give anfaat merely as a common noun for 'a bird' in general but not in a specific sense for a particular bird (ff). The word has nowhere been rendered as 'a bird or a particular bird' but from the use of these two words for the Goshawk in the .. it is clear that they had this sense though the lexicographers have overlooked it. The अमरकोश includes शकुनि, शकुन, शकुन्त, पत्नी, विष्किर and गरुत्मत् in the list of synonyms for 'a bird' in general and yet each of these terms also signifies a particular bird and we have : face: शकुनिरातापी–अभि. चिन्ता, Here शकुनि also शकुनस्तु पुमान् पक्षिमात्रर्पा क्षविशेषयोः–मेदिनी, शकुन means a 'Kite'. a kind of Vulture शकुन्तः भास पक्षिविहङ्गयो:-ibid., शकुन्त, another Vulture पत्नी श्येने पत्नरथे— ibid., पत्नी a Hawk विष्किराः तित्तिरमयूरकुक्कुटादयः शब्दकल्पद्रुम गरुत्मत् सुपर्णः सुधाहृत् (the Golden Eagle) – अभि. चिन्ता. This is according to the rule "सामान्योऽपि विशेष वर्तते" quoted in अभि. चिन्ता, 404 and wi.. too has the following: श्येने पत्नीति वाजीति शब्दो वैशिष्ट्यसूचकः – 4.31 There is thus hardly any doubt that the terms and art also connoted a particular bird, i.e. the Goshawk. Tat in the sense of a v or a fast bird has been explained as "अतिशयितं प्रशस्तं वा पत्रमस्य" in the रामाश्रमी टीका on अमर by भानुजी दीक्षित, and it should not be incorrect if बाज and बाजी for 'a speed bird' are also explained in the same way: प्रशस्ता बाजा पक्षाऽस्य बाज: बाजी च 1. v.1. प्रान्जि and प्राजिक in मानसोल्लास. Compounds like वाजिपक्षिन् and प्राजिपक्षिन् (M.W.) would seem to be common names for Hawks in general. 2. The synonymy "वाजी बाणाश्वपक्षिषु"--मेदिनी, refers to two speedy items, बाण and ar so that it is possible to render the third, qeft also as 'a fast bird'. Eagles, Falcons and Allied Birds 237 3. It has been stated in the Introductory sub-section that it is the more powerful and larger females of these birds that are preferred for hawking. It is therefore easy to understand that where we have a name for individual female Hawks used for the chase the male of every such female has not been named individually. Thus the male of the Goshawk (a in Sansk, and in Hindi) is in Persian and Hindi and in प्रये. शा. In मानसोल्लास the male of any Hawk or Falcon is simply a द्रोणक (or तोणक) i.e. a 'petty or little Crow', from a, a Crow. It is a contemptuous name signifying the poorer killing power of the male as compared with the female: द्रोणकश्चेति विख्यातः पुमानल्पशरीरकः । द्रोणका स्वल्पकायत्वादधमा लघुमारकाः ॥ Vol. 2,267 The पये. शा. confines the terms टुना or टोना (the same as तोणक) to the male Shikra alone, the term af to the males of the Besra Hawks and to the males of the Asiatic and Indian Sparrow-Hawks. These terms are current in Hindi as well and in the same senses. 4. The . T. divides the smaller Hawks into three categories; (i) aret, (ii) er, and (iii) ferra: The first are said to be of four kinds, the second of three and the third of several (). The type of Hawk thus consists of औरङ्गनाः, घावनाः, प्रतिष्ठाना and शिकारा: (the Shikras) • The वेसरा's are of three kinds: माणिक वेसर, चूलिकाङ्क (v.I. चूलांक in 5.5) वेसर, and शुद्ध वेसर, Lastly the सिचाना's ( सञ्चानाः), said to be of different kinds according to differences in size, habits and country of origin, have been barely men- tioned but not classified to save space (fear -4.50). The different species of Hawk and their nomenclature will now be considered in the following paragraphs. 5. The dult and the juvenile Goshawk, called them and the have been mentioned in para. 4 of the Introductory sub-section. It is the largest and the most powerful of the Hawks and is trained to strike down the largest variety of game like Grouse, Pheasants, Partridges, Quails, Ducks, Bustards, Storks, Ibises, Spoonbill, Peafowl, Jungle Fowl, and even Kites and Vultures, Hares and Rabits both in Europe and Asia. Not that a single Hawk is trained to kill all these, but one can be trained to kill any five or six included in the above list. In nature, however, it preys upon Pheasants, Partridges and Pigeons with a partiality for Hares. Because of its all-round excellence, and being second only to the Peregrine and the Shaheen, it is called by courtesy the "gentle Falcon" (Astur gentilis). Its courage, flight and technique have always been admired: एवं लक्ष्यानुसरणात् बहुशः परिधावनात् । अतिविधम्भणाद् वाजा गताः श्रेष्ठधं पतत्रिषु ॥
- These, i.e. the Shikras, really belong to the fear: group and have been wrongly
placed with the ret: as will be explained later.
