Birds in Sanskrit Literature सुश्रुत too mentions कर as different from तित्तिर, कपिज्जल and कुतित्तिर and पालकाप्य,, p. 569, has कर with कपिज्जल and तित्तिर, कर is therefore the same as Vedic, and the terms and are merely phonetic variants of the later for a Sand-Grouse. They are all after the call notes of the birds syllabified as Katarr Katarr, ka ka, etc. 3. The pugnacious nature of Sand-Grouse was taken advantage of by the ancients who trapped the birds by enticing them to fight with a decoy called दीपक कक्कर (कक्कर जातक, No. 209). दीपक तित्तिर is mentioned in , No. 404 and other stories, which again shows that and fafer are different. 4. is either for a bird-form allied to, a Sand-Grouse or just a variant of it. मार्कण्डेय पुराण, 15, 26 reads for कुल in the following half verse which it otherwise shares with महाभारत, 13.111,104 :– “पत्रोणं चोरयित्वा तु कलत्वं निगच्छति" made from it'? the soft downy for shoes lined with Does a mean 'feather-wool or down and articles Buddhist literature mentions articles of dress made from feathers of Owls, and the Pali Dictionary has such feathers; and af for other things, probably gloves, etc., and even bigger items, cf. “"उलूक पत्तानि गंयेत्वा कत निवासनं", while हंसतूल is often mentioned in Sanskrit literature. The materials recommended in सुश्रुत, सूत्रस्थान, 18, 16 for dressing and bandaging surgical cases include a with linen, cotton, wool, fine cotton, silk (u), etc. but the notes of uncertainty about the exact nature of Tai, and the synonyms ata (washed or white Kosa-silk) in are not convincing. If fore, ai is 'feather wool', a very plausible identification of bird-name offers itself with reference to the punishment for theft of articles of dress made from that material provided in the above verse. They were apparently needed for wear in the extreme cold climate prevailing at places like Leh, Ladakh, etc. in Kashmir and Tibet in and across the Himalayas. The idea, therefore, seems to be that a person, who deprives another of this special kind of protective clothing, should be made to suffer the same inconvenience by being reborn in conditions of extreme rigour. Now the Tibetar. Sand-Grouse is not a migratory bird and spends indicate and there- as a 266 1. and for 'Ardea Virgo' in M. Williams seem to be mistakes. 2. The श्योनाक tree is rendered as Tor सोनापाठा in Hindi. It is described in detail in ft TT under the name or but there is no mention of any woolly or hairy stuff obtained from it. It belongs to the order Bignoniaceae and no member of this order produces any cotton or similar stuff in India. The seeds are light and have their wings (See Indian Trees by D. Brandis). They are used for lining present-day Sola hats and were probably used to stuff cushions in ancient times-heuce the name from a bag. The buds of certain trees in this order are curved and hence the name . The flowers of some e.g. of genus stereospermum, are thinly hairy or pubescent and the name at probably refers to this character. It is highly doubtful if such flowers could be used for dressing wounds. The meaning of tof as feather wool has been lost. Sand-Grouse 267 the winter also on the snows, and is known as 'kaklingma or kakali' (fr or ) in Tibet. These names are very close to Sanskrit and and it is highly probable that the Buddhists of Tibet borrowed from Sanskrit and made it into; or it may be that underwent the change into eft and travelled back as to India for the Tibetan Sand Grouse. would thus be an original or borrowed name for the bird which fits in very well with the idea underlying the above verse. Incidentally, it also helps to confirm the identification of and with the Sand- Grouse of India. Chakor figure among 5. The Common Indian Sand-Grouse (t) the fowl served at a bacchanalian feast held by Ravana the end of which was witnessed by Hanuman when, in search of Sīta, he passed through the various halls of the palace : "ऋकरान् विविधान्सिद्धांश्चकोरानर्द्धभक्षितान् ॥ Rāmāyaṇa (Alld. edition) 5. 11,17. The Bombay edition of the Rāmāyaṇa has a different reading with for कर
