314 Birds in Sanskrit Literature "क्रोधश्च पुटेन कुश्चितवपुः शम्बूकमन्वेषते ।" सुभाषित Page 14 The phrase gay describing the attitude of the bird in action is worth noting, for it strengthens the derivation of and from to 'curve. or bend'. Similarly the term a means (i) a water-bird in general, e.g., in “अम्बुसारस”–कथासरित्सागर, 70.59 and क्षुद्रसारसाः of कल्पद्रुकोश, p. 331 and राजनिघण्टु, p. 471; (ii) any Crane and specifically the Indian Sarus according to the rule "सामान्योऽपि विशेष वर्तते"; * (iii) a Goose in बृहत्कथामञ्जरी 9.1,145; 359 and in शिशुपालवध 12.14 (cf. also 'चङ्गारसौ हंसे, from the शब्दार्णव quoted by वल्लभदेव in his commentary on the latter). That the Indian Crane, though popularly named as #r, was known to be a kind of is clear from the story of sage ateff, cursing, out of righteous indignation, the fowler who killed the male of a pair of the birds engaged in love on the sands of the HT: तस्याभ्याशे तु मिथुनं चरन्तमनपायिनम् । ददर्श भगवांस्तन क्रौञ्चयोश्वारुनिस्वनम् ॥ तं शोणितपरीताङ्ग चेष्टमानं महीतले । भार्या तु निहतं दृष्ट्वा रुराव करुणां गिरम् । वियुक्ता पतिना तेन द्विजेन सहचारिणा । ताम्रशीर्येण * * मत्तेन पत्रिणा सहितेन वै ॥ रामायण, 1.2.9-12 The poet's description of the birds possessing a beautiful voice and a red head leaves no doubt as to their identity with the Indian Sarus which, it may be pointed out, is the only resident and breeding ty of India. Despite the extended use of the terms and #, and the mixed synonymies noticed above, it is, however, possible to determine the names and epithets appropriate to the different species of Crane found in India with a very fair degree of approximation and an attempt is made in this direction in the following paragraphs. 7. The Eastern Common Crane (45") is a medium sized Crane of a light to rather dark grey colour with long neck and legs. The bald crown. is black in front and red behind, the bill dull green and the legs black.. The eyes are red, brown or even yellow (F. Finn). The tertiary plumes of the wing are particularly well developed, long and loose textured which this Crane, more than others, has the power of raising and showing off though all Cranes do so to a more or less degree. Elegant in form and for the Common Crane as
- This rule applies equally to the specific name of t
against the general ineaning of the term-any Crane'.
- राम, the author of the तिलकव्याख्या on रामायण (Bombay edition) had
apparently no clear idea of the 1s for he explains it as a bird having a red crest like the Common Cuck- कुत्रकुटादिवत्ताप्रवर्णशापंगत चूडायुक्तन which is incorrect. No Indian Crane has a crest. 315 carriage, it is "the Crane par excellence', occurring in flocks, often of large size, throughout North India and south to Deccan in the cold weather. It is very destructive to the crops. Like the Sarus it has a very fine. trumpeting call, uttered both on the ground and in flight. It is known as कुरुंच (fr. फौन्च) and कुलग* in Hindi and being the commonest Crane of North India is the proper of Sanskrit literature. In the following examples the wailing cries of hundreds of women have been compared with the trumpeting calls coming from large flocks of the Common Crane, but due to the nature of the simile and poetic necessity the birds have been mentioned in the feminine gender (): Cranes जज्ञेऽथ तासां संनाद: क्रौञ्चीनामिव स्वनः । रामायण, 2.39.40 क्रौञ्चीनामिव नारीणां निनादस्तव शुश्रुवे । आर्तानां करुणं काले कोशंतीनां सहस्रशः ॥ Ibid. 2.76.21 According to fe, 12.64 a person stealing cotton-fabrics is condemned to be reborn asaौच (कार्पासतान्तवं चो), the reason for which would seem to lie in the long disintegrated tertiary plumes drooping gracefully over the short tail of the bird. The grey colour of hand-spun and hand-woven cotton fabrics is an additional reason for selecting the Common Crane with a grey plumage. In the alternative fea may mean a long warp prepared with yarn ready to be placed on the loom for weaving. This would seem to agree with "" To 13.9.17 based upon the flight of Cranes in long skeins. The Demoiselle and the Common Cranes both appear to travel together (Whistler) and this is borne out by the following passage relating to their return journey from India:- जलाप्लुतानीध्य महानदीनां सुगाति ! हंसा: पुलिनानि हृष्टाः । गताः श्रमं मानसवासलुब्धाः स सारसा: क्रौश्चगुणानुविद्धाः ॥ --हरिवंश, 2.95.13 The 'aren are the tengerent, the Demoiselles flying in mixed formations with the Common Cranes: The phrase is worth noting in connection with both "रज्जु: कौञ्चम्" and कार्पासतान्तवम्. 8. The Sarus or Indian Crane (58") is a huge french-grey bird with the bare head and upper neck of a red colour, becoming bright scarlet
- The story of the कुलिङ्गमिथुन related in भागवत 7.2.50-56 is cleady based upon
that of the faga in the ar. There it is the female (fr) which is trapped by a fowler and the male cries and bewails his own and his young ones' lot. In the mean time he too is killed with an arrow by the fowler. The Common Crane is known as "Kulanga" (Kulangi in F.B.I.) or perhaps as 'Kulinga' in Telugu and the author would seem to have used the Telugu name for purposes of the story though the word is also used in the water. The use of the Telugu name of the Common Crane probably goes to show that the author was a South-Indian. The great Sanskritist, C. V. Vaidya, also held a similar opinion which is recorded by Winternitz in his History of Indian Literature, Vol.1, p. 556, f.n. 3, Calcutta, 1927.
