372 Birds in Sanskrit Literature Some of the lexical synonymies bearing on these birds and the Darter are noted below:- (i) प्लव: कारण्डवे जलकाके ( जलवायसे) विश्वप्रकाश हेमचन्द्र (ii) प्लवस्तु मात्रसम्प्लव:--अभिधानचिन्तामणि (iii) मद्गुस्तु जलकाकः ( जलवायसः ) –वैजयन्ती; हलायुध अभि. चिन्तामणि (iv) मत्स्यवेधन (v.l. मत्स्यवेधनी) मद्गुपक्षिणि वाचस्पत्यम् M. Williams (v) काकमद्गुः पानीयकाकिका– चक्रपाणिदत्त on चरक; रभसकोश quoted in नामचन्द्रिका ( टीका on अमर ) (vi) शितिकण्ठस्तु दात्यूहः काकमद्गुः कचाटुर:--विकाण्डशेष (vii) काकमद्गुः जलरङ्क:- हारावली in its The first shows that means both 'the Coot' (, Art. 58) and the Cormorant (1, 'the Water-Crow'). The second speaks of two meanings and states that both go down completely under water, i.e., are divers. M. Williams has rendered 'the Pelican', but this is not usually a diving bird and the error has, perhaps, arisen from the fact that also means a Pelican. Nos. (iii)and (iv) taken together show that is a bird that spears fish and is a kind of or Cormorant, i.e., the two have nearly similar habits, and they are indeed members of the same family. अमर mentions मद्गु, कारण्डव and प्लव as different birds and since 4 is the coot (Art. 58) and none of the Commentaries on are seen by me renders as the Pelican, we are left with for the Cormorant and for the Snake-bird. is also a water-snake and the fact that the name is shared by bird and reptile is significant. The Cormorant swims and also "dives with a jump into air" and has been very appropriately named (swimining, leaping). No. (iv) makes (Fish-impaler') and synonymous which appears to be perfectly correct as the principal difference between the fishing habits of a Cormorant and a Darter is that while the former always just catches a fish under water with its hooked bill, the latter, as a rule, transfixes it with a sudden rapier-like thrust of its thin and sharp pointed bill (aptly described as "spear of a beak"). This action is greatly helped by a peculiar arrangement of some of the vertebrae in its long neck, which act like a powerful spring and suddenly straighten out for each thrust at a fish (Whistler). 4. The aptness of the name way for the Darter is reinforced by the remarkable likeness borne by the long and flexible neck and small head of the bird, as it swims very low in the water, to a snake coming up to breathe. This has been well brought out by E HA and other observers. If follows, therefore, that we is the particular type of which is by habit a मत्स्यवेधन काकमद्गु ( काक इव मद्गु) occurs in चरक 1.25.38 and चक्रदत्त renders it as f (No. (v) above) which clearly refers to the Little Cormorant which is just as big as the Common Crow and is also by far Cormorants and Darter 373 the commonest of the Cormorants. The feminine gender of the name also implies the smallness of the bird, cf. "स्त्रीत्वेन वर्तकाद् वर्तिकाया लाघवं स्यात् " Equation No. (vi) refers to farfars (the black-necked) as two kinds of Ibis, viz., दात्यूह, the Black Ibis and कचादुर the White Ibis but काकमद्गु is certainly misplaced with them for none of them is a diver. The error due to the fact that all the three share the descriptive epithet of जलकाक (cf. "जलकाकस्तु दात्यूहः”–धन्वन्तरि ). The last synonymy from हारावली is wholly incorrect as belongs as a group-name to the Stint and Sandpiper type of birds which again do not dive for food or sport. 5. The names मद्गु and उपमद्गु borne by two of the sons of अक्रूर in हरिवंश (see alternative readings) are worth noting, for as the Snake-bird and as the Cormorant, preferably the Large one, which is about six inches shorter than the Snake-bird, are evidently the physical basis for them. Finally प्लवक or प्लबग are merely variae lectiones for प्लव 6. "जलं हृत्वाऽभिप्लव:"विष्णुस्मृति, 44.16 condemns a water-thief (probably a farmer misappropriating water from a canal belonging to another¹) to be reborn as the aquatic bird afभप्लव प्लव being the Cormorant अभिप्लव should mean a superior (af) bird of the same type and the Large Cormorant is certainly intended. During the breeding season the male of this species is readily distinguished from other members of the family by the white cheeks and a broad white patch on the flanks and it is this feature com- bined with its large size which has given him the name of af. This inference is fully borne out by the fact that a particular Vedic rite derives its name from this bird. The अभिप्लव षडह is defined as "उभयतो ज्योतिषोऽभिप्लवा भवन्ति, अन्यतो ज्योतिःपृष्ठभ:"-शत. ब्राह्मण, 12.2.2.1, and Eggling explains in a foot- note at p.149 of Vol. 44, S.B.E., that the af g has light (fr) on both sides of it because the feet is sung both at the beginning and at the close of the ceremony, i.e. on the first and the last days. This suffere is clearly, in reference to the snow-white patches on both sides of the face and body (or in front and rear of the body) of the af bird, the Large Cormorant of India. 7. A few examples from sacred and secular literature should prove interesting: मित्राय मद्गुन्–वाज संहिता, 24.22. प्लवो मद्गुर्मत्स्यस्ते नदीपतये - Ibid., 24.34. Here the comparatively beautiful Darter is named for the Sun-god because the bird seems to love the sun, as it were as it often perches with expanded wings in the sun for long periods. Similarly the Cormorant, 1. Per चक्रंदत्त on चरक, 1.27.47. 2. The equation farfers: re also refers to the white-breasted Waterhen, the शुक्लकण्ठ दात्यूह with शिति taken in the sense of 'white'. 1.34.12.; and 38. 52. 3 4. cf. परकीयं जलं हत्वा केदारार्थ द्विजो यदि स एव नरकं गत्वा मण्डूको जायते भुवि हेमाद्रि, चतुर्वमंचिन्तामणि, Vol. 4.277.
