412 (i.e. Birds in Sanskrit Literature has the correct reading of मृणालकण्ठ and मृणालकण्ड in कल्पनुकोश is an obvious crror. has ut instead (p. 198). In synonymy (iv) er is probably a homonym and stands for both the Egret and the female of the Flamingo as they share the majority of the epithets in common. Both are waders and not swimmers, though they can swim), aferers (having their breeding season in North India at the end of summer or beginning of the rains), and rear (associated with water, the Flamingos more than the Egrets). Adnoun fe- or fat is specific for the Egret while the be- ing the feminine of are equated with in w is clearly more appropriate for the female of the long-necked Flamingo. vtr (the white), again, is common to both. That leaves which, if treated as a homonym, would apply (i) in the sense of water to both, and (ii) with मेघेन सह सुरतानन्दो शिशुप्रसवानन्दो वा यस्याः, to the female Flamingo in particular (See para. 13 where this topic, is discussed in greater detail). The last synonymy also is mainly homonymous, for er means (i) a flight of Flamingos in formation, (ii) an Egret, and (iii) i.e. a passionate woman metaphorically called on the analogy of the female Flamingo supposed to fly up eagerly to meet the rain-cloud for fertility, and finally ere, the Flamingo, is defined as a sort of or Stork. M. Williams' render- ing of as a kind of Crane is incorrect. 7. The Kalmuks and the Russians call the Flamingo as 'the Red Goose' (per Jerdon in Birds of India) from the red colour in the wings, also the Persians (Qaz-i-surkh). Hindi gurre for it corresponds to Sansk. बरहंस which may well inean the superior' or the red Goose' (बरः श्रेष्ठे, वरं कुसुमे-हेमचन्द्र; cf. बरा, बराङ्गी turmeric, and बरकाष्ठका the plant Clerodendron siphonanthus, the blue drupe of which rests upon an enlarged and spread- ing red calyx-Brandis, p. 508). in the following verse should there- fore be the Flamingo or the Red Goose: गायत्री नाम या सन्ध्या रक्ताङ्गी रक्तवाससा वरहंससमारूढा श्रीमत्पुष्करसंस्थिता ॥ गरुडपुराण, 1.217.5. This verse refers to the personification of the early morning prayer (eft) when the sun rises with a red glow while in the next two verses the mid- day prayer is conceived of as clad in white and described as "श्वेतपद्मासना" and "fr" because then the sun is at its brightest. The evening गायत्री is “पीतवस्त्रा” and “अतसीकुसुमप्रख्या" representing the orange-yellow of the setting sun and the advancing darkness, the arty, linseed-flower, being of a sky-blue colour. Taking all the three representations of and her colour associations it is highly probable that we in the above quotation is the white Flamingo with a rosy tinge on the upper parts and red on the wings. The Hindi erlends special support to this view. It is also 1. Cf. THT said of a flight of Flamingos in the verse from the Rāmāyaṇa quoted in para. 13 below; also it for the female Sarus who consummates her love on the ground, Art. 62 para. 10. Flamingos 413 particularly significant that we in his commentary on the verse from the बृहत्संहिता quoted at the end of this article renders बलाक as a kind of हंस "हंसविशेषः". 8. The red colour in the plumage of the Flamingo has been recognized in the name art by which it has been mentioned in the Mahabhä- rata. A particular array of an army has been named (metri causa) " क्रौञ्चारण: "1 which in plain prose should be read as अरुणकोञ्चव्यूह. This arrangement is evidently different from the and was set up like a (see f. n. to para. 1, Art. 62) but with a difference, viz., that the front or head part of the array was like a representing the out- stretched long neck of the Flamingo on the wing and a similar arrange- ment at the back of the main body corresponding to the long out-stretched legs behind, the body and the flanks of the formation being after the body and broad wings of the bird. This is fully described in the Epic beginning with the verse: व्यूह. क्रौञ्चारुणो नाम सर्वशत्रुनिबर्हणः । यं बृहस्पतिरिन्द्राय तदा देवासुरेऽब्रवीत् ।। - 6.50.40ff. On shorter flights, i. e. when moving from one feeding ground to another the Flamingos rise indiscriminately in a huge mass and fly very much lower than during migration. In such a position the red in the plumage is distinctly visible from below and this particular type of flight has been utilised with considerable effect for a beautiful simile which, mas based as it is on actual observation, combines wonderful poetic imagery with typical Indian exaggeration. A great mass of arrows feathered with the chestnut-red wing and tail-feathers of the Brahminy Kites (g) dis- charged by warriors at the enemy has been compared with a ceiling (q) of Flamingos (r) rendering the sun and the sky invisible to people in the field: अन्वधावत्किरबाणैः कङ्कपत्रैरजिह्मगैः । राजानमभिधावन्तं शरैरावृत्य रोदसी ॥ क्रुद्धः प्रच्छादयामास शरजालेन मारुतिः । ★ क्रौञ्चपृष्ठारुणं रौद्रं बाणजालं व्यदृश्यत । नैव सूर्यप्रभा राजन् न दिशः प्रदिशस्तथा ॥ – MBh. 8.51.60.66 9. We have just seen in the preceding paragraph that the was the invention of sage efe. Another invention of his, based upon a natural formation of Flamingos in the sky against a back-ground of dark rain clouds has been called the great बार्हस्पत्य व्यूह: 1. by itself therefore does not mean a a as assumed by M. W.
