Birds in Sanskrit Literature been understood so far (see the Vedic Index sub voce शुञ्च), but, as it seems to me, soft refers to the 'fold of the flank' situated in the region of the waist of the horse. The cutaneous muscle, 'Musculus cutaneus trunci', of the horse covered by skin constitutes 'the fold of the flank' which ends on the fascia above the stifle. It has been illustrated in Fig. 276 at page 289 of The Anatomy of the Domestic Animals by Septimus Sisson (W. B. Saunders Company). This 'fold of the flank' keeps constantly expanding and contracting as the horse runs, gallops, or even walks in the ordinary way and this action of the muscle is typical of the long and flexible neck of the Flamingo in its various activities. This would, therefore, seem to offer a very probable explanation of the passage. 13. कुव्य in the following appears to be a mistake for कोच which is the reading in the parallel passages in TS 5.5. 12; MS 3. 14. 12; and KS 5.7.2 :- 418 वाचे क्रुञ्च:- VS 24.31. कन्च is the loudly trumpeting Common Crane ( Art. 62) and suits the context best, for the anserine voice of the Flamingo would be a poor substitute; 1 cf. also वाग्वे क्रौञ्चम् 11.10.1. That and कोच are two different birds has already been made clear by the passage quoted from the आप धर्मसूत्र in para. 11 above. 14. The descriptive epithet, मेघानन्दा, for the female Flamingo has already been mentioned at the end of para. 6. Its importance lies in the especial relationship established by tradition and poetic convention between the Rain god पर्जन्य and clouds on the one hand and the Flamingos or a flight of them on the other. Knowledge of the fact that these birds leave the country, flying in large formations, just as the rains are approaching undoubtedly helped in establishing the connection. Thus in the षड्विशब्राह्मण 1-2 "पुरो (moving with a vanguard of Flamingos) is an epithet of god पर्जन्य. It is however not clear why in spite of numerous references to the constant association of बलाक and मेघ (Flamingo and cloud) in literature beginning with the Rámāyana and Mahābhārata सायणाचार्य interprets पुरोबलाक as "सर्वेषां पुरोगामी मेघो भूत्वा..." and a few illustrative examples are therefore given below to elucidate the point: पुरोबलाकैरसितैमेघैर्ज्योत्स्नामिवावृताम् । - रामायण, 5.20.27. मेघपृष्ठे बलाकानां रराज विमला ततिः । -विष्णुपुराण, 5.6.41. आवृतं गगनं मेघैर्बलाकापंक्तिहासिभिः 1-म. भा. 1.138.23. low voiced 1. It is not however impossible that the author of the संहिता deliberately chose the for the goddess of speech. 2. This indicates the great height at which Flamingos travel when migrating from one country to another. The bright red underwing coverts became invisible, and the black wing-quills merging with the clouds the birds simply look white at a great height. Flamingos तत्प्रकीर्णपताकानां रथवारणवाजिनाम् । बलाकाशबलाप्राभं ददृशे रूपमाहवे ॥ - Ib. 7.20.35 बलाकिनी नीलपयोदराजी दूरं पुरःक्षिप्तशतहृदेव । -कुमारसंभव, 7.39. ताडका चलकपालकुण्डला कालिकेव निबिडा बलाकिनी । - रघुवंश, 11.15. एतैरेव यदा गजेन्द्रमलिनैराध्मातलम्बोदरे- गंर्जद्भिः सतडिद्बलाकशबलैर्मेघैः सशल्यं मनः ।। —पृच्छकटिक, 5, verse 18. घनप्रदेशेषु बलाकपंक्तयः—–—हरिवंश, 2.95.4. Clouds are said to be responsible for making the females of the Flamingo fertile : बलाकागर्भदाचं व बलाकागर्भधारिणः (मेघाः) । 、419 - वायुपुराण, 51.53; ब्रह्माण्ड पु., 1.22.36. हृष्टा बलाका धनमभ्युपैति कान्ता सकामा प्रियमभ्युपैति - रामायण, 4.20.25. The exiled यक्ष reminds the Cloud of flights of Flamingos: गर्भाधानक्षणपरिचयान्नूनमाबद्धमालाः । सेविष्यन्ते नयनसुभगं खे भवन्तं बलाकाः ।। -मेघदूत, 10. The expression "गर्भाधानक्षणपरिचय" used by the poet definitely points to his knowledge of the birds' annual migration to repeat their 'happy experience of love and parental instinct. ' The courtship of Flamingos was naturally a most rare thing in North India, for they go to breed elsewhere, and popular or poetic fiction attributed a sort of parthenogenesis to them under the influence of rain-clouds. This is reflected in the passages given above and also in a quotation from कर्णोदय given by मल्लिनाथ in his commentary on the मेघदूत : गर्भ बलाका दघतेऽध्रयोगान्नाके निबद्धावलयः । According to the Buddhist tradition also the female Flamingo becomes gravid on hearing the thunder of rain-clouds : बलाका च नाम मेघसद्देन गब्भं गण्हंति । – लोलजातक, 274. We can now see that just as the female Sarus, who consummates her nuptials on the ground, is called गोनन्दी (Art. 62) the female Fla- mingo, the बलाका, is मेघानन्दा i.e. happy in the fulfilment of her life's mission only by association with the cloud (cf. मेघाभिकामा in the verse from the Rāmāyana in the next para). 1. Literally"The past experience of the pleasure of fecundation or consummation (in association with the fertilising rain-clouds),
