74 Birds in Sanskrit Literature refused to eat fruit, and as he could not think of two Suparnas with such divergent habits in nature, he also agreed that the two birds were simple poetic imagery only for a and (See p. 1157 of his Marathi translation of the fred, Poona, 1935). In the absence of any guidance from Indian commentaries the Western interpreters of the Rgveda also had to content themselves with guess work and tried, each in his own way, to extract some sort of a hazy but always unsatisfactory meaning from the verses. In these attempts gi in the singular, dual and plural has been variously interpreted the Soma, the priests, day and night, stars, metres, Sun and Moon, rays of light, and so on. Ludwig goes so far as to say that the verses have scarcely anything in common except the word which alone is responsible for their being placed together; and Griffith remarks in sheer desperation, "A generally satisfactory explanation is scarcely to be hoped for" (see his foot-note to verse 21). Hymn 164 of which these verses form a triplet is full of riddles and it is quite likely that this also constitutes one, but looking to the fact that the second and the third verses based upon the picture presented in the first, expound a moral, it would appear that the first verse is, if at all, a very thinly veiled riddle while there is nothing mysterious about the other two. However that may be, an attempt is made here to offer a rational interpretation of the verses based upon the habits of the birds as described above. to the 4. In the first verse the word means 'in pairs,' i.e. with their mates, while the phrase "rer aferent" clearly refers two pairs of birds having their nests on the same tree. The use of the verb. (are born) in the third verse confirms this sense while the verb. arfirfer (looks around) is best understood by the behaviour of the female Golden Eagle at the nest described by Seton Gordon quoted in the World Digest for July 1946. "As she approaches and alights on the eyrie, then looks around her fiercely and defiantly before assuring herself that all is well, she makes a magnificent picture." Bonelli's Eagle also "proudly looks round" when on the nest. This verse, therefore, contains a statement of what the poet actually saw, viz. a pair of Eagles and a pair of Golden Orioles nesting together in friendly association on a Peepul tree and that while one kind of gate the sweet berries of the tree the other merely looked around. The Oriole is a fruit eater and the Eagle is not. 5. In the second verse the poet attributes human sentiment of thank- fulness to the Orioles and a consciousness on their part of the protection received from the larger bird.¹ It means that in the fig tree every discern- ing (fr) Oriole ceaselessly sings his grateful acknowledgment of his share of good things ("अमृतस्य भाग" refers to स्वादु पिप्पल and also hints at 1. The reader will kindly note here what Salim Ali says about the Oriole building desig- nedly under the protection of a fighting bird, and I am sure he cannot help admiring the keen and correct observation of the Vedic poet of nearly 4000 years ago. Orioles 75 freedom from untimely death) in these words-"Weak as I am, the wise. and powerful Lord and protector of the World (of birds, viz., afer) has graciously admitted me into this safe tree (अनाविवेश ). " 6. At this stage the poet recalling to his mind the entire dependence of man for food and protection upon the heavenly , the Sun, moulds the picture into a metaphor and proceeds to teach a moral in the third verse, viz., that men like the Orioles should be grateful to their heavenly protector for all the benefits received from him. Here f (plural) stands for 'the people', the fig tree for the Tree of Life or the mundane world, and the far for the Sun. The poet means to say that those, who live, multiply and prosper on the tree of Life but do not know (i.e. do not gratefully acknowledge) the protector, cannot really enjoy the sweet fruit high up on the tree (gifts of life). By implication they are worse than the Orioles who know and appreciate the truth. The idea is that a gift is fully appreciated when one knows the giver and is duly grateful to him for it. There can be no feeling of gratefulness and no true enjoyment of an anony- mous gift. In a word, the gifts of life are enjoyed all the better for the con- sciousness that they are a boon from the heavenly Father. The feelings of dependence and hopefulness go together and unless one is thankful for what one has received one has no right to expect further favours, and if there is no hope for the future one cannot enjoy what he has which is as good as if he has it not (). We have indeed, good reason to be thankful to the majestic Eagle and the beautiful little Oriole who have inspired such wonderful poetry. 7. ":f" in the following verse rendered as "birds of beaute- ous wing" by Griffith should again be no other than the Golden Orioles who greet the dawn with their sweet notes:- "वयः सुपर्णा उपसेदुरिन्द्रं प्रियमेधा ऋषयो नाधमानाः उपध्वान्तमूर्णुहि पूधिचक्षु मुमुग्धस्मान्निधयेव बद्धान् ॥” RV 10.73, 11. The sacrifice-loving sages (faqur :) eager to perform their morning worship pray to Indra like the Orioles greeting the dawn with their song; Dispel the darkness, fill our vision with light, and deliver us from the snares (imposed by darkness and which prevent us from getting busy with the sacrifice). 8. The identification of gif either as the Golden Oriole or the Yellow- headed Wagtail would seem to turn upon the correct meaning to be given to the word occurring in the second passage below:- (1) "शुकेषु मे हरिमाणं रोपणाकासु दध्मसि अथो हारिद्रवेषु मे हरिमाणं निदध्मसि ॥" RV 1.50, 12.
