76 (2) "हारिद्रवेव पतथो बनेदुप सोमं सुतं महिषेवावगच्छयः ॥" Birds in Sanskrit Literature. RV 8.35, 7. The second verse refers to the habit of fore and af of eagerly taking to which they apparently love. Now , according to , is 'forest or water', but according to the Vedic Index of Macdonell and Keith, 'Vana' in the Rgveda and later denotes the forest and they do not men- tion 'water' as does. It is probably a meaning acquired by the word in later times. If, therefore, stands for 'forest' for would be the Golden Oriole, for it is a bird which delights and sports amongst trees of the forest and grove. The wild buffalo also lives in deep forest and if surprised in an open glade would immediately take to it. In this view the Oriole, clad in brilliant yellow, would be the bird par excellence to which along with the fawr the Red-breasted Paroquet having yellow wing patches and yellow-wattled Hill Myna, the yellowness of the skin caused by jaundice can best be transferred. If on the other hand must be taken in the sense of 'water' both f and af must. held to be fond of that element, and in this case the former would be the Yellow-headed Wagtail, the yellowest of Yellow Wagtails, which is cons- tantly associated with water and is rarely found at any distance from it. The buffalo too is known to be a water-loving animal, for he loves to wallow in tanks and pools during the hot hours of the day. 9. The first verse above occurs (1.22, 4) where Sāyaṇa translates in his commentary on the frega, 26,18 renders it as for corruption in the text as it has come down above synonyms for gifere are the same as the later ita or for the Yellow Wagtails in the to us both the a figer (Art. 26), and looking to the traditional treatment for jaundice with ceremonial washings it is just possible that gf is the Yellow-headed Wagtail. But the interesting historical fact adduced by Griffith in a note to RV 1.50, 12 that the Romans too had a fanciful notion that jaundice was cured if the patient looked the Icterus bird, and the bird probably belonged to the Starling family, supports the identification made in the preced- ing paragraph. The article on 'Icterus' in the Ency. Brit. 11th edn., shows that the Icterus of classical authors is generally identified with the European Golden Oriole. The name Oriole is from the French 'Loriot' L'oriol, from Lat. oriolum-aurum, gold. James Moray Brown also makes the statement : "Loriot, a bird that, being looked upon by one that hath the yellow jaundice cures the person and dies himself". (Stray Sport, vol. I, p. 158, William Blackwood and Sons, 1893). The belief would thus appear to be part of the common heritage of both branches of the Indo-Germanic peoples unless it travelled from one to the other after their separation. If, therefore, gif was originally the Oriole, it is probable that by the time offer the name had come to be transferred to or mistaken for the Yellow Wagtail. with slight modifications in the a far as the bird, and Darila fers. Allowing Orioles 10. Turning to some Pali and Prakrit sources including lexicons, which I have consulted, we have the following series of closely related. names for the Orioles:- 77 (i) पिलग (पिलक), a kind of bird in अर्धमागधी, which stands very close to Hindi for the Oriole, and Sansk. fer in the following: "पिप्पलस्तैलहरणात्, फलस्तैन्यात् पिपीलकः || भारतमञ्जरी, शान्तिपर्व, 1676. This means that a person stealing oil would be reborn as the पिप्पल bird and one stealing fruit as the bird (पि-पी-तं इति rafa?). It may be repeated that the Orioles are "great fruit catcrs". (ii) In the story of king war, who was a , i.e., who under- stood the language of birds and beasts, related by in the gf section of the above work the male and female birds whose conversation the king overheard bear the names पिपोलक and पिपीलका, (iii) पिपीलिय, a kind of bird in the Jain प्रश्नव्याकरण 3.1 is evidently the same as पिपोलक. (iv) अंबक मद्दरी, a bird in the अंगुत्तर निकाय, महावग्य, 111.64.6 (P.T.S.): "सय्यचापिअंबक मद्दरी फुस्सक रवितं रविस्तामि।" Here फुस्सक is the Cuckoo and अंबक मद्दरी (अंबक the mango tree; मद्दी fr. मर्दल, a little drum) the little drum of the mango tree' which is obviously identical with Tamil मामकोइल (आम्रकोकिल, Mango-Cuckoo) and (Mango-bird) for the Black-headed Oriole of Ceylon. The common Indian Oriole with identical habits and call-notes does not occur there. (v) अंबाकपीलिक (v.1. अंबाकपिलिक, अंबाकिपिलिक) occurs as the last item in a series of bird-names (including g a bat, regarded as a bird both in India and Persia) contained in the Fifth Pillar Edict (Delhi Topra) of Emeperor Asoka published in Corpus Inscriptionum Indicum, Vol. I, pp. 125-127 & 224. The name has been incorrectly syllabified and misunderstood. by the various translators including Dr. Sir R. G. Bhandarkar, Shri Michelson and Prof. B. M. Barua.¹ 11. The names in (iv) and (v) above clearly establish the identity of the first element अंबार of अंबाकपीलिक and माम or मरम्बल of मामकोइल or with of , and, therefore, simply means the 'mango tree'. Similarly the second element fers of safer is the same. as अर्धमागधी, पिलग and पिपीलक of क्षेमेन्द्र and Hindi पोलक for the Oriole. अंबाक पीलिक is thus a shortened form of or corruption from अंबाकपिपीलक, i.e., a 1. Inscriptions of Asoka, Pt. II (1943).
