Birds in Sanskrit Literature
- which would be out of place for the plaintive calls of other
Câtakas. In the second, are is clearly the Pied Crested Cuckoo, at least for purposes of the last verse where the cloud is called जललवमुच् to suit the 'drop-craving' bird-'. er has three other specific senses- “सारङ्गश्चातके मुद्धगे कुरङ्गे च मतङ्गजे- " विश्वप्रकाश, and it would appear that the term is to be taken in all its four senses-one for everyone of the four lines. The fortree is also called tor , 'beloved of the large Black Bee', two varieties of which are known as er (variegated) viz. (i) Xylocopa aestuans and (ii) X. basalis, as both of them have white or yellow pubescence on their backs. The first is found throughout India and the second in North India. The Bee-lines making for the a trees are supposed to lead the way for the Cloud. eff is a kind of deer, probably the Spotted Deer (ft) which is er in Sanskrit, and a herd of these, advancing to feed upon the newly risen (kind of lily plants which sprout up with the first showers), are the art: under- stood in the second line. The third refers to elephants, with reddish-white marks (or) on their bodies and hence called ar, sniffing their way in search of new grass; Cf. the following references to this same habit of elephants:- 134 “त्वग्निष्यन्दोच्छ्वसितवसुधागन्धसम्पर्करम्यः स्रोतोरन्ध्रध्वनितमधुरं दन्तिभिः पीयमानः ।" "तदाननं मृत्सुरभि क्षितीश्वरो रहस्युपाघ्राय न तृप्तिमाययौ । करीव सिक्त पृषतैः पयोमुच शुचिव्यपाये वनराजिपल्बलम् ॥” मेघदूत, 44. रघुवंश, 3.3. for adopts this interpretation of the verse in his com- mentary on ga and I submit, correctly. The plaintive wail of Rama for Sita is likened to the persistent call-notes of the ar "एवमादिनरश्रेष्ठो विललाप नृपात्मजः । विहम इव सारङ्गः सलिलं विदशेश्वरात् ॥" रामायण, 4.30.13 The smaller form of the Pied Crested Cuckoo is permanently resident in Ceylon and part of the Madras Presidency. The larger form, which is mig- ratory, occurs in the rest of India, and "there is reason to believe that it winters in Africa" (Whistler). Salim Ali also remarks that "the larger 'Pica' is a rains (breeding) visitor to the rest of our area (i.e. excluding Ceylon and South India), presumably from Africa". He adds further that "The arrival our midst of the larger migrant race coincides with the onset of the S-W Monsoon". The areas thus moves northward in India with the Monsoon and the poetical suggestion of the birds acting as Cuckoos guides to the Cloud in his north-bound journey is based on this observed fact of nature. The bees, deer and wild elephants are introduced to com- plete the picture. 135. 13. These birds leave the country with their young after they have been reared by their foster parents by the end of October and are not seen again in the country for nearly six months, i.e. till about June. They were therefore supposed to spend this time out of sight and hence the name feat (one living in heaven, Himalayas or the sky). Belief in the invisibility of the white Wagtail for a period of five months, April to August, due to its growing a crest offers a good parallel to the above (Art. 26). fere has incorporated this belief regarding the are in the follow- ing verse where king g's sky-going chariot encounters the birds above the clouds:-- “अयमरविवरेभ्यश्चातकं निष्पतद्भिः हरिभिरचिरभासां तेजसा चानुलिप्तः । गतमुपरिघनानां वारिगर्भोदराणां पिशुनयति रथस्ते सीकरक्लिन्ननेमिः ॥” शाकुन्तल, " 7.7 It is worth noting in this connection that the whole of the action of the Sixth Act, the immediately following journey of king ger to 's heaven, his brief stay there and return (Act 7) take place in the spring season, and the existence of the birds in the region beyond the clouds coincides with the absence of the Pied Crested Cuckoos from the country below. Additional support for this view is found in another mythological name for the चातक, viz., त्रिशंकु (शब्दकल्पद्रुम and शब्दार्थचिन्तामणि) based on the Puránic story of a king of that name who being unable to go straight to heaven was changed into a constellation and remained suspended midway between heaven and earth through the power of sage विश्वामिन विशङ्क, is also the migratory Wagtail according to M. Williams. The Mt. Everest Expedition of 1922 saw this Cuckoo in the Himalayas at an elevation of 14000 feet. It is a free indeed and fre had good reason to place it there. 14. The Red-winged Crested Cuckoo is resident in the Himalayas and in South India. Its voice is a very loud, harsh scream, utterred cons- tantly during the breeding season (May and June in the Western Hima- layas) and fairly often at other times. Since its call is neither sonorous nor plaintive in character it cannot be termed a चातक किडर means 11. Kalidasa seems to have borrowed the idea of the birds' passing between the spokes of a fast-moving wheel from the T (1.33.4) where is said to have re- duced himself in size and got through a fast-moving wheel to bring away the strongly guar- ded अमृत. 12. J.B.N.H.S. XXX, 682.
