Amarakoshodghatana of Kshirasvamin (study)

by A. Yamuna Devi | 2012 | 77,297 words | ISBN-13: 9788193658048

This page relates ‘Fauna (5): Domesticated Animals (a): Elephants’ of the study on the Amarakoshodghatana of Kshirasvamin (in English) which represents a commentary on the Amarakosha of Amarasimha. These ancient texts belong the Kosha or “lexicography” category of Sanskrit literature which deals with the analysis and meaning of technical words from a variety of subjects, such as cosmology, anatomy, medicine, hygiene. The Amarakosa itself is one of the earliest of such text, dating from the 6th century A.D., while the Amarakoshodghatana is the earliest known commentary on that work.

Fauna (5): Domesticated Animals (a): Elephants

Elephants also fall under this category since they are discussed by Amarakośa under Kṣatriya varga, as being used by the kings in wars. Horses are also a part of the army and hence placed after elephants in the same Varga.

The segregation of young and old elephants with their red spots, the vulnerable places on its forehead where the goad is employed for their subjugation and the patterns drawn on their head and trunk adding an aesthetic touch are mentioned. In ancient India even the elephant's ropes were made of gold is an amazing piece of information provided by Kṣīrasvāmin Known for their majestic gaits which is employed often in alaṅkāras in Sanskrit literature, Kṣīrasvāmin catagorizes the three different gaits of the elephants.

Padmī (II. 8. 36; p. 183)–

[Elephant:]

Kṣīrasvāmin explains that an elephant is called padmī because of the red spots on its body. He also adds that the red spots appear on the body of the elephant in its youth–

padmāni yauvane raktabindavo'sya santi padmī |

He also adds sāmaja[1], sindhura and kumbhī to denote an elephant.

Mandaḥ[2] (III. 3. 95 p. 292)–

[Variety of elephant:]

Kṣīrasvāmin adds that mandaḥ is a variety of elephant (and it also denotes the planet Saturn)–

hasti viśeṣaḥ sauriśca mandaḥ |

Vinduḥ (II. 8. 38; p. 183)–

[Forehead of elephants:]

This is one of the six spots by which an elephant is controlled using a goad, says Kṣīrasvāmin He quotes Pālakāpya’s[3] text in this regard which enumerates the six spots as the two vitāna's, the forehead, two ears, the fore, the hind and the diagonal–

vetti saṃjñāṃ yasmādaṅkuśasyānātsa vinduḥ |
yatpālakāpyaḥ—
tatra rakṣāvitāne dve viṃdū dvau śravaṇe gatau |
prāk ca paścācca tiryak ca
ṣaḍbhedāṅkuśavāraṇā ||

Kṣīrasvāmin also brings to notice that the frontal globe of the elephant is frequently pressed against (III.4.1; p. 337) i.e., it is the part mostly used to control the elephants–

ābhīkṣṇamāsphālayatībhakuṃbham |

Kṣīrasvāmin also gives the details about the decoration of an elephant.

(i) Kalpanā[4] (II. 8. 43d; p. 184)–

[The drawings on the elephants:]

He says that according to some, the elephant is decked using chalk (makkola) and (gaurikā) white paint–

kalpanā hastinaḥ sajjīkaraṇaṃ makkolagaurikādinā śṛṅgārakaraṇetyeke |

Such drawings on elephants are seen even today.

In some parts of India like in Tamil Nadu the forehead of the elephant and the trunk is decorated by drawings while in the Mysore, during processions of Dusserra celebrations the body of the elephants are also decorated with drawings.

(ii) Kakṣyā[5] (III.3. 158, p. 308)–

[Rope round the elephant:]

In dealing with the homonyms of the word kakṣyā Amarakośa mentions that one of the meaning of the word is the rope around the body of the elephant.

Kṣīrasvāmin explains that these ropes were also of gold which might have been so in royal households which appear as an ornament on elephants–

madhye ibhasya bandhane yathā-hema kakṣyā gajāḥ |

Sthūloccayaḥ (III. 3. 148, p. 305)[6]

[Elephant's gait:]

Amarakośa gives the word sthūloccayaḥ to denote the medium pace of an elephant and Kṣīrasvāmin quotes Pālakāpya[7] in this regard who gives three gaits of an elepant as–nīcairgatam, sthūloccayaḥ and vīcimārga

yatpālakāpyaḥ nīcairgataṃ sthūloccayo vīcimārga iti tisro gatayaḥ |

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Cf. Śiśupālavadham XII. 11; XVII. 33

[2]:

Amarakośa, III. 3. 95: mūḍhālpā'paṭu -nirbhāhya mandāḥ syuḥ

[3]:

The version of Pālakāpya's text as in Mataṅgalīla (XII.19) is–The application of the hook is on the two vitānas, the vindu, the neck, outer corners of the eyes, and the two temporal bosses and on the avagraha. The elephant lore of the Hindus-Mataṅgalīla of Nīlakaṇṭha, Franklin Edgerton, New Haven, Yale university press, Oxford, 1931.

[4]:

Amarakośa, II. 8. 43d: kalpanā sajjanā same |

[5]:

kakṣyā prakoṣṭhe harmyādeḥ kāñcyāṃ mattebhabandhane |

[6]:

Amarakośa, III. 3. 148: sthūloccayastvasākalye nāgānāṃ madhyame gate |

[7]:

Reference not available in edited text of Pālakāpya.

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