Amarakoshodghatana of Kshirasvamin (study)
by A. Yamuna Devi | 2012 | 77,297 words | ISBN-13: 9788193658048
This page relates ‘Fauna (5): Domesticated animals (c): Large bull’ 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 (c): Large bull
Mahokṣa (II. 9. 61; p. 213)–
[Large bull:]
From Ṛg Vedic times India had been an agrarian society and cattle as well as cows have been deemed the wealth of a householder. Teeth are important clues to know the age of cattle and we find Kṣīrasvāmin mentioning the number of teeth indicating that dentition of cattle was observed by ancient Indians.
Kṣīrasvāmin quotes from Mālā in giving additional words like:
(1) skāndhika–the bull that is yoked to a cart (or that which helps in carrying).
(2) ṣoḍan–is a young bullock with only six teeth and
(3) kūṭa–is one whose horns are broken–mālā ca—
mahokṣaḥ syādukṣatare skāndhikaḥ skandhavāhakaḥ |
ṣoḍan ṣaḍdaśano vatsaḥ kūṭo bhagnaviṣāṇakaḥ ||
Further, Kṣīrasvāmin (p. 214) adds that Amarakośa seems not to have included the term vahamlihādya as a synonym of the bull, since the word refers to bulls that are used for taming and in bull fights–
damanāya yojita ityevaṃ lakṣaṇavicakṣaṇenāpi granthakṛtā vahaṃlihādyā noktāḥ |