Indian Antiquary Vol 14

SR No.: 032506
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: John Faithfull Fleet, Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 418
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 18 MB

Page 318

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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
states that the auriferous region which the griffins inhabited was a frightful desert.
Taking Photios's account alone, and excluding from it the word birds, and for feathers reading hair, we have a tolerably accurate description of the hairy black-and-tan-coloured Tibetan mastiffs, which are now, as they were doubtless formerly, the custodians of the dwellings of Tibetans, those of gold miners as well as of others. They attracted the special attention of Marco Polo, as well as of many other travellers in Tibet; and for a recent account of them reference may be made to Captain Gill's River of Golden Sand. They are excessively savage, and attack strangers fiercely, as I have myself experienced on the borders of Sikhim. I remember seeing a very fine pair of them which were brought from Kâshghar by Dr. Bellew. They suffered much from the heat on their journey from Simla to Bombay. Whether they ever reached England I cannot
say.
This identification serves also to clear up certain of the details in the story of Megasthenês and Herodotos, as to the gold-digging ants, which have been identified by Sir H. Rawlinson and Professor Schiern, as mentioned in the introductory remarks, with Tibetan gold miners and their dogs. The former, on account of the great cold, are and were clad in furs, and it would appear, shared with the dogs in giving characteristics to the famous ants which were for so long regarded as a myth incapable of explanation. The "ants" which, according to Herodotos, were taken to Persia, and kept there, were, I believe, simply these mastiffs. He tells us" elsewhere that Tritantakhmês, Satrap of Babylon, under the Akhaimenians, "kept a great number of Indian dogs. Four large towns situated in the plain were charged with their support, and were exempted from all other tribute."
Larcher, in his Notes on Herodotos (Vol. III. p. 339), quotes the following, without however noticing how far it aids in clearing the myth of the griffins: "M. de Thou, an author worthy of credit, recounts that Shah Thamas Sophie of Persia, sent to Suliman
[OCTOBER, 1885.
one of these ants in 1559. Nuntius etiam a Thamo Oratoris titulo quidam ad Solimanum venit cum muneribus, inter quæ erat formica Indica, canis mediocris magnitudine, animal mordax et sævum. Thuanus-Lib. xxiii."
37 Clio, lib. I. cap. excii.
[The persons meant are Shah Tahmasp Safavi of Persia, 1524-1576 A.D., the celebrated succourer of Humayan in 1543, and the still greater Sultan Sulaiman the Magnificent, 1520-1566.-ED.]
Herodotos himself evidently supposed the Gryphons to be a race of men.
Regarding the origin of the name griffin or gryphon, the Persian giriftan (to gripe, or seize, is suggested by Mr. M'Crindle as the source) Hindustani contains several words thence derived, as giriftár, a captive; girift, seizure, &c. The Tibetans call their dogs gyake, or royal dogs, on account of their size and ferocity.
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It may be added here, in its proper place, though already mentioned in the introductory remarks, that a passage in Pliny's account of the ants, which has been the source of much difficulty to many who have discussed this question, admits, as I have elsewhere shown, of a satisfactory explanation. The passage is:"Indica formica cornua, Erythris in æde Herculis fixa, miraculo fuere." The horn of the Indian ant was probably an example of the pickaxe even now in common use in Ladakh and probably also in Tibet. It is a sheep's horn fixed on a handle: this is, I think, more probable than that it was a horn taken from one of the skin garments worn by the Tibetan miners, as has been suggested by Professor Schiern.30
7. DOG (Kúar).
Canis and Cuon (?)-Domestic and Wild Dogs. There are various allusions by our authors to other dogs besides those which have been identified as the originals of the griffins. Thus Ktêsias, according to Potios," says that "the dogs of India are of great size, so that they fight even with the lion." This may possibly refer to the well-known fact that packs of wild dogs (Cuon rutilans) prove a match for the larger carnivora. There are numerous well authenticated cases of tigers having being killed by these dogs.
Elian relates that "Ktêsias, in his account of India, says that the people called the Kynamolgoi rear many dogs as big as the Hyrkanian
20 Hist. Nat. lib. xI. cap. xxxi.
so See ante, Vol. IV. p. 231.
1 Ecloga in Photii, Bibl. lxxii.
De Animal. Nat., xvi. 31. Cf. Anc. India, by J.,W. M'Crindle, p. 36.