Book Title: Indian Antiquary Vol 59
Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications
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JUNE, 1990)
NATURE STUDY IN THE SANSKRIT POEM MECHADUTA
Stanza 47
"To him whose youth in Sára thickets strayed.
Reared by the nymphs, thy adoration paid," refors to the legend concerning Skanda, or Kartikeya, who is the son of Siva and Parvati. He was created to destroy a demon, who by great austerities had acquired too much power to suit the gods. Skanda was cast into the flame of Agni, thenoe transferred to the goddess Ganga. After his birth, he was reared in the midst of thickets of sdra by the wives of soven rishis----these were later placed in the skies and are the Pleiades. The reed reforred to. is Saccharum procerum (Sara), Roxb. This grows to be six to sixteen feet high and is related to the sugarcane, though it seems to be used chiefly for medicinal purposes and for reed pens used in writing the vernacular on paper or on takhtis (wooden slates). Stanza 49
"Whose arching brows like graceful creepers glow, Whose upturned lashes, to thy lofty way, The pearly ball and pupil dark display ; Such contrast as the lovely kunda shows
When the black bee sits pleased amidst her snows." The kunda is the beautiful Jasminum pubescens, a small ramous shrub which bears an abundance of pure, white, sweet-scented blossoms during the rainy season, or vargd, as this season is called in Sanskrit. Girls and women are fond of wearing these blossoms in their hair, or as garlands around their necks or wrists. The Sanskrit poets are given to this comparison of the arched brows of the fair-faced ones to the graceful creepers, and of the large shining black eyes, to the honey-bee in the midst of the blossoms. Stanza 54—
"As Siva's bull upon his sacred neck,
Amidst his ermine, owns some sable speck, So shall thy shade upon the mountain show,
Whose sides are silvered with eternak snow." The bull is the animal sacred to Siva and is supposed to be white, but the dust and " sable speck" may well be seen in hot, dusty India, and the dark shadow of the cloud upon the eternal snows adds a vivid touch of real Indian mountain scenery. Stanza 55—
"From writhing boughs should forest flames arise,
Whose breath the air....." In a hot country like India, frequent forest fires break out, and the poet explains this as caused by the mutual friotion of intertwined branches aided by the blowing of the wind, It was a common thought in Vedic literature that the sami (Mimosa Suma, Roxb.) and the alpattha (Ficus religiosa) branohes rubbed together would produce a sacred fire. The Hindus are said to kindle the temple fires by rubbing together a dried twig of each of these. This may be the oase in legend only, as Purûravas is said to have generated primeval fire in this manner. The Mimosa Suma, Roxb. (the Acacia Suma of Buchanan and Hooker) is an evergreen tree with remarkably white bark and villous twigs. One of the peculiarities of this tree is that the flowers, at first bright-coloured, later turn pure white. In the laws of Manu. 8 246 and 247, both the asvattha and samí are mentioned as trees to mark boundaries.
Stenza 64. The reference to the golden lotus-covered lake" and "the dews of MAnasa," no doubt, means the sacred lake Månasarovara, situated in the very heart of the higher ranges of the Himalaya mountains, and supposed to be the source of the Ganges river, until Moororoft penetrated to that remote region and disproved that view. The heavenly trees" of this stanza are the five fabled varieties of tree in Indra's, heaven. The kalpa tree is one of this variety, the names of the others are given in the Amarakośa of Amarasimha.
(To be continued.)
