Madhuvidya

Author(s): S D Laddu, T N Dharmadhikari, Madhvi Kolhatkar, Pratibha Pingle
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 38

VEDIC AKIKHALA: PĀLI AKKULA
BY
DR. M. A. MEHENDALE, DECCAN COLLEGE
RESEARCH INSTITUTE, POONA,
The vocable akhkhala is taken from the expression akhkhati. kótya which is known to occur only once in the Sanskrit literature, It is found in the third verse of the famous frog-hymn of the Rgveda (VII. 103). It runs as
yád im enā uśató abhyávurşīt trsyavataḥ prāvisy ágatayām akhkhalīkityā pitáraṁ na putró anyo anyám
úpa vádantam eti // Geldner translates-"Sobald es auf die Gierigen, Durstigen bei Eintritt der Regenzeit geregnet hat, kommt unter lautem Quaken einer auf den Zuruf des anderen zu wie der Sohn zum Vater,"
Sāyaṇa explains the expression as akhlchala iti śabdūnukaranan akhkhalaśubdam krtvā| The dictionary meaning is the same *den Freuderuf akhkhala ausstossen' (Boehtlingk-Roth, also Grassmann), "uttering the exclamation akhkhala' ( Monier-Willia m s). It is thus clear that the expression is an onomatopoetic one referring to the sound of joy made by the frogs. It seems, however, possible to throw some more light on the meaning of the word by suggesting the sound intended to be conveyed by akhkhala.
in the frog-hymn two kinds of frogs from the point of view of the sounds uttered by them and their colour--are referred to. They are gómāyu uttering sounds similar to that of a cow' and ajámāyu 'uttering sounds similar to that of a goat,' or prśni 'the speckled one' and hárita 'the green one' (cf. verses 6, 10, also 4). It would, therefore, be interesting to see if the sound referred to by akhkchala can be more closely determined in the light of these descriptions.
In the Udāna' I. 7 (p. 5) we come across the expression akkulapakkula (or & derivative from it akkulapakkulika). In this account we are told that a certain Yakşa, Aja kalapaka by name, wanted to terrify the Buddha who was sitting in his cetiya. He
1. Ed. by Paul Steinthal, London, 1885.
Madhu Vidyā/13