________________
6.1
The Sound of Shrieking
6 ANALYSIS
in another text, which is probably more than 500 years older than the Pancagati-dipanam, the Mārkandeya-purāņa VII, we find the motif of "crying for help to a superior" expressed by a participle derived from KRAND. The context refers to the renunciation of the righteous king Hariscandra.296 In the legend Hariscandra incites the anger of the sage Viśvamitra. One day, when he is chasing a deer, he hears a sound, which reminds him of a female crying in terror. He promises that nobody needed to cry in his kingdom. But, in the course of events, the king's mind is disturbed. He becomes possessed by an evil spirit, Raudra Vighna-rāj, the "opponent of every undertaking". Hariscandra's story of renunciation begins and ends with lamentations.297 Besides, we find in another section of the same Purāna, chapter XII, the description of a creature in suffering in the fierce wilderness similar to the forest of daggers depicted in Vasunandin's sixth hell.298 The image of never-ending pain which is here conveyed to the mind of the reader reminds us of parallel examples of punishment in the Greek mythology.
Vasunandin determines suffering as one characteristic feature of sentient beings in the four destinies, when they are in the condition of helplessness (Sr 62; 201; 204). In this stage or condition the creatures produce very high or deep, penetrating sounds.299 Other verbal roots are employed by Vasunandin in the same context. These roots may serve in the same religious context as equivalents of KRAND and KUJ. For instance LAP and
regions.
296 See the translation of the legend in Pargiter 1904; Rückert 1858 and 1859. 297 In the Epic literature Skt. ākranda denotes "invocation" or "imploring" directed to a superior, elder, or king (MW.p.128).
298 The description of this hell resembles very much that of the Buddhists in the SuttaNipāta III.10, or in the Mahā-vastu, pp. Iff. The limbs of the dwellers of this hell are cut off by plants and being devoured by beasts of prey, while the victims are crying for help in vain. The limbs grow anew and are destroyed again and again.
299 Cf. also KŪJ: “to hum; to make a buzzing sound"; pra + ✓ KŪJ: 1. "to make an inarticulate noise; to make a monotonous or indistinct sound"; 2. "to utter a cry as a bird"; 3. "to moan; to groan"; see Whitney 1885 (1945):20; MW: pp. 299; 653; Sheth 1923:618. Vasunandin employs once KŪJ in (188c) evam kūvamtassa (of a man: "crying thus for help"). Some authors place emphasis with KŪJ (also with prefix pra + KUJ) on the high-pitched mourning of the creatures. The root seems to imitate the resounding voice of nature, similar to an echo. Cf. also Norman 1990a:39-41 who discusses Pkt. kuva: "call for help". According to Norman, the present participle kuvamta, which occurs in Uttarajjhāyā XIX.54, has been explained as a participle from KŪJ in the Svet. commentary traditions. Otherwise, the verbal form may derive from the related KŪ: "to cry; to scream”. Norman points out that it is not always to possible to distinguish the Skt. and Dravidian roots, but both might be independent and onomatopoeic in origin. The connotations in the literary contexts show the semantic development: "to coo/ cry" (of the bird): "to cry out" (of the mammal and human); "to call for help" (in a figurative sense). See also the notes on sam + V KUJ: "to make a noise" (of a grunting-fish or sea-cow) in Norman 1967:30 (1990b:72].
