Sanskrit names for the elephant, but it is very little known or used. Another way of writing the same word is Chia-ye, that is, Ga-ya (伽耶), the form quoted in the "Pên Ts'ao." But this also is of rare occurrence, and Hsiang is the only name current.
We have already seen that the common Chinese name for the lion, Shih, is probably of Persian origin. One Sanskrit name for the animal is Simha, in Hindustani Singh, and this is known in Chinese literature as Sêng-ko or Sêng-ga (僧格 or 伽), sometimes with pi (彼) added apparently by mistake. There is also an old Chinese name for the lion, which is written Sun-ye (狻猊). As this word was formerly pronounced like Sin-gya it probably represented Singh or some other variety of the Sanskrit Simha. The word was in the language before the introduction of Buddhism, and the lion was apparently known to the Chinese by this name at an early period.[1]
The rhinoceros, moreover, has a Chinese name Hsi or Hsi-niu (犀牛). But it is also known at least to some extent in literature by the Sanskrit name K'adga. In Chinese this becomes Chieh (Kat)-ga (佉 or 朅伽) or K'o (K'at)-ga (渴伽). The unicornity, if one may use the word, of this animal attracted notice among Indians and Chinese, and he forms a favourite illustration for loneliness or isolation. Notably the Pratyeka Buddha, who lives in the world alone and for himself, has an epithet drawn from the rhinoceros.
Then as to Birds, in the Buddhist literature we find very frequent mention of a bird, which in Chinese characters is Ka-ling-pin-ga (迦陵頻伽), that is, Kalavingka in Sanskrit. Another way of writing this word is Ko-lo (歌羅)-pin-ga, but the former is that generally used. Now the Kalavingka is a sparrow according to the dictionaries, but the Ka-ling-pin-ga is something very different. It is a bird of song with a note sweeter and more tuneful than anything else except Buddha's voice. There are who fondly fable that even in the shell while only growing to be a bird it makes a low soft music, but who can hear it? When grown to maturity the bird lives in all lonely places hidden in bosky
- ↑ "Pên-ts'ao," chap. li.; "Hsi-ch'ao-hsin-yü," chap. v.
