What is 'butterfly' in Sanskrit?

[Arvind_Kolhatkar]

Dear Group,

I have been trying to find out the Sanskrit equivalent for the ubiquitous 'butterfly'.

Sanskrit literature has thousands of references to  भृङ्ग, मक्षिका, मधुमक्षिका and their synonyms but I do not recollect any in them about the butterfly in my admittedly limited reading.  This surprises me because the butterfly is present everywhere in nature and easily attracts attention because of its varieties and beauty.  There does not seem to be any Sanskrit word that means 'the butterfly', although Sanskrit poets took delight in describing the nature around them in every detail. 

Apte's English-Sanskrit dictionary lists 'चित्रपतङ्ग' as the translation of 'butterfly' but Apte has not given any source for it.  Monier-Williams does not show 'चित्रपतङ्ग' at all.  Amarakosha in 2.5.27-28 and in 3.3.20 lists several words about various flying insects but Ksheeraswaami does not say anything that can identify any of those words with 'butterfly'.  From this I suspect that चित्रपतङ्ग would be a 'manufactured'  word and not a natural word used in classical Sanskrit.

I request scholars here to clarify the situation and supply a word for 'butterfly' with examples of its use from Sanskrit literature.

I understand that the word for 'butterfly' in the Bengali language is प्रजापति.  How did प्रजापति come to mean 'butterfly' in Bengali? शब्दकल्पद्रुम, the thesaurus prepared in Bengal and published in the Chaukhamba Sanskrit Series, does not show any connection between प्रजापति and the butterfly.

Arvind Kolhatkar..

[Sanju Nath]

In Hindi, तितली is often used for butterfly - but not sure if there's any संस्कृत etymology here.

Sanju Nath

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[Taff Rivers]

Arvind,

From the MW:

   pataṃ-gama
      •  m. a butterfly or moth, BhP.
      •  a bird, L. [581,1]

Taff

[G S S Murthy]

I think the subject was discussed earlier in this group. Should we believe that Sanskrit poets never looked around and simply buried their beaks in the sands of earlier literature?

Regards,

Murthy

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[Venetia Kotamraju]

Or could it be that butterflies are not native to India and were thus not around at that time?  This is a subject that I have thought about several times before.  So much attention is paid to bees in kavya but I have never seen a reference to anything except a patanga (moth).

Venetia Kotamraju

+91 997230 5440

www.rasalabooks.com

www.venetiaansell.wordpress.com

[Arvind_Kolhatkar]

I tracked down the earlier thread on this topic.  It is seen here.

That still leaves my question unanswered.  MW shows पतङ्ग and पतङ्गम under पत as meaning 'a butterfly' but it is not an exclusive meaning.  These words have several other meaning,s including even the sun.  I am surprised that something as attention-grabbing as the butterfly should not attract the attention of Sanskrit poets, many of whom were prolific describers of the nature around them and that the butterfly should not have a Sanskrit word clearly pointing to the butterfly!

Arvind Kolhatkar.

[Arvind_Kolhatkar]

I am sorry that this response has appeared here.  It is actually meant for another thread of November 01, 2015 on the same subject

[Arvind_Kolhatkar]

Venetia,

I do not think that there were no butterflies in India till very recent times - say a couple of thousand years.  India is not a land-mass unconnected with the rest of the world and separated by thousands of miles of ocean.  It is very much a part of the Asia and its flora and fauna must have been fixed millions of years ago.

Arvind Kolhatkar

[KN.Ramesh]

Arvind Kolhatkarji,

Pl see if this helps: aparaajita is another name for butterfly-pea flower as told here:

Atasi अतसी (Linum usitatissimum) -- Flax
This pretty blue flower is popular in Sanskrit literature for comparing with the complexion of Krishna. A famous sloka in Krishna's praise goes अतसीपुष्पसंकाशम् हारनूपुरशोभितम् "atasii pushpa sankaasam haara noopura shobhitam". This flower, along with the blue butterfly-pea flower, Aparaajita, is also popular in worship of Goddess Durga (who is also sometimes considered an "amsha" (अंश) of Krishna).

Source: http://www.flowersofindia.net/mythology.html

Chamunda is the scientific name of butterfly...???

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chamunda_(butterfly)

Butterfly means butter stealer......???

http://dnaofwords.blogspot.in/2012/04/butterfly-and-caterpillar.html

and

Lastly,

Given below is selection of verses from the Vairaagya Shatakam, one of the shatakams of the trilogy mentioned above.

चूडोत्तंसितचन्द्रचारुकलिका चञ्चच्छिखाभास्वरो

लीलादग्धविलोलकामशलभः श्रेयो दिशाग्रे स्फुरन् ।

अन्तस्फूर्जदपारमोहतिमिरप्राग्भारमुच्चाटयन्

चेतस्सद्मनि योगिनां विजयते ज्ञानप्रदीपो हरः ॥।

Choodothamsita-chandrachaarukalikaa-chanchachchhikhaabhaaswaro

Leelaadagdha-vilola-kaamashalabhah shreyo dishaagre sphuran

Antahsphoorjad-apaara-mohatimira-praagbhaaram-uchchaatayan

Chetah sadmani yoginaam vijayate jnaanapradeepo harah     [1]

With the crescent moon adorning his locks,  (the fire from his third eye) burning Cupid playfully like a butterfly ( in the fire of a lamp), His fame  spreading in all directions, Lord Shiva abides in the hearts of Yogis as the light of knowledge dispelling the dense darkness of ignorance.

Source: http://prramamurthy1931.blogspot.in/2010/11/vairagya-shatakam-bharthruhari.html

[KN.Ramesh]

https://groups.google.com/d/msg/samskrita/cqjyhADucMk/hRYWzEC9JmMJ

On Sunday, 1 November 2015 23:13:47 UTC+5:30, Arvind_Kolhatkar wrote:

[P.K.Ramakrishnan]

Monier Williams gives patanga is the sanskrit word butterfly

[KN.Ramesh]

From MW:

1	kITapakSodgama	m. the change from chrysalis or pupa to butterfly W.
2	pataMga	mfn. flying RV. i , 118 , 4 ; any flying insect , a grasshopper , a bee , a butterfly or moth S3Br. (%{-ta4Mga}) Up. Mn. &c. (%{-tA} f. Prasannar.) ; a horse Naigh. i , 14 ; the sun (cf. %{pata-ga}) RV. AV. Var. &c. ; N. of one of the 7 suns TA1r. VP. ; a ball for playing with BhP. ; a spark (Sa1y. ; `" a Pis3a1ca "' Mahi1dh.) RV. iv , 4 , 2 ; a species of rice Car. ; of tree L. ; `" the Flier "'N. of Kr2ishn2a MBh. xii , 1510 (= %{garuDa} Ni1lak.) BhP. ; N. of the author of RV. x , 17 and of this hymn itself S3a1n3khBr. ; of a mountain BhP. ; = %{-grAma} Ra1jat. ; (pl.) N. of a caste in Plakshadvi1pa BhP. ; (%{A}) f. N. of a mythical river DivyA7v. ; (%{I}) f. N. of one of the wives of Ta1rksha and mother of the flying animals BhP. ; m. or n. quicksilver L. ; n. a species of sandal wood Bhpr. ; %{-kAnta} m. the sun-stone (cf. %{sUrya-k-}) S3is3. iv , 16 ; %{-grAma} m. N. of a village Ra1jat. ; %{-rAja} m. = %{pataga-r-} Pan5c. ; %{-vat} ind , like a moth Kum. ; %{-vRtti} f. the manner of the moth (attracted by a light) i.e. rashness , temerity Ratna7v. ; mfn. behaving like a moth (i.e. very inconsiderately) Pan5c. ; %{-gA7zman} m. the sun-stone (cf. above) S3ri1kan2t2h.
3	pataMgama	m. a butterfly or moth BhP. ; a bird L.

On Sunday, 1 November 2015 23:13:47 UTC+5:30, Arvind_Kolhatkar wrote:

[Taff Rivers]

Following up on that MW ref. to BhP.

I find a caterpillar and an assumed butterfly

Bhāgavata-purāṇa

 Conto 4b  

 Chapter 29:      The Conversation of Nârada and King Prâcînabarhi

 (76-77)       Just like a caterpillar does not disappear when it has to forsake its body [to become a butterfly],
a  materially identified man does not vanish upon the termination of his karmic existence, for the mind [transported by the linga] is the ruler of man, it is the cause of the material existence of all the embodiments created

I can't find a Sanskrit rendition of same, online.
 

The transcendental experience, comes from pra-ṇava, when that 'karmic existence' of the mind, is 'terminated' temporarily, by that mind.

It is a foretaste of what's to come, for when the temporary becomes the permanent.

There's always a last time!

Until then we can carry on admiring the butterflies.

  Taff

[Arvind_Kolhatkar]

A reader who chanced upon this thread and who studies butterflies informs me that the Prakrit word for 'butterfly' is भंबिरी.  This looks quite similar to Sanskrit भ्रमर.  If so, I wonder which word has arisen from which.  The reader also says that this explains the Marathi proverb 'भंबेरी उडणे' - the flying of भंबेरी - that describes a situation of total confusion.

Arvind Kolhatkar.