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Rishyashringa and the unicorn
Gilles Schaufelberger and Guy Vincent
English translation by G. Schaufelberger
Curiously enough, the figure of Rishyashringa seems to be the source
of the unicorn's medieval legend. Like him, it dwells in the woods,
wild and shy, like him, it bears an only horn on the forehead, like him,
it can be seized only through a woman (virgin if possible). The first
writer to mention an unicorn is the Greek doctor Ctesias of Cnide [1] who
stayed at the Persian kings' court from 405 to 397 B. C. and whose works
have reached us through the various writers who quoted them, particulary
the Byzantine patriarch Photius (IX c. a.C.). Here is what Ctesias wrote:
"There are, in the Indies, wild donkeys, as big as horses, with a horn in
the middle of the forehead". Eminent ancient authors will give credence
to this animal's existence. Aristotle [2] - he names it "the Indian donkey",
Elien [3], and, in the II c. a.C., an Alexandrian wonders' compilation,
the Physiologus, which has enjoyed a true success and spread to the
Christian West with its fantastic animals' procession: the medieval bestiaries
drew directly their inspiration from it. In the Pierre de Beauvais' bestiary,
it can be read: "There is an animal, called "monokeros" in Greek, which
means "unicorn" in Latin. It has a horn in the middle of the head, and is
so fierce that no man can seize it, if not in the way I will tell you:
the hunters take a virgin maiden where the unicorn dwells and left her
alone in the woods, sitting down on a seat. As soon as the unicorn
sees the maiden, it comes and falls asleep upon her knees. In this way,
the hunters can seize it, and take it to the kings' palaces."
However, it sems that between Ctesias' unicorn and the medieval unicorn,
the last one is nearer to Rishyashringa, and thus the problem remains
whether certain passages of the Mahabharata were known in the West during
the ancient times. R Wittkover [4] was of the opinion that the Greek tavellers
has heard tales from Brahmans and that, in the word-to-word translation
of certain expressions, lays the origin of those fabulous beings which
were to haunt our Middle Ages: the Mahabharata's karnapravarana,
for example, "those who cover themselves with their ears" will give birth
to the legend of long-eared men. Other reasons lead us to think of a very
partial knowledge, but on the other hand, the imaginary beings' profusion
show that the Indian text is obviously ignored. This could have given
birth to more than one funny invention. Nevertheless, the filiation
between Rishyashringa and the unicorn seems very likely even if we don't
know how and by whom it was made.
From G. Schaufelberger & Guy Vincent, Le Mahabharata, Presses de
l'Université Laval, Québec, 2004,
Vol I: The Pilgrim's Guide, pp. 346-347.
[1] Cf. R. Henry : Ctésias, la Perse, l'Inde, les Sommaires de Photius,
Lebègue, Bruxelles, 1947, ch. 25 et 26.
[2] Aristotle, De partibus animalium, III, 2
[3] Elien, De natura animalium, IV , 52
[4] R. Wittkover, Allegory and the Migration of symbols, (L'Orient
fabuleux), Thames et Hudson, Paris, trad. fr. 1990