The Madras Tree Shrew seems to me to be a better candidate: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madras_treeshrew
Matthew T. Kapstein Professor emeritus Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, PSL Research University, Paris Associate The University of Chicago Divinity School https://ephe.academia.edu/MatthewKapstein Sent with [Proton Mail](https://proton.me/) secure email. On Sunday, January 28th, 2024 at 6:36 PM, Lubin, Tim via INDOLOGY <[email protected]> wrote: > Possibly the Indian giant squirrel [Ratufa > indica](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_giant_squirrel)? I have seen > these in wildlife parks and mountain areas of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Tamil > name is [மலையணில் > malaiyaṇil](https://ta.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%AE%87%E0%AE%A8%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%A4%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%AF_%E0%AE%AE%E0%AE%B2%E0%AF%88_%E0%AE%85%E0%AE%A3%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B2%E0%AF%8D). > Their color ranges from red to dark reddish brown. > > Tim Lubin > > From: INDOLOGY <[email protected]> on behalf of INDOLOGY > <[email protected]> > Reply-To: "Tieken, H.J.H. (Herman)" <[email protected]> > Date: Sunday, January 28, 2024 at 10:30 AM > To: INDOLOGY <[email protected]>, Jim Ryan <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [INDOLOGY] Ancient medical practices > > Dear Jim, > > In Civakacintāmaṇi stanza1874 a list of items is found of presents made by > the king. The list includes ornaments made with diamonds, a bow, arrows, a > jewelled spear, and, finally, in your translation, a healing blanket made of > rats' fur (mayir eliyiṉ pōrvai). For this healing blanket you refer to stanza > 819. This stanza describes "warriors who have wounds all over their bodies > like the hollows in ancient trees". Cīvakaṉ treats them with morsels of food > mixed with ghee prepared by women, urging the wounded to accept this as a > medicine. Furthermore, he urges them to "get into a healing jacket of cloth > made from rat fur". However, in this case no word for "rat" (eli) is found in > the text (nuti mayirttukiṟ kuppāyam pukuka). In your translation you base > yourself on one commentator, who indicates "that rat hair is used here [which > it isn't, HT] because it is very warm and keeps the cold away, because the > wind cannot penetrate it, and because it is very soft (soft as cotton). The > commentator evidently refers to stanzas 2471 and 2680 (cold season). > > In the other instaces of eli mayir the point is the colour of the rat's fur, > namely red (ce eli mayir), gold (poṉ kampalam) (2686), red orange (iṅkulikam, > Skt hiṅgula) and coral-red (pavaḻam) (1898). (pūcai in stanza 1898 cannot > mean "cat" [a cat on the mountain top??], but must mean something applied to > the mountain, which gives it the dark gray colour of an elephant.) > > What rat-like animal are we dealing with that has a golden red fur? > > With kind regards > > Herman > > Herman Tieken > > Stationsweg 58 > > 2515 BP Den Haag > > The Netherlands > > 00 31 (0)70 2208127 > > website: [hermantieken.com](http://hermantieken.com/) > > The Aśoka Inscriptions: Analysing a corpus, New Delhi: Primus Books, 2023. > > https://primusbooks.com/ancient/the-asoka-inscriptions-analysing-a-corpus-by-herman-tieken/ > > --------------------------------------------------------------- > > Van: INDOLOGY <[email protected]> namens Jim Ryan via > INDOLOGY <[email protected]> > Verzonden: zaterdag 27 januari 2024 20:53 > Aan: Srilata Raman via INDOLOGY <[email protected]> > Onderwerp: [INDOLOGY] Ancient medical practices > > Hi, > > In the Tamil epic Cīvakacintāmaṇi (@9th century CE) several times warriors > wounded in battle are said to be treated by having their wounds wrapped in > rat hair (elimayir) blankets or cloth. sometimes I translated this as “rat > fur,” though it may imply that rat’s skin was taken with the hair. That would > mean the rat was dead, probably killed, and this the Jains (whose text this > is) would abhor, we’d think. But I couldn’t imagine how rat hair could > somehow be shaved off and woven into cloth. Anyway, in an internet search > (see below) out of curiosity I found that, in fact, rat fur is currently used > to treat wounds in diabetics. It appears that the keratin in the fur, because > it is biodegradable, allows the fur to help bind the wound and, as it heals, > the hair of the fur sort of melts away, leaving a cleanly healed wound. Well, > it solved a mystery for me, and showed that sometimes modern discoveries > aren’t so new. > > There is no reference to "rat hair" in the Index des mots de la literature > tamoule ancienne. > > I'm wondering whether this medical treatment has ever been referenced in > Sanskrit literature. > > I recently googled: "rat fur for healing" and got this: > > How Rat Fur can Help Diabetics Heal Wounds > > Jim Ryan > > Asian Philosophies and Cultures (Emeritus) > > California Institute of Integral Studies
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