Alfalfa 215 



Kabul the Trifolium giganteum is called sibarga, and Medicago sativa 

 is styled rilka, is unsatisfactory. The word sibarga means "trefoil" 

 (si, "three;" barga = Persian barak, varak, "leaf"), and is Iranian, not 

 Sanskrit; the corresponding Sanskrit word is tripatra or triparna. The 

 word rilka is Afghan; that is, likewise Iranian. 1 Considering the fact 

 that nothing is known about the plant in question in early Indian 

 sources, it is highly improbable that it should figure in a Buddhist 

 Sutra of the type of the Suvarnaprabhasa; and I think that Li Si-5en 

 is mistaken as to the meaning of the word, which he says he encountered 

 there. 



The above transcription occurs also in the Fan yi min yi tsi 

 (section 27) and answers to Sanskrit gaka-vrika, the word caka denoting 

 any eatable herb or vegetable, and vfika (or baka) referring to a certain 

 plant not yet identified (cf. the analogous formation qaka-bilva, "egg- 

 plant"). It is not known what herb is to be understood by qdka-vfika, 

 and the Chinese translation mu-su may be merely a makeshift, though 

 it is not impossible that the Sanskrit compound refers to some species 

 of Medicago. We must not lose sight of the fact that the equations 

 established in the Chinese-Sanskrit dictionaries are for the greater part 

 merely bookish or lexicographical, and do not relate to plant introduc- 

 tions. The Buddhist translators were merely anxious to find a suitable 

 equivalent for an Indian term. This process is radically different from 

 the plant-names introduced together with the plants from Iranian, 

 Indian, or Southeast-Asiatic regions: here we face living realities, 

 there we have to do with literary productions. Two other examples 

 may suffice. The Fan yi min yi tsi (section 24) offers a Sanskrit botani- 

 cal name in the form fl| W. j&I len-Vou-kia, anciently *tsin(tin)-du-k / ie, 

 answering to Sanskrit tinduka (Diospyros embryopteris) , a dense ever- 

 green small tree common throughout India and Burma. The Chinese 

 gloss explains the Indian word by Si ffi, which is the well-known Dio- 

 spyros kaki of China and Japan, not, however, found in ancient India; it 

 was but recently introduced into the Botanical Garden of Calcutta by 

 Col. Kyd, and the Chinese gardeners employed there call it lin ("Chi- 

 nese"). 2 In this case it signifies only the Diospyros embryopteris of 

 India. Under the heading kan-sun hian (see p. 455), which denotes the 

 spikenard (Nardostachys jatamansi), Li Si-Sen gives a Sanskrit term 

 i^r ffl B£ k'u-mi-Fe, *ku-mi-£i, likewise taken from the Suvarnapra- 

 bhasasatra; this corresponds to Sanskrit kunci or kuncika, which applies 

 to three different plants, — 1. Abrus precatorius, 2. Nigella indica, 



1 There are, further, in Afghan sebist (connected with Persian supust) and 

 dureSta. 



8 W. Roxburgh, Flora Indica, p. 412. 



