Hunting, Farming, Protecting Animals. Remarks on migadāya and mṛgavana

This article attempts to define the actual characteristics of the migadaya ("Deer Park" in the most common translation) of Isipatana near Varanasi, where the Buddha held his first sermon; or better, to understand what a migadaya could actually be, since, in the Pali Canon, Isipatana is by no means the only place so defined where the Buddha is said to stay and hold his sermons. If in the Buddhist tradition the migadaya of Isipatana is unanimously presented as a space where the miga (Sanskrit mrga, a term mostly indicating the set of herbivorous quadrupeds such as antelopes, gazelles and deer) are offered safety and protection, other clues invite further reflection, for example the narrations of some Jatakas and the notations of the Arthasastra on the institutions that this text calls mrgavana and abhayavana.