Mr̥gas: Animals of Conflict, Animals of Peace

From the Veda to the Epics and kāvya, ancient India makes regular and wide use of myths or narrations involving wild herbivores such as antelopes, deer or gazelles, to define situations of conflict or, conversely, of peace and harmony. These animals are often generically referred to as mr̥ga(s), a term which becomes a hypernym for all such creatures of the forest. The treatment accorded to these animals seems to constitute a kind of marker. Their killing, almost invariably in the explicit context of hunting, the favourite sport of kings and of which these mr̥gas are the main victims, is connected to crises of great conceptual and narrative importance; on the other hand, a peaceful environment is depicted through their protected and safe presence. These different attitudes are, in a way, expressions of a dichotomy between kṣatriyas and Brahmans: the former kill these animals, the latter, as hermits, cohabit with them, and at times even take them as life models. Similarly, in the Buddhist context, the protection of these animals appears to be an affirmation of moral values. This paper considers situations of profound conflict in Vedic and Epic sources; the transformation of migadāyas, places most probably originally intended for hunting or farming, into protected areas, as documented by Buddhist sources; descriptions of Brahmanical āśramas and the behaviour of hermits and, finally, how Kālidāsa reworks these traditions on mr̥gas connecting them closely with femininity.