HOAR.
Khanzar, . . . Mesa 1)ook.ar, . . Mina.
Baraha, . . . 13Exu. Labi-abia, . . MALAY.
Verrat, Fit. Ilabi-utan, . .
Eber, GER. Varalut, . Huh, Chazir, .1izn, Walura,. . SINGH.
Jangli Sur, Sur, . Iluco. Verraco, Sr Verro, IT Athivi Koku, . . . TaL The boar is tho male of the hog or swine. Of these, in Asia, are seven wild species, viz. Sits scrofa, Linn., var. S. Indices, Bengalensis, Anda mensis, Malayensis, Zeylanensis, Babyrussa, and Papuonsis. When the wild boar of India, the Sue Indicus, has the run of cultivated lands, it eats daintily ; but when stinted for food it will revel on a dead camel, and when pressed by want it prowls around the villages in search of refuse. The wild boar of India is shot and hunted with dogs by natives, but British sportsmen there hunt it with the horse spear ; and of all the wild creatures in India, the boar exacta from its pur suers the greatest care.
The Sus Indica of Pallas, Sus scrofa of other naturalists, the common wild boar, is supposed to be the parent of one of the two groups into which domestic pigs are arranged. The Sus scrofa group -or breed is known as the Chinese breed. and extends into Europe, North Africa, and Hindustan ; but in the latter country the boar of the N.W. Provinces is not higher than 36 Inches. tit( that of Bengal attains 44 inches. The parents of the other group are unknown.
Sus scrofa is not known in a wild state, but its domesticated forms como near to S. vittatus of Java. The Roman or Neapolitan pig, tho domes ticated breeds of China, Cochin-China, Siani, the Andalusians, Hungarian, the swine of S.E. Europe and Turkey, and the Swiss, are all of the Sus serail group, which, a Chinese author says, can bu traced back for 4900 years. Tho Japan masked pig is the Sus pliciceps of Gray, and has a deeply plieated or furrowed skin.
Porculs sylvania, the pigmy hog of the sal forest of North India, is called by the natives Sano Banel, also Chota Sur.
With the great Clinliikya dynasty of the Penin sula of India and Gujerat, their boar standard was one of their chief prerogatives, and they coined a gold piece with the emblem of a boar. One of the
great protecting incarnations of the Hindu god Vishnu was in the figure of a Varaha or boar.
In the mythology of the ancients, the wild boar was sacred to Typhon. In India, the Rajputs, on the first day of spring, worship Vasanthi, or spring, Basanth, personified ; prince and vassal then chase, slay, and eat the will boar. Personal danger is disregarded on this OCCASiOn, as want of success is deemed an omen that Ocania, the great mother, may refuse petitions during the year.
The boar hunt in spring-time is a Scythic custom. Amongst the Scandinavian Asi, the grand fes tival to Friya was in spring ; then boars were offered to her by the Scandinavians, and boars made of paste were eaten by the people. Bakings in the shape of a boar were widely spread, as shown by the baking of cochelins ' for New Year's Day in France. The Egyptian custom of baking swine-shaped pieces of dough is mentioned by Herodotus.
The Rajput festival is called Ahairea, and has a religious origin. The boar is the enemy of Gouri of the Rajputs. It was so held of Isis by the Egyptians, of Ceres by the Greeks, and of Friya by the Northman, whose favourite food was the hog ; and of such importance was it deemed by the Franks, that the second chapter of the Salic law is entirely penal with regard to the stealers of swine. The heroes of the Edda, even in Val halla, feed on the fat of the wild boar Serimner, while the illustrious father of armies fattens his wolves Geri and Freki, and takes no other nourish ment himself than the uninterrupted quaffing of wine ;' quite the picture of Har, the Rajput god of war, and of his sons the Bhyru, Gora, and Kala, metaphorically called the 'sons Of slaughter.' The cup of the Scandinavian god of war, like that of the Rajputs, is the human skull (cupra).— Tad's Rajasthan, i. p. 566; Darwin.