The Orion, or Researches into the Antiquity of the Vedas c10.55.2

c10.55.2

But this is surely no satisfactory explanation Who is the hunter that was so transformed? There are many mythological proper names in Greek which can be traced back to their Aryan originals, and why should Orion be not similarly derived? The story obviously points to the Vedic legends of Rudra, who is said to be still chasing Prajāpati in the heavens. The Vedic legend has fully preserved all the three elements in the story—the hunter Rudra, the dog and the antelope's head, while the Greeks appear to have retained only the hunter and the dog with nothing to hunt! But that does not preclude us from discovering the identity of these legends and the question is whether we can suggest a Sanskrit word which will give us Orion according to the already established phonetic rules. I know of no name of Rudra from which Orion can be so derived. But if we look to the names of the constellation of Mrigashiras, we may, I think, in the absence of any better suggestion provisionally derive Orion from Sanskrit Āgayaṇa the original of Agrahāyaṇa; The intial long ā in Sanskrit may be represented by omega in Greek as in Sk. āma, Gk. ōmos, Sk. āshu, Gr. kus, and the last word ayana may become ion in Greek. It is not, however, so easy to account for the dropping of g before r in the body of the word. Comparison of Sk. grivan which Gk. laos and of Sk. ghrāna with Gk.