The Arctic Home in the Vedas c10.23.2

c10.23.2

But the use of the words Navagva and Dashagva, sometimes even in the singular number as an adjective qualifying a singular noun, shows that a group or a company of nine or ten men, is not, at any rate, always intended. Thus in VI, 6, 3, the rays of Agni are said to be navagvas, while Adhrigu is said to be dashagva in VIII, 12, 2, and Dadhyañch navagva in IX, 108, 4. We must, therefore, assign to these epithets some other meaning, and the only other possible explanation of the numerals ‘nine’ and ‘ten’ is that given by Sâyaṇa, who says (Comm. on Ṛig. I, 62, 4), “The Aṅgirases are of two kinds, the Navagvas or those who rose after completing the sattra in nine months, and the Dashagvas, or those who rose after finishing the sattra in ten months.”² We have seen that in the Ṛig-Veda V, 45, 7 and 11, the Dashagvas and The Navagvas are said to have completed their sacrifices in ten months. Sâyaṇa's explanation is, therefore, fully warranted by these texts, and very probably it is based on some traditional information about the Dashagvas. Prof. Lignana of Rome,¹ suggests that the numerals navan and dashan in these names should be taken as referring to the period of gestation, as the words nava-mâhya and dasha-mâhya occur in the Vendidad, V, 45, (136), in the same sense.