History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c81.51.4

v6.c81.51.4

6 and not necessarily of Varuṇa. If that be so, vrata in 'dhṛtavrata' must mean 'ordinances or mode of religious worship' and not 'tracks of luminaries'. We have the word 'dhṛtadakṣa' (who upholds strength i. e. who is strong or constant) applied to a priest in X. 41. 3. It is worthy of note that the Śatapatha Br in explaining²⁵ 'niṣasāda dhṛtavrato Varuṇaḥ' in Ṛg. I. 25. 10 (= Vāj. S. X. 27) remarks that the king and a brāhmaṇa deeply learned in the Veda are both 'dhṛtavrata'. It is probable that even in the times of the Ṛgveda people had come to assign the same meaning to the word 'dhṛtavrata' that the Śat. Br. ascribes to it. Conceding for argument that dhṛtavratāya in I. 25. 6 refers to Varuṇa, that does not at all solve the problem of the derivation and meaning of vrata. The word 'vratanīḥ' occurs only once in Ṛgveda X.