Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v1.c3.618

v1.c3.618

Arya.—This word is not common in the older literature, in places where the quantity of the first vowel is fixed as short, except in a mere adjectival sense. Geldner,¹ indeed, contends that no other sense is anywhere needed; but Roth² and Zimmer³ agree in thinking that in several passages of the Vājasaneyi Saṃhitā⁴ the word has the same sense as Ārya, and this appears probable. Whether it is necessary to ascribe this sense to the word in the compound *arya-patnī*⁵ applied to the waters set free by Indra, is more doubtful. The commentator, Mahīdhara,⁶ suggests that the word means a Vaiśya, not an Ārya generally. This view is supported by the explanation in the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa⁷ of one of the passages of the Vājasaneyi Saṃhitā.⁸ But though the use of Arya to denote a Vaiśya became common later, it is not clear that it was original.