[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Reference works](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference) › [Vedic Index of Names and Subjects](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912) › v1.c3.s1.12 # Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v1.c3.s1.12 Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v1.c3.s1.12 - **Language:** English ### [v1.c3.s1.12](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v1.c3.s1.12) Ā-khyāna.—In the Aitareya Brāhmaṇa¹ we hear of the Śunaḥśepa Ākhyāna, ‘the story of Śunaḥśepa,’ which is told by the Hotṛ priest at the Rājasūya (‘royal inauguration’). The series of stories² used at the Aśvamedha (‘horse sacrifice’) during the year while the sacrificial horse is allowed to wander at its will is called the ‘cyclic’ (\*pari-plavam\*). The Aitareya Brāhmaṇa³ mentions also Ākhyāna-vids (‘men versed in tales’), who tell the Sauparṇa legend, elsewhere⁴ known as a Vyākhyāna. Yāska, in the Nirukta,⁵ frequently uses the term, sometimes in a pregnant sense as denoting the doctrine of the Aitihāsikas or traditional interpreters of the Rigveda.⁶ - [Previous: v1.c3.s1.11](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v1.c3.s1.11) - [Next: v1.c3.s1.13](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v1.c3.s1.13) - [Up: v1.c3.s1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v1.c3.s1) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v1.c3.s1.12](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v1.c3.s1.12) · Pramāṇa