Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v1.c3.s14.57

v1.c3.s14.57

Camū is a term of somewhat doubtful sense occurring repeatedly in the Rigveda, and connected with the preparation of Soma. Zimmer¹ considers that in the dual it denotes the two boards between which, in his opinion, the Soma was crushed (cf. Adhiṣavaṇa). Roth,² however, appears to be right in taking the normal sense to designate a vessel into which the Soma was poured from the press, and Hillebrandt³ shows clearly that when it occurs in the plural⁴ it always has this sense, corresponding to the Graha-pātras of the later ritual, and that sometimes it is so used in the singular⁵ or dual⁶ also. In some cases,⁷ however, he recognizes its use as denoting the mortar in which the Soma was pressed: he may be right here, as this mode of preparation was probably Indo-Iranjan.⁸