Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v1.c3.s16.260

v1.c3.s16.260

Jāyā regularly denotes ‘wife,’ and, as opposed to Patnī, wife as an object of marital affection, the source of the continuance of the race.¹ So it is used of the wife of the gambler, and of the wife of the Brāhmaṇa in the Rigveda;² it is also frequently combined with Pati, ‘husband,’³ both there and in the later literature.⁴ Patnī, on the other hand, is used to denote the wife as partner in the sacrifice;⁵ when no share in it is assigned to her, she is called Jāyā.⁶ The distinction is, of course, merely relative; hence one text⁷ calls Manu’s wife Jāyā, another⁸ Patnī. Later on Jāyā is superseded by Dāra.