Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v1.c3.s16.338

v1.c3.s16.338

Jñātṛ occurs in two passages of the Atharvaveda¹ and one of the Śāṅkhāyana Āraṇyaka² with a somewhat obscure sense. Zimmer³ conjectures not unnaturally that the word is a technical term taken from law, meaning ‘witness.’ The reference is, perhaps, to a custom of carrying on transactions of business before witnesses as practised in other primitive societies.⁴ Roth⁵ suggests that the word has the sense of ‘surety.’ But Bloomfield⁶ and Whitney⁷ ignore these interpretations.