Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v1.c3.s18.312

v1.c3.s18.312

Ludwig¹⁵ considers that in some passages¹⁶ Dāsa is applied, in the sense of ‘enemy,’ to Āryan foes, but this is uncertain. Zimmer¹⁷ and Meyer¹⁸ think that Dāsa¹⁹ originally meant ‘enemy’ in general, later developing in Iran into the name of the Dahae²⁰ of the Caspian steppes, and in India into a designation of the aborigines. On the other hand, Hillebrandt²¹ argues that, as the Dāsas and the Paṇis are mentioned together,²² they must be deemed to be closely related tribes, identifying the Paṇis with the Parnians and the Dāsas of the Rigveda with the Dahae. This view, of course, necessitates a transfer of the scenes of the Rigveda, where Dāsas are prominent, and especially those in which Divodāsa—‘the heavenly Dāsa’—plays an important part,²³ to the far west. Hillebrandt justifies this by regarding the scene of the sixth book of the Rigveda as quite different from that of the seventh and third, in which Sudās, the Bharatas, Vasiṣṭha, and Viśvāmitra appear. The Sarasvatī of the sixth book he locates in Arachosia, that of the seventh in the ‘Middle Country.’ It is, however, extremely doubtful whether this theory can be upheld. That Divodāsa should have been a Dāsa, and yet have fought against other Dāsas, is not in itself likely, especially when his son Sudās appears as a protagonist of Āryan civilization. It also seems unreasonable to seek in Arachosia for the river Sarasvatī, which it is natural to locate in the ‘Middle Country.’