Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v1.c3.s18.487

v1.c3.s18.487

Dur-gaha is mentioned in a hymn of the Rigveda,¹ where his grandsons are lauded for their generosity, though Sāyaṇa renders the word adjectivally.² In another passage of the Rigveda,³ however, Sāyaṇa sees in the epithet Daurgaha a description of Purukutsa as Durgaha’s son, who was either captured by the enemy or slain, and whose wife, Purukutsānī, then obtained a son, Trasadasyu, to restore the line; he also quotes a story, not found in the Bṛhaddevatā,⁴ to support this interpretation. On the other hand, the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa⁵ seems to take Daurgaha as meaning a horse. Sieg⁶ thinks that the same sense should be adopted in the Rigveda passage, which he interprets as referring to the sacrifice of a horse, Daurgaha, by King Purukutsa to gain a son; he also sees in Dadhikrāvan, with Pischel⁷ and Ludwig,⁸ a real horse, the charger of Trasadasyu. The Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa’s interpretation of Daurgaha is, however, doubtful, and cannot be regarded as receiving support from the case of Dadhikrāvan, who was probably a divinity, and not a real horse at all.⁹