Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v1.c3.s19.193

v1.c3.s19.193

Dhur in the Rigveda¹ and later² denotes, according to the St. Petersburg Dictionary, that part of the yoke which is placed on the shoulders of the animals drawing the chariot or cart, whence they are called *dhūr-ṣāḥ*, ‘yoke-bearing,’ in the Vājasaneyi Saṃhitā.³ In one passage of the Rigveda⁴ the sense is uncertain: Roth⁵ takes it to mean the pin at either end of the axle (*Akṣa*) which goes through the nave of the wheel, and would thus be equivalent to Aṇi, and Oldenberg⁶ seems to adopt the same view. Monier Williams⁷ seems to think that ‘load’ is meant, but this is not probable. It is possible that Dhur has the sense of ‘pole,’⁸ and then more generally still the pole and the axle together regarded as the drawing part of the chariot: this might explain the use in the doubtful passage of the Rigveda.