Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v1.c3.s2.85

v1.c3.s2.85

Ibhya occurs once in the Rigveda¹ in the plural, when a king is said to devour his Ibhyas as the fire the forest; and twice in the Chāndogya Upaniṣad,² in one passage as the first member of a compound, and in the other as either a proper name or an adjective. Roth,³ Ludwig,⁴ and Zimmer⁵ interpret the word as ‘retainers’ in the Rigveda, but in the Chāndogya Upaniṣad Roth thinks it means ‘rich.’ Pischel and Geldner⁶ accept the sense in all passages. Böhtlingk in his translation of the Chāndogya treats the word as simply a proper name, ‘Ibhya’s village’ (*ibhya-grāma*) and ‘Ibhya.’