Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v1.c3.s2.92

v1.c3.s2.92

Iriṇa (neut.) occurs not rarely in the later Saṃhitās¹ and Brāhmaṇas² in the sense of ‘a cleft in the ground,’ usually natural (*sva-kṛta*). The same meaning is also, as Pischel³ shows, to be ascribed to it in three passages of the Rigveda,⁴ in one⁵ of which the hole is referred to as ‘made by water’ (*apā kṛtam*). In another passage of the Rigveda⁶ the word refers to the place on which the dice are thrown. Hence Pischel⁷ concludes that the dicing-board must have been so called because it contained holes into which the dice had to be thrown if possible. Lüders⁸ however, points out that this assumption is not necessary; the dice (Akṣa) were merely thrown on a space dug out, which could be called Iriṇa, as being a hole in the ground, though not a natural one. This view is supported by the commentary of Sāyaṇa,⁹ as well as by Durga in his note on the Nirukta.¹⁰