Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v1.c3.s21.268

v1.c3.s21.268

⁸⁶ Rv. i. 109, 2, refers to the gods Indra and Agni as more generous than a *vijāmātṛ*, ‘son-in-law,’ or a *syāla*, ‘brother-in-law.’ The force of *vi* in the former word must be unfavourable, and the sense, as indicated by Pischel, is, no doubt, that a son-in-law who was not in other respects altogether suitable might have to buy his bride at a heavy cost. The *vijāmātṛ* is, in fact, the *aśvīro jāmātā*, the ‘ignoble son-in-law,’ of Rv. viii. 2, 20. *Cf.* Yāska, Nirukta, vi. 9; Bloomfield, *Journal of the American Oriental Society*, 15, 255.