Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v1.c3.s21.532

v1.c3.s21.532

Parṇaka is the name of a man included in the list of victims at the Puruṣamedha (‘human sacrifice’) in the Vājasaneyi Saṃhitā¹ and the Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa.² According to Mahīdhara,³ a Bhilla is meant—i.e., presumably a wild hillman, for he glosses Niṣāda in the same way.⁴ Sāyaṇa⁵ explains the word as meaning ‘one who catches fish by putting over the water a parṇa with poison,’ but this is apparently a mere etymological guess. Weber’s⁶ rendering of the term as referring to a savage ‘wearing feathers’ is ingenious, but uncertain.