Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v1.c3.s21.669

v1.c3.s21.669

Of animals apart from man a threefold division is offered in the Rigveda¹⁴—into those of the air (vāyavya), those of the jungle (āraṇya), and those of the village (grāmya), or tame animals. The division into āraṇya and grāmya animals is quite common.¹⁵ In the Yajurveda Saṃhitās¹⁶ is found a division into eka-śapha, ‘whole-hoofed’; kṣudra, ‘small’; and āraṇya, ‘wild,’ the two former classes denoting the tame animals.¹⁶ The horse and the ass are eka-śapha;¹⁷ the kṣudra are the sheep, the goat, and the ox: this distinction being parallel to that of ubhayadant and anyatodant.¹⁸ Zimmer¹⁹ sees in a passage of the Atharvaveda²⁰ a division of wild animals (āraṇya) into five classes: (1) those of the jungle described as the ‘dread beasts which are in the wood’ (*mṛgā bhīmā vane hitāḥ*); (2) winged creatures, represented by the Hamsa, ‘gander,’ Suparṇa, ‘eagle,’ Śakuna, ‘bird’; (3) amphibia—Śimśumāra, ‘alligator,’ and Ajagara, ‘crocodile’ (?); (4) ‘fish,’ Purīkaya, Jaṣa, and Matsya; (5) insects and worms (described as *rajasāḥ*). But this division is more ingenious than probable, and it is ignored by both Bloomfield²¹ and Whitney.²²