Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v1.c3.s4.238

v1.c3.s4.238

Ubhayā-dant, ‘having incisors in both jaws,’ is an expression employed to distinguish, among domestic animals, the horse, the ass, etc., from the goat, the sheep, and cattle. The distinction occurs in a late hymn of the Rigveda,¹ and is several times alluded to in the later Saṃhitās² and the Brāhmaṇas.³ In one passage of the Taittirīya Saṃhitā⁴ man is classed with the horse as *ubhayā-dant*. The opposite is *anyato-dant*, ‘having incisors in one jaw only,’ a term regularly applied to cattle,⁵ the eight incisors of which are, in fact, limited to the lower jaw. The ass is styled *ubhayā-dant* in the Atharvaveda.⁶ In one passage of the Atharvaveda,⁷ however, the epithet is applied to a ram; but the sense here is that a marvel occurs, just as in the Rigveda⁸ a ram destroys a lioness. Bloomfield⁹ suggests in the Atharvaveda passage another reading which would mean ‘horse.’ A parallel division of animals is that of the Taittirīya¹⁰ and Vājasaneyi Saṃhitās¹¹ into ‘whole-hoofed’ (*eka-śapha*) and ‘small’ (*kṣudra*).