Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v1.c3.s4.254

v1.c3.s4.254

Urā as a name for ‘sheep’ is confined to the Rigveda.¹ It is curious that in one of its two occurrences the wolf should be referred to as terrifying sheep, and that the epithet of the wolf, *urā-mathi*, ‘killing sheep,’ should occur once in the Rigveda,² both references being in one book of the Saṃhitā, a fact which suggests a dialectical origin of the word *urā*. See also Avi.