Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v1.c3.s9.25

v1.c3.s9.25

Opaśa is a word of somewhat doubtful sense, occurring in the Rigveda,¹ the Atharvaveda,² and occasionally later.³ It probably means a ‘plait’ as used in dressing the hair, especially of women,⁴ but apparently, in earlier times,⁵ of men also. The goddess Sinīvālī is called *svaupaśā*,⁶ an epithet of doubtful sense, from which Zimmer⁷ conjectures that the wearing of false plaits of hair was not unknown in Vedic times. What was the difference between the braids referred to in the epithets *pṛthu-ṣṭuka*,⁸ ‘having broad braids,’ and *viṣita-ṣṭuka*,⁹ ‘having loosened braids,’ and the Opaśa cannot be made out from the evidence available. Geldner¹⁰ thinks that the original sense was ‘horn,’ and that when the word applies to Indra¹¹ it means ‘diadem.’