[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Reference works](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference) › [Vedic Index of Names and Subjects](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912) › v1.c3.s9.25 # Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v1.c3.s9.25 Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v1.c3.s9.25 - **Language:** English ### [v1.c3.s9.25](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.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.’ - [Previous: v1.c3.s9.24](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v1.c3.s9.24) - [Next: v1.c3.s9.26](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v1.c3.s9.26) - [Up: v1.c3.s9](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v1.c3.s9) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v1.c3.s9.25](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v1.c3.s9.25) · Pramāṇa