Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v2.c4.302

v2.c4.302

Pṛṣatī in some passages¹ clearly means a ‘speckled’ cow. The term is, however, generally² applied to the team of the Maruts, when its sense is doubtful. The commentators usually explain it as ‘speckled antelope.’ But Mahīdhara,³ followed by Roth,⁴ prefers to see in it a ‘dappled mare’: it is true that the Maruts are often called⁵ pṛṣad-aśva, which is more naturally interpreted as ‘having dappled steeds,’ than as ‘having Pṛṣatīs as steeds.’⁶ In the later literature, which Grassmann⁷ prefers to follow, the word means the female of the dappled gazelle.