Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v2.c4.51

v2.c4.51

Puruṣanti is a name that occurs twice in the Rigveda,¹ in the first passage denoting a protégé of the Aśvins, in the second a patron who gave presents to one of the Vedic singers. In both cases the name is joined with that of Dhvasanti or Dhvasra. The presumption from the manner in which these three names are mentioned is that they designate men, but the grammatical form of the words might equally well be feminine. Females must be meant, if the evidence of the Pañcaviṃśa Brāhmaṇa² is to be taken as decisive, for the form of the first of the two names there occurring, Dhvasre Puruṣantī, ‘Dhvasrā and Puruṣanti,’ is exclusively feminine, though here as well as elsewhere Sāyaṇa³ interprets the names as masculines. See also Taranta and Purumīḷha.