Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v2.c4.850

v2.c4.850

Plā-yogi, ‘descendant of Playoga,’ is the patronymic of Āsaṅga in the Rigveda.¹ According to the Śāṅkhāyana Śrauta Sūtra,² Āsaṅga was a woman, but became a man. This version, repeated by Sāyaṇa in his commentary on the Rigveda,³ is a mere blunder based on the fact that an additional verse, tacked on to the hymn,³ contains the expression *śaśvatī nārī*, which has been taken to mean ‘his wife Śaśvatī,’⁴ instead of merely ‘every woman.’