Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v2.c4.s7.64

v2.c4.s7.64

2. Vadhū is in one passage of the Rigveda¹ taken by Roth² to denote a ‘female animal,’ while Zimmer³ urges that it means a ‘female slave.’ As far as the use of Vadhū goes, either meaning is abnormal, for if Vadhū never elsewhere means a female animal (from *vah*, to ‘draw’ a cart), neither does it denote a slave: as the passage refers to a gift of fifty Vadhūs by Trasadasyu Paurukutsya to the singer, the latter must have been a polygamist of an advanced type to require fifty wives. The same doubt arises in the case of *vadhūmant*, which is used in the Rigveda and Atharvaveda as an epithet of the chariot (Ratha),⁴ of horses (Aśva),⁵ and of buffaloes (Uṣṭra).⁶ Zimmer sees in all cases a reference to slaves in the chariots or with the horses: this interpretation has the support of the Bṛhaddevatā.⁷ Roth’s version of the references to horses or buffaloes as ‘suitable for draught’ is not very happy; if *vadhū* is really a female animal *vadhūmant* means rather ‘together with mares,’ or ‘together with female buffaloes,’ which makes reasonable sense.⁸