Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v2.c4.s9.1298

v2.c4.s9.1298

Svasṛ is the regular word from the Rigveda onwards¹ for ‘sister.’ Like the word Bhrātṛ, the term sister can be applied to things not precisely so related. For example, in the Rigveda the fingers and the seasons are ‘sisters,’ and night is the sister of dawn, for whom, as the elder, she makes way.² The Paṇis offer to adopt Saramā as their sister;³ but this use is not applied—any more than in the case of Bhrātṛ—to ordinary human beings.