Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v2.c4.s9.258

v2.c4.s9.258

Samana is a word of somewhat doubtful sense in the Rigveda. Roth¹ renders it either ‘battle’² or ‘festival.’³ Pischel⁴ thinks that it was a general popular festivity to which women went to enjoy themselves,⁵ poets to win fame,⁶ bowmen to gain prizes at archery,⁷ horses to run races;⁸ and which lasted until morning⁹ or until a conflagration, caused by the fires kept burning all night, scattered the celebrators.¹⁰ Young women,¹¹ elderly women,¹² sought there to find a husband, and courtezans to make profit of the occasion.¹³