[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Reference works](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference) › [Vedic Index of Names and Subjects](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912) › v2.c4.s9.258 # Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v2.c4.s9.258 Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v2.c4.s9.258 - **Language:** English ### [v2.c4.s9.258](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.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 - [Previous: v2.c4.s9.257](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v2.c4.s9.257) - [Next: v2.c4.s9.259](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v2.c4.s9.259) - [Up: v2.c4.s9](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v2.c4.s9) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v2.c4.s9.258](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v2.c4.s9.258) · Pramāṇa