The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c19.s7.14

v1.c19.s7.14

The nature of Tārkṣya seems to be similar to that of Dadhikrāvan: he is described in part in the same terms, as pervading the five tribes with his power, and his character as a steed is shown by his bearing the name Ariṣṭanemi, 'whose fellies are uninjured.' From this epithet in the Yajurveda⁸ a new entity Ariṣṭanemi is created and invoked along with Tārkṣya. He is in later Vedic texts once or twice called a bird, and this may be compared with the bird character of Garuḍa, who is beyond question the sun bird. It is difficult, therefore, to doubt that Tārkṣya is merely a form of the sun, conceived as a bird or horse: his name is possibly derived from the prince Tṛkṣi Trāsadasyava who is mentioned in the Rigveda,¹ and naturally it has been suggested that he is a real horse deified.²