Vedic Mythology c5.s1.t4.7

c5.s1.t4.7

The epithets exclusively connected with Pūṣan are *āghṛṇi*, *ajāśva*, *vimocana*, *vimuco napāt*, and once each *puṣṭimbhara*, ‘bringing prosperity’, *anaṣṭapaśu*, ‘losing no cattle’, *anaṣṭavedas*, ‘losing no goods’, *karambhād*, ‘eating gruel’. The latter attribute seems to have been a cause for despising Pūṣan by some (cp. 6, 56¹; 1, 138⁴)⁶. *Karambha*, mentioned three times in the RV., is Pūṣan’s distinctive food, being contrasted with Soma as Indra’s (6, 57²). Indra, however, shares it (3, 52⁷), and in the only two passages in which the adjective *karambhin* ‘mixed with gruel’ occurs, it applies to the libation of Indra (3, 52¹; 8, 80²). Pūṣan is the only god who receives the epithet *paśupā*, ‘protector of cattle’ (6, 58²) directly (and not in comparisons).