Vedic Mythology c5.s2.t4.1

c5.s2.t4.1

— This being is closely connected with Ahi budhnya, his name occurring five times in juxtaposition with that of the latter and only once unaccompanied by it (10, 65¹³). The deities invoked in the latter passage, 'the thundering Pāvīravī ('daughter of lightning': PW.), Ekapād aja, the supporter of the sky, the stream, the oceanic waters, all the gods, Sarasvatī', are, however, almost identical with those enumerated in the following hymn: 'the ocean, the stream, the aerial space, Aja ekapād, the thundering flood, Ahi budhnya, and all the gods' (10, 66¹¹). These two passages suggest that Aja ekapād is an aerial deity. He is, however, enumerated in the Naighaṇṭuka (5, 6) among the deities of the celestial region. In the AV. Aja ekapāda is said to have made firm the two worlds (AV. 13, 1⁶). The TB. (3, 1, 2⁸) speaks of Aja ekapād as having risen in the east. The commentator on his passage defines Aja ekapād as a kind of Agni, and Durga on Nirukta 12, 29 interprets him as the sun. Yāska himself does not express an opinion as to what Aja ekapād represents, merely explaining *Aja* as *ajana*, driving, and *ekapad* as 'he who has one foot' or 'he who protects or drinks with one foot'. Though hardly any longer an independent deity, Aja ekapād as well as Ahi budhnya receives a libation in the domestic ritual (Pārask. 2, 15²). In the Epic Ajaikapād is both the name of one of the eleven Rudras and an epithet of Śiva.