Vedic Mythology c5.s2.t4.2

c5.s2.t4.2

ROTH¹, with whom GRASSMANN agrees², regards Aja ekapād as a genius of the storm, translating the name as the 'one-footed Driver or Stormer'. Bloomfield³ and Victor Henry⁴ think he represents a solar deity. Hardy⁵ believes that 'the goat who goes alone' is the moon. Bergaigne⁶, interpreting the name as 'the unborn (*a-ja*) who has only one foot', thinks this means he who inhabits the one isolated mysterious world. If another conjecture may be added, the name, meaning 'the one-footed goat'⁷, was originally a figurative designation of lightning, the 'goat' alluding to its agile swiftness in the cloud-mountains, and the one foot to the single streak which strikes the earth.