Vedic Mythology c8.16

c8.16

As the words *dāsa* and *dasyu* primarily mean ‘malignant foe’ and then ‘demon’¹⁷, it seems convenient to render them by ‘fiend’. They are frequently added as a generic term to the names of individual fiends combated by Indra, being most commonly thus applied to Namuci (5, 30⁷⁻⁹, &c.), Śambara (4, 30¹⁴, &c.), Śuṣṇa (7, 19², &c.), sometimes to Pipru (8, 32²; 10, 138³), Cumuri and Dhuni (2, 15⁹; 7, 19⁴), Varcin (4, 30¹⁵; 6, 47²¹), Navavāstva (10, 49⁶. ⁷), once to Tvaṣṭra (2, 11¹⁹) and to the dragon Ahi (2, 11²).