Vedic Mythology c8.s1.5

c8.s1.5

There can be no doubt that the word *vṛ-tra* is derived from the root *vṛ*, 'to cover or encompass'⁴. Poets several times speak of Vṛtra as having encompassed the waters, *apo varivāṃsam* (2, 14², &c.) or *vṛtvī* (1, 52⁶), or as being an encompasser of rivers, *nadī-vṛt* (1, 52²; 8, 12²⁶ cp. 6, 30⁴; 7, 21³). These are clearly allusions to the etymology of the name. There is also evidently a play on the derivation when it is said that Indra 'encompassed the encompasser', *vṛtram avṛṇot* (3, 43³), or that in slaying Vṛtra he uncovered (*apa vṛ*) the prison of the waters (1, 32¹¹. 51⁴). A similar notion is implied in a passage in which the (cloud) mountain (*parvata*) is described as being within the belly of Vṛtra and Indra strikes the streams, placed in a covering (*vavri*), down declivities (cp. 1, 57⁶). Vṛtra is also said to be an encloser (*paridhi*) of the streams (3, 33⁶).