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परस्वन्त् (parasvant)

 
Capeller Eng
English
प॑रस्वन्त्
m.
 the wild ass.
Vedic Reference
English
Parasvant denotes a large wild animal which Roth^1 con-
jectures to be the wild ass. It is mentioned in the Vṛṣākapi
hymn^2 of the Rigveda, twice in the Atharvaveda, ^3 and in the
list of victims at the Aśvamedha (‘horse sacrifice’) in the
Yajurveda Saṃhitās, ^4 in all of which passages the sense of
‘wild ass’ is satisfactory. More doubtful is the meaning of the
word paraśvā(n) in the Kauṣītaki Upaniṣad, ^5 where the com-
mentary explains it as ‘serpent.’ It is, of course, quite possible
that the word has nothing to do with parasvant. Bühler^6
suggests connexion with the Pāli palāsāda, ‘rhinoceros.’
1) St. Petersburg Dictionary, s.v.
2) x. 86, 18.
3) vi. 72, 2
xx. 131, 22.
4) Maitrāyaṇī Saṃhitā, iii. 14, 10
Vājasaneyi Saṃhitā, xxiv. 8
Taittirīya
Saṃhitā, v. 5, 21, 1, where the com-
mentator takes it to be the wild
buffalo.
5) i. 2.
6) Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgen-
ländischen Gesellschaft, 48, 63
Keith,
Śāṅkhāyana Āraṇyaka, 17, n. 1
Aitareya
Āraṇyaka, 377, n. 1.
Cf. Ludwig, Translation of the Rig-
veda, 2, 633
Zimmer, Altindisches Leben,
86, 87
Whitney, Translation of the
Atharvaveda, 335
Geldner, Rigveda,
Glossar, 105.
Capeller
German
परस्वन्त्
m.
 der wilde Esel.