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कक्षीवन्त् (kakSIvant)

 
Capeller Eng
English
कक्षी॑वन्त्
m.
N.
 of a Ṛṣi.
Benfey
English
कक्षीवन्त् कक्षीवन्त्,
m.
 The name
of a Ṛṣi, Chr. 297, 11 = Rigv. i. 112,
11.
Schmidt Nachtrage zum Sanskrit Worterbuch
German
कक्षी꣡वन्त् , Pl. ṚV. 1, 126, 4.
Vedic Reference
English
Kakṣīvant is the name of a Ṛṣi mentioned frequently in the
Rigveda, ^1 and occasionally elsewhere.^2 He appears to have
been a descendant of a female slave named Uśij.^3 He must
have been a Pajra by family, as he bears the epithet Pajriya, ^4
and his descendants are called Pajras.^5 In a hymn of the
Rigveda^6 he celebrates the prince Svanaya Bhāvya, who
dwelt on the Sindhu (Indus), as having bestowed magnificent
gifts on him
and the list of Nārāśaṃsas (‘Praises of Heroes’)
in the Śāṅkhāyana Śrauta Sūtra^7 mentions one by Kakṣīvant
Auśija in honour of Svanaya Bhāvayavya. In his old age he
obtained as a wife the maiden Vṛcayā.^8 He appears to have
lived to be a hundred, ^9 the typical length of life in the Vedas.
He seems always to be thought of as belonging to the past, and
in a hymn of the fourth book of the Rigveda^10 he is mentioned
with the semi-mythical Kutsa and Kavi Uśanas. Later, also,
he is a teacher of bygone days.^11
In Vedic literature he is not connected with Dīrghatamas
beyond being once mentioned along with him in a hymn of the
Rigveda.^12 But in the Bṛhaddevatā^13 he appears as a son of
Dīrghatamas by a slave woman, Uśij.
Weber^14 considers that Kakṣīvant was originally a Kṣatriya,
not a Brāhmaṇa, quoting in favour of this view the fact that
he is mentioned beside kings like Para Āṭṇāra, Vītahavya
Śrāyasa, and Trasadasyu Paurukutsya.^15 But that these are
all kings is an unnecessary assumption: these persons are
mentioned in the passages in question undoubtedly only as
famous men of old, to whom are ascribed mythical sacrificial
performances, and who thus gained numerous sons.
1) i. 18, 1
51, 13
112, 11
116, 7
117, 6
126, 3
iv. 26, 1
viii. 9, 10
ix. 74, 8
x. 25, 10
61, 16.
2) Av. iv. 29, 5, and passage noted
below.
3) Rv. i. 18, 1
perhaps also i, 112,
11, but Auśija may there be a separate
name (see Auśija). Cf. Pañcaviṃśa
Brāhmaṇa, xiv. 11, 16.
4) Rv. i. 116, 7
117, 6.
5) Rv. i. 126, 4.
6) i. 126.
7) xvi. 4, 5.
8) Rv. i. 51, 13.
9) Rv. ix. 74, 8.
10) iv. 26, 1.
11) Av. iv. 29, 5
xviii. 3, 15
Aitareya
Brāhmaṇa, i. 21, 6. 7
Jaiminīya
Upaniṣad Brāhmaṇa, ii. 6, 11.
12) viii. 9, 10
13) iv. 11 et seq.
14) Episches im vedischen Ritual, 22-25.
15) Taittirīya Saṃhitā, v. 6, 5, 3
Kāṭhaka Saṃhitā, xxii. 3
Pancaviṃśa
Brāhmaṇa, xxv. 16, 3, Cf. xiv. 11, 16.
Cf. Oldenberg, Zeitschrift der Deutschen
Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, 42, 221,
236, n. 1
Ludwig Translation of the
Rigveda, 3, 102
Geldner, Rigveda,
Kommentar, 23, 24.
Capeller
German
कक्षी॑वन्त्
m.
 N. eines Rishi.
Stchoupak
French
कक्षीवन्त्-
m.
n.
 d'un Ṛṣi célèbre.