तायु (tAyu)
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Apte
Englishतायुः [tāyuḥ], A thief.
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Wordnet
Sanskrit अधःचरः, अपहारकः, अपहारिका, अपहारकम्, अवहारः, अवावन्, अवावरी, आखनिकः, आखुः, आमोषी, आमोषि, कपाटघ्नः, कपाटघ्ना, कपाटघ्नम्, कम्बू, कलमः, कवाटघ्नः, कुम्भीरकः, कुसुमालः, खर्परः, चोरः, चौरः, चोरी, चोरकः, चौरी, चौरिका, तः, तक्वान्, तस्करः, तायु, तृपुः, दस्मः, दस्मा, दस्रः, द्रावकः, धनहरः, धनहृत्, धनहृद्, नक्तचारिः, नक्तचारी, नागरकः, परास्कन्दी, परास्कन्दि, परिमोषी, परिमोषिः, पटच्चरः, पाट्टचरः, पुरंदरः, प्रचुरः., प्रचुरपुरुषः, प्रतिरोधकः, प्रतिरोधी, बन्दीकारः, मलिम्लुः, मलिम्लुच्, मल्लीकर, माचलः, मीढुष्तमः, मुमुषिषुः, मुष्कः, मूषकः, मोषः, मोषकः, मोष्टा, रजनीचरः, रात्रिचरः, रात्र्याटः, रिक्वान्, रितक्वान्, रिभ्वान्, रिहायः, रेरिहाणः, लटः, लुण्टाकः, वटरः, वनर्गुः, विलोडकः, विलोप्ता, स्तेनः, स्तैन्यः, स्तायुः, स्तेयकृत्, स्तेयकृद्, स्तेयी, स्तौनः, स्त्येनः, स्त्यैनः, स्रोतस्यः, हरिकः, हर्ता, हारकः, हारीतः
अदत्स्य परधनस्य अपहारकः।
"रक्षकः चोरान् दण्डयति।"
Vedic Reference
EnglishTāyu was another name for thief, perhaps of a less
distinguished and more domestic character than the highway-
man, for though he is referred to as a cattle-thief, ^13 he is also
alluded to as a stealer of clothes (vastra-mathi)^14 and as a
debtor.^15 In one passage the Tāyus are said to disappear at
the coming of dawn (which is elsewhere called yāvayad-dveṣas,
‘driving away hostile beings, ’ and ṛta-pā, ‘guardian of order’),
like the stars of heaven (nakṣatra).^16
In the Śatarudriya litany of the Vājasaneyi Saṃhitā^17 Rudra
is called lord of assailers (ā-vyādhin), thieves (stena), robbers
(taskara), pickpockets (stāyu), stealers (muṣṇant), and cutters
(vi-kṛnta)
and designations of sharpers (gṛtsa) and bands
(gaṇa, vrāta), apparently of robbers, are mentioned.^18 It is
therefore not surprising that the Rigveda^19 should contain
many prayers for safety at home or on the way, or that
the Atharvaveda should devote several hymns to night^20
chiefly for protection against the evil doings of thieves and
robbers.
Pischel^21 suggests that in one passage of the Rigveda^22
Vasiṣṭha is represented as a burglar, but the admits that, since
Vasiṣṭha was attacking the house of his father Varuṇa, he was
only seeking to obtain what he may have regarded as his own.
But the interpretation of the hymn is not certain.^23
Sāyaṇa's explanation of one passage of the Rigveda, ^24 as
referring to professional cattle-trackers, like the Khojis of the
Panjab, seems quite probable.^25
The punishment of thieves appears primarily to have been
left to the action of the robbed. The practice of binding them
in stocks^26 seems clearly referred to. But later, at any rate —
and in all probability earlier also, as in other countries — a more
severe penalty could be exacted, and death inflicted by the
king.^27 There is no hint in Vedic literature of the mode of
conviction
a fire ordeal is not known to the Atharvaveda, ^28
and the ordeal known to the Chāndogya Upaniṣad^29 is not said
to be used in the case of theft. No doubt the stolen property
was recovered by the person robbed if he could obtain it.
Nothing is known as to what happened if the property had
passed from the actual thief into the possession of another
person.
13) Rv. i. 65, 1
vii. 86, 5.
14) Rv. iv. 38, 5.
15) Rv. vi. 12, 5. No doubt this theft
is the result of despair at being in debt,
which might lead to loss of liberty (Ṛṇa).
16) Rv. i. 50, 2. Cf. Macdonell, Vedic
Mythology, p. 47.
17) xvi. 20, 21. Cf. Taittirīya Saṃhitā,
iv. 5, 4, 1
Kāṭhaka Saṃhitā, xvii. 13
Maitrāyaṇī Saṃhitā, ii. 9, 4.
18) xvi. 25.
19) i. 129, 9
ii. 23, 16
vi. 24, 10
41, 5
51, 15
x. 63, 16.
20) Av. xix. 47-50.
21) Vedische Studien, 2, 55, 56. Con-
trast 1, 106.
22) Rv. vii. 55.
23) Cf. Aufrecht, Indische Studien, 4,
337 et seq.
Lanman, Sanskrit Reader,
370
Zimmer, Altindisches Leben, 308
Bṛhaddevatā, vii. 11 et seq., with Mac-
donell's notes.
24) vi. 54, 1.
25) Zimmer, op. cit., 182, 183, citing
Elliot, Memoirs, 1, 276
Jolly, Recht
und Sitte, 123.
26) Cf. Rv. i. 24, 13, 15
vii. 86, 5
Av. vi. 63, 3 = 84, 4
115, 2. 3
121
xix. 47, 9
50, 1, all of which passages
are cited by Zimmer, 181, 182, to prove
this practice. But it must be noted that
Rv. vii. 86, 5, alone is not at all con-
clusive evidence, though Av. xix. 47, 9
50, 1 (drupade āhan), probably mean the
same thing. Whitney, Translation of
the Atharvaveda, 976, 983, renders the
passages as referring to casting a thief
into a snare, and Pischel, Vedische
Studien, 1, 106, makes Rv. vii. 86, 5,
refer to the cattle-thief (paśu-tṛp) taking
away the rope from the calf he means
to steal. For Rv. x. 4, 6, see above,
n. 10. The German and Slavonic
parallels cited by Zimmer, 182, n.,
support his view. See also for a similar
punishment in case of debt, Ṛṇa.
27) Gautama Dharma Sūtra, xii. 43-
45
Āpastamba Dharma Sūtra, i. 9,
25, 4. 5
Jolly, op. cit., 124.
28) Av. ii. 12 was so interpreted by
Schlagintweit, Die Gottesurtheile der
Inder, 9 et seq. (1866)
Weber, Indische
Studien, 13, 164 et seq.
Ludwig, Trans-
lation of the Rigveda, 3, 445
Zimmer,
183 et seq.
but see Bloomfield, American
Journal of Philology, 11, 330 et seq.
Hymns of the Atharvaveda, 294-296
Whitney, Translation of the Atharva-
veda, 54
Grill, Hundert Lieder, ^2 47, 85
Jolly, op cit., 146.
29) vi. 16
Jolly, loc. cit.
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