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विषूवन्त् (viSUvant)

 
Capeller Eng
English
विषूव॑न्त्
a.
 belonging to both sides,
i.e.
 middle,
central.
m.
 middle day ((r. ))
n.
 equinox.
Vedic Reference
English
1. Viṣūvant denotes in the Atharvaveda^1 and later^2 the
middle day in the Sattra or sacrificial session of a year's
duration. Tilak^3 argues that the Viṣūvant literally means the
day when night and daylight are equal — i.e., the equinoctial
day — and that this is the true sense of the word. But the
theory is without probability.
^4 Cf. Whitney, Journal of the American
Oriental Society, 16, ixxxiii. et seq.
1) xi. 7, 15.
2) Pañcaviṃśa Brāhmaṇa, iv. 5, 2
7, 1
v. 9, 10
Aitareya Brāhmaṇa,
iii. 41, 4
iv. 18, 1
22, 1. 2
vi. 18, 8
Kauṣītaki Brāhmaṇa, xxv. 1
xxvi. 1
Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa, i. 2, 3, 2
Sata-
patha Brāhmaṇa, x. 1, 2, 2
3, 14. 23
4, 2
2, 1, 8, etc.
3) Orion, 21, 22.
2. Viṣūvant occurs in the description of the house in the
Atharvaveda.^1 The meaning seems to be tha ‘ridge of the
roof.’^2
1) ix. 3, 8.
2) Cf. Zimmer. Altindisches Leben, 151
(who thinks it is a metaphor from the
parting of the hair)
Bloomfield, Hymns
of the Atharvaveda, 598
Whitney,
Translation of the Atharvaveda, 526.