20-24 septembrie 2009 - Biblioteca Metropolitana Bucuresti

474 SHRIKANT S. BAHULKARIf the svaja is a viper or cobra, its derivation from svaja- `embrace' maybe simply because of the usual coiled position of snakes lying in wait orstriking, rather than because of its method of killing its prey".According to BLOOMFIELD, "the central feature of this charm againstserpents is the frequent allusion to the white horse of Pedu (Paidva); fromearliest times onwards, this is said to be a slayer of serpents." Pedu is thename of a protégé of Aśvins, occurring in the hymns to Aśvins in theṚV (1.116.6; 117.9; 118.9; 119.10; 7.71.5; 10.39.10). The Aśvins gave amythical white horse to Pedu, in order to replace his bad one. The horseis therefore called Paidva (ṚV 1.116.6; 7.71.5; 9.88.4; AVŚ 10.4.5-11.).The ṚV frequently mentions the mythical horse Paidva. For example, oneof the verses (ṚV 1.116.6) says: "They (i.e. the Aśvins) gave to Pedu aswift, strong, white, incomparable, dragon-slaying steed impelled by Indra,which won him unbounded spoils". Pedu is described as "one having abad horse" (aghśva) (ṚV 1.116.6). According to BERGAIGNE, the wordpedu- itself appears to be very significant and is too appropriate to the mythto denote a real person. It is formed from the root pad- ‛to go', redoubled(ped for papad as in the perfect form pede) and the suffix u (cf. ciki-tu, Vāl.8.5, jigy-u, ṚV 1.101.6) and can hardly have any other meaning than ‛onewho walks on foot' (cf. pad and pāda 'foot'). The horse given by Aśvins iswhite (ṚV 1.116.6 ff.); is praiseworthy (ṚV 1.119.10; 10.39.10; cp. 4.38.2)and is to be invoked by men like Bhaga (ṚV 10.39.10); is compared withIndra (ṚV 1.119.10) and is called dragon-slayer (ahihan) (ṚV 1.117.9;118.9; cp. 9.88.4), an epithet otherwise peculiar to Indra. He is conquerorinvincible in battles, seeking heaven (ṚV 1.119.10).MACDONELL thinks that Paidva probably represents the horse of thesun. BERGAIGNE shows that the epithet ahi-han is reminiscent of ahyuarṣu‘who rushes forth on the serpents' used with reference to the horsesof the sun (ṚV 2.38.3). Paidva then means ‘killer of serpents', or rather,no doubt, ‘killer of Ahi’ (demon). BERGAIGNE suggests that the horse ofPedu would then symbolise both the sun and Soma and cites a verse fromthe ṚV which reads: "O Soma, thou killest like the horse of Pedu the racesof serpents" (ṚV 9.88.4). The power of the horses devouring the serpents,the wolf and the Rākṣasas has also been mentioned in the ṚV (7.38.7).The horse of Pedu may be identified with the ‛flying' horse that has beenmentioned in one of the hymns to Aśvins (ṚV 1.180.2).The epithet ahi-han given to the horse of Pedu signifies that it is identicalwith Indra who killed his enemy Ahi ‘demon’ conceived as ‘dragon’. Theword also means ‘a killer of serpent’. The epithet is thus borrowed from theIndra myth and is applied to the horse of Pedu in the ṚV, creating thereby