Note 205 — LECTURE V.

Vâginîvatî is by no means an easy word. Hence all translators vary, and none settles the meaning. Muir translates, "yielding nutriment;" Zimmer, "having plenty of quick horses;" Ludwig, "like a strong mare." Vagin, no doubt, means a strong horse, a racer, but vaginî never occurs in the Rig-Veda in the sense of a mare, and the text is not vaginîvat, but vaginîvatî. If vâginî meant mare, we might translate rich in mares, but that would be a mere repetition after svasvâ, possessed of good horses. Vaginîvatî is chiefly applied to Ushas, Sarasvatî, and here to the river Sindhu. It is joined with vagebhih, Rig-Veda I. 3, 10, which, if vâginî meant mare, would mean "rich in mares through horses." We also read, Rig-Veda I. 48, 16, sám (nah mimikshvá) vãgaih vâginîvati, which we can hardly translate by "give us horses, thou who art possessed of mares;" nor, Rig-Veda I. 92, 15, yúkshva hí vâginîvati ásvân, "harness the horses, thou who art rich in mares." In most of the passages where vâginîvatî occurs, the goddess thus addressed is represented as rich, and asked to bestow wealth, and I should therefore prefer to take vâgínî, as a collective abstract noun, like tretínî, in the sense of wealth, originally booty, and to translate vâginîvatî simply by rich, a meaning well adapted to every passage where the word occurs.