Part 14 - Vajranamani (Vajra Nama)

The following eighteen words are listed as the synonyms of 'thunderbolt'.1 The word vafra is so called because it separates (varjavatiti satah) (Niru.3.11). 1. Vidyut: The word occurs with its forms in thirty-four places. In two places it is used as ayudha (X.99.2; VII.7.25). The word is used to mean lightning in twenty-five places. In seven places it is used as adjective to tejas ratha etc. It is not used in the sense of vaira. 2. Nemih: The word occurs with its form nemin in ten places. In nine places it is used in the sense of the felly of a wheel. In VIII,43.3, it is used as somalata. is not used in the sense assigned. The word 3. Hetih: The word occurs with its forms in seventeen places. In two places it is used in the sense of 'thunderbolt' (X.39.12; VI.18.10). In other ten places, it is used as hananahetubhutah, kapotah. " 7. tha : 1. vidyut 2. nemih 8. vardhah 3. 3. ETH: 4. hetih namaih 5. puvih 6. ूka 1 . vajreh, varjah, 10. arkah 10.30: 11. kusah 12. kulisah 13. tunjah 14. : 15.9: 16. rotura: 17. sayekah 18. parasuh r

367 4. Namah: The word occurs with its forms in one hundred and seventy nine places. It is not used in the sense assigned. The word has already been explained under anna-namani (Nigh. 2.7322). 5. Pavih: The word with its forms occurs in thirteen places. The word is used in the sense assigned, in five places, It has been already explained under vannamani (Nigh. 1.11.15). i 6. Srkah: The forms, srkam, srke of the word occur in two places each. They are used in the sense assigned and Sayana quotes Nighantu (2.20.6) while explaining the word in RV 1.32.12 as it belongs to vajranama. According to him, the word vrkah occurs after the word srkah. Though Sarup does not include it in the list, he states: "The eighteen words are synonyms of thunderbolt. But without vrka their number is only seventeen. 7. Vrkah: The word occurs in twenty eight places with its forms. It is not used in the sense of thunder-bolt. The word vrkih is explained by Sayana as yrkyo himsaka (I. 183.4) or stenah (VIII.22.6). Sayana quotes Nirukta (6.26) as vrkolangalam bhavati vikartanat iti Yaskah and explains the word as langalena.

368 8. Vadhah: The word is used with its forms in forty-nine places. The word is explained as vaira in thirteen places. In three places Sayana explicitly states that it is the synonym of vajra (X.89.9; 102.3; IV.18.7). In other thirtythree places it is used as 'weapon'. The word has been already explained under balanamani (2.9.19). 9. Vairah: The word occurs with its forms in one hundred and twenty seven places. In twelve places Sayana explains it as kulisa (vajra) or stannamaka ayudha. In most of the places (eighty-eight) he does not explain it, generally it is assumed as a weapon in the hand of Indra. It is the weapon of Maruts too (VIII.7.22) (XI.72.7 Indrasya vajrah vairasthaniyah) (Somah). Durga states: 'that which is killed, is by vajra alone". 2 10. Arkah: The word occurs in a hundred places, with its forms. The word is not used in the sense assigned. In two places it is interpreted as sastra (III.54.14; VIII.12.23). The word has been already explained under annanamani (2.7.18). 11. Kutsah: The word, with its forms, occurs in thirtyseven places. Only in one place the word is used in the 2. durgabhasya niru . 3. 11. yo . hi hanyate sa vajrenaiveti | vadhakarmabhya ityuttarani vajranamani |

} 369 Sense assigned (kutsyena IX.16.12). Sayana says "it belongs to vairanama". In rest of the places it is used in the sense of rajarsi called kutsa. In I.175.4, Sayana explains the word as kartana-sadhana, the word is adjective to vaira in that context, Yaska (Niru.3.11) derives the word from the root krt (to cut). Further he says: 'it is also the name of a seer; and it has the meaning to kill'. 'A seer is the composer of a hymn' says Aupamanyava. Durga remarks, that the word kutsa, meaning 'thunderbolt' should be derived from the root krt (to cut), and meaning '☎ seer' from the root kr (to compose). 12. Tunjah: The word does not occur in any Veda. 13. Kulisah: The word occurs with its form kulisena in two places. In III.2.1 kulisah is explained as vasyadih and kulisena is interpreted as kutharena (RV.1.32.5). 14. Tigmah: The word with its forms occurs in twentytwo places. In I,130.4 the word is explained as atyantatiksnam vairam. In other places it is used as adjective. While commenting on the rk VII.18.18, sayana explains the word as nisitam yoddharam utsahayantan, and quotes Nirukta (10.6) as tejaterutsaha-karmanah. The word tioma is +

. derived by Yaska from the root til, meaning 'to sharpen'. 370 15. Menih: The word occur in its accusative form menim in X.27.11. It is interpreted as vairam. 16. Svadhitih: The word with its forms occurs in fifteen places. The word occurs in two places in the sense of vaira (x. 92.15; 1.88.2). In other places it is interpreted as asi, chedaka, parasu etc. 17. Sayakah: The word occurs with its forms in seven places. In two places it is used as adjective (avasanakaraka) to vajra. In rest of the places it is used as arrow, weapon etc. 4 18. Parasuh: The word, and its forms occur in eleven places. In two places, it is interpreted as vajra (X.28.8; 43.9). In rest of the places it is used in the sense of parasu or kuthara. ' The above discussion may be given in a tabular form: Used in the sense assigned No. Word No.of times used 1. Vidyut 2. Nemih 34 10 1

i No. Word No.of times used Used in the sense assigned 3. Hetih 17 2 4. Namah 179 5. Pavih 13 5 6. Srkah 2 2 7. Vrkah 28 8. Vadhah 49 9. Vajrah 127 13 12 $ 10. Arkah 100 11. Kutsah 37 1 la 12. Tunjah 13. Kulisah 2 1 14. Tigmah 22 1 15. Menih 1 16. Svadhitih 15 2 N I 17. Sayakah 7 18. Parasuh 11 2 ស 371 To conclude, one word does not occur in the Veda, and But in many seven words are not used in the sense assigned. places they are used generally as weapon, This interpretation is somewhat correct, because the word yaira is derived as vairayati iti satah, that which the weapon does i.e. it separates the living being from life. * Cf. Durga's commentary on the Nirukta (3.11). e