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MANDALA I, HYMN 1.
The author of the sacrificial formula which is given in Åsval. Sraut. III, 12, 4 and Sankh. Grihy. V, 5, 4, evidently understood the word in the same way; there Agni is invoked as doshâvastar and as prátarvastar, as shining in the darkness of evening and as shining in the morning. That this may indeed be the true meaning of the word is shown by Rig-veda III, 49, 4, where Indra is called kshapấm vastā, the illuminator of the nights' (kshapám is gen. plur., not as Bartholomae, Bezzenberger's Beiträge, XV, 208, takes it, loc. sing.). The very frequent passages, however, in which case-forms of dosha stand in opposition to words meaning 'dawn' or 'morning'—which words in most cases are derived from the root vas—strongly favour the opinion of Gaedicke (Der Accusativ im Veda, 177, note 3) and K. F. Johansson (Bezzenberger's Beiträge, XIV, 163), who give to dóshâvastar the meaning in the darkness and in the morning. This translation very well suits all Rig-veda passages in which the word occurs. If this opinion is accepted, doshâvastar very probably ought to be written and accented as two independent words, doshã vástar. See M. M., Physical Religion, p. 173.
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