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ArchivesRe: the true meaning and origin of
in reply to a message by A
About aja and the vedas. There are actually two distinct roots aja, one which means unborn (prefix a-, cognate with English un-/in-, giving a negative sense before ja from the root jan, cognate with the root of genesis, meaning to be born), and the other which means drove or driver (root aj, cognate with greek and latin ago, meaning to drive).
Both senses are visible already in the vedic usage: aja as unborn, eternal, is used as the name of the first being, and in later usage as an epithet for any of the Hindu trinity (Hinduism is often kathenotheistic), for love deified, or for nature or illusion as the everlasting principle.
As the driver, mover, instigator, or leader, it is applied to some of the early leaders of divine pantheon, the wind, the fire. Note that it also gave rise to a common term for the he-goat (with clear Greek cognates) from this extraction, and this gave rise to a variety of meanings e.g. the constellation of Aries. In later mythology, aja was the charioteer of the fire god and the beams of the sun who was said to have goats for horses.
Sometimes, of course, it is difficult to distinguish the two homonyms (both were stressed on the last syllable). But it has been used as a name, and appears throughout mythology (e.g. as rAma's grandfather).
Both senses are visible already in the vedic usage: aja as unborn, eternal, is used as the name of the first being, and in later usage as an epithet for any of the Hindu trinity (Hinduism is often kathenotheistic), for love deified, or for nature or illusion as the everlasting principle.
As the driver, mover, instigator, or leader, it is applied to some of the early leaders of divine pantheon, the wind, the fire. Note that it also gave rise to a common term for the he-goat (with clear Greek cognates) from this extraction, and this gave rise to a variety of meanings e.g. the constellation of Aries. In later mythology, aja was the charioteer of the fire god and the beams of the sun who was said to have goats for horses.
Sometimes, of course, it is difficult to distinguish the two homonyms (both were stressed on the last syllable). But it has been used as a name, and appears throughout mythology (e.g. as rAma's grandfather).
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