Note 2. Prava has been derived from pru, to float. I should prefer to derive it from pra-van, from which we have pra-vana, precipice, possibly the Latin adjective pronus, and, very irregularly, Greek πρηνής. Stems in radical n frequently enter the class of stems in â and a, and pravan would become pravâh or pravah, as -gan becomes -gâh and -gah; cf. Lanman,

p. 478. Others take vana for a mere suffix like vat. Prava, rushing forward, would have been a good name for a spring. This, of course, is a mere conjecture. Others derive pravâ-s from vâ, to blow. As a substantive pravâ as well as upavâ occurs AV. XII, 1, 51. vâ´tasya pravâ´m upavâ´m ánu vâty arkíh. But these words mean the blowing before and the blowing after, and not blowers. There are the verbs pravâ and anuvâ in Tândya Br. I, 9, 7; TS. III, 5, 2, 3; IV, 4, 1, 1. They are there referred to dawn and night. These passages, however, seem too technical to allow us to fix the original meaning of prava-h. Pravâ in RV. I, 34, 8, remains unexplained.

Verse 7.

Note 1. On udriki, see Ludwig's note.

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