On the Etymology and Meaning of the Sanskrit Root Varj

There is scarcely an article in the Sanskrit Lexicons which has been treated more variously than the root varj. It has a number of different aspects; among others it frequently occurs in connection with barhis (vrkta-barhis); for such connection the Pet. Lexs. assume the meaning, 'abdrehen, ausraufen'. Roth seems to me to have been inspired here by the Nighantu 2. 19 where vrpakti (followed by vrgcati and krntati) is counted as one of the thirty vadhakarmanah. There are a few cases in the Veda in which grammatical forms of varj and vragc coincide; ' this probably accounts for the Nighantu's grotesque statement. Sayana at RV. 6. 11. 5, of course, takes up the Nighantu's idea (vrjig chedanarthahl, chidyate). This rendering ('trim') appears also in MUller's and Oldenberg's translations in SBE. xxxii. 84, 109; xlvi. 155. Monier William's second edition follows the Pet. Lexs. under varj, but has, in sheer inconsistency, weaned itself from this translation in vrktA-barhis, to wit, 'one who has gathered and

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