About the words 'garuṭ' and 'garutmān' in the Rgveda

Summary

In this philological note the author examines two rare Vedic words—garuṭ and garutmān—and their meanings. Both occur only twice in the Rigveda and have been variously translated as ‘wing’ or ‘eagle’. Drawing on Yaska’s Nirukta and later Avestan parallels, the author argues that the root √ gr suggests ‘praise’ or ‘song’, not avian imagery. He notes that the forms garti, garvita and gartana derive from √ gr (to sing), and therefore the compound garutmān should mean ‘the praiseful one’. The author critiques Sayana’s interpretation of garutmān as ‘garuda-like’ and demonstrates that in the Rigveda the deity described with this epithet is the sun or a god endowed with hymns. He further compares the Avestan garo-deman (‘house of hymns’) and suggests that garuṭ may refer to a divine abode of song rather than a bird. By examining later Brahmanical literature, he shows how the original sense became conflated with the mythical bird Garuda, leading to etymological confusion. The paper thus underscores the importance of internal textual analysis and comparative linguistics in interpreting Vedic vocabulary.