तायु

यन्त्रोपारोपितकोशांशः

वाचस्पत्यम्

पृष्ठभागोऽयं यन्त्रेण केनचित् काले काले मार्जयित्वा यथास्रोतः परिवर्तयिष्यते। तेन मा भूदत्र शोधनसम्भ्रमः। सज्जनैः मूलमेव शोध्यताम्।

तायु¦ पु॰ ताय--उण्। चौरे स्तेने निघण्टुः
“अपत्येतायवो यथा नक्षत्रां” ऋ॰

१ ।

५० ।

२ ।

Apte

पृष्ठभागोऽयं यन्त्रेण केनचित् काले काले मार्जयित्वा यथास्रोतः परिवर्तयिष्यते। तेन मा भूदत्र शोधनसम्भ्रमः। सज्जनैः मूलमेव शोध्यताम्।

तायुः [tāyuḥ], Ved. A thief.

Monier-Williams

पृष्ठभागोऽयं यन्त्रेण केनचित् काले काले मार्जयित्वा यथास्रोतः परिवर्तयिष्यते। तेन मा भूदत्र शोधनसम्भ्रमः। सज्जनैः मूलमेव शोध्यताम्।

तायु m. = स्त्, a thief RV. i , iv-vii.

Vedic Index of Names and Subjects

पृष्ठभागोऽयं यन्त्रेण केनचित् काले काले मार्जयित्वा यथास्रोतः परिवर्तयिष्यते। तेन मा भूदत्र शोधनसम्भ्रमः। सज्जनैः मूलमेव शोध्यताम्।

Tāyu was another name for thief, perhaps of a less distinguished and more domestic character than the highwayman, for though he is referred to as a cattle-thief, he is also alluded to as a stealer of clothes (vastra-mathi) and as a debtor. In one passage the Tāyus are said to disappear at the coming of dawn (which is elsewhere called yāvayad-dveṣas, ‘driving away hostile beings,’ and ṛta-pā, ‘guardian of order’), like the stars of heaven (nakṣatra).

In the Śatarudriya litany of the Vājasaneyi Saṃhitā Rudra is called lord of assailers (ā-vyādhin), thieves (stena), robbers (taskara), pickpockets (stāyu), stealers (muṣṇant), and cutters (vi-kṛnta); and designations of sharpers (gṛtsa) and bands (gaṇa, vrāta), apparently of robbers, are mentioned. It is therefore not surprising that the Rigveda should contain many prayers for safety at home or on the way, or that the Atharvaveda should devote several hymns to night chiefly for protection against the evil doings of thieves and robbers.

Pischel suggests that in one passage of the Rigveda Vasiṣṭha is represented as a burglar, but the admits that, since Vasiṣṭha was attacking the house of his father Varuṇa, he was only seeking to obtain what he may have regarded as his own. But the interpretation of the hymn is not certain.

Sāyaṇa's explanation of one passage of the Rigveda, as referring to professional cattle-trackers, like the Khojis of the Panjab, seems quite probable.

The punishment of thieves appears primarily to have been left to the action of the robbed. The practice of binding them in stocks seems clearly referred to. But later, at any rate-and in all probability earlier also, as in othe countries--a more severe penalty could be exacted, and death inflicted by the king. There is no hint in Vedic literature of the mode of conviction; a fire ordeal is not known to the Atharvaveda, and the ordeal known to the Chāndogya Upaniṣad is not said to be used in the case of theft. No doubt the stolen property was recovered by the person robbed if he could obtain it. Nothing is known as to what happened if the property had passed from the actual thief into the possession of another person.

Tāyu, ‘thief,’ is mentioned several times in the Rigveda. See Taskara.