दन्त्

यन्त्रोपारोपितकोशांशः

Vedic Index of Names and Subjects

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

Dant, Danta, ‘tooth,’ is frequently mentioned from the Rigveda onwards. Cleansing (dhāv) the teeth was an ordinary act, especially in preparation for a sacrifice, and accompanied bathing, shaving of the hair and beard (keśa-śmaśru), and the cutting of the nails. A hymn of the Atharvaveda celebrates the appearance of the first two teeth of a child, though its exact interpretation is doubtful. In the Aitareya Brāhmaṇa there is a reference to a child's first teeth falling out. The word seems in the Rigveda once to denote an elephant's tusk. Whether dentistry was practised is doubtful. The occurrence in the Aitareya Āraṇyaka of Hiraṇya-dant, ‘gold-toothed,’ as the name of a man, is perhaps significant, especially as it is certain that the stopping of teeth with gold was known at Rome as early as the legislation of the Twelve Tables.