A Note on the word अश्व aśva
The word अश्व aśva in Sanskrit usually means horse. Have you ever wondered why the word aśva was assigned to horse? We take many things granted without asking the real reasons. So we create a fixed sense of words and feel uncomfortable or puzzled if the same word is used for another object or in a different sense. Please remember as Sanskrit is not an object specific language, horse can be one of the meanings of the word aśva, and not the only meaning. Let us see what other meanings are associated with the word aśva.
The word अश्व aśva is a very ancient and has its presence in the Rigveda (e.g.1.27.1). The root-sound of the word aśva is ‘अश् aś’ which means ‘to eat, to consume, to possess, to have, to obtain, to enjoy’ etc. Because of this original sense, the word aśva derived from the root-sound ‘aś’ also refers to the dynamic force of life, of vital and nervous energy. Originally, the word must have implied strength, speed etc. The animal possessing much dynamic energy, swiftness was also referred to as aśva. So the meaning horse is secondary. When we say HP (horse-power) we do not think of a horse here. Here the word refers to the property or the quality of the object and not specific to a single object. Some other words derived from the same root are: अश्मन् aśman -stone, अशनि aśani — thunderbolt, अश्रि aśri — a sharp-edged weapon. All these words refer to strength, solidity, speed, sharpness etc.
The word aśva therefore refers to life-force, impulse, energy, a symbol of prana. The Rishis of the Veda seek for the ashva. It cannot be that they prayed for gaining more horses. It symbolizes the consciousness in the form of force, the dynamic force of life, as go or cow symbolizes light. The word aśvamedha therefore cannot mean sacrifice of a physical horse. It means the offering of the life-power with all its impulses, desires, and enjoyments to the Divine existence for transformation.
If we analyse the characteristics of the life-force we will find that it manifests itself in us, as Sri Aurobindo states, in the form of ‘desire, hunger, an enjoyment which devours the object enjoyed and a sensational movement and activity of response which gropes after possession and seeks to pervade, embrace, take into itself the object of its desire’.
All the above significances are intended by the Vedic Rishis in their use of the word aśva, Horse, for the Prana, the root being capable of all of them as we see from the words आशा āśā, hope; अशना aśanā, hunger; अश् aś, to eat; अश् aś, to enjoy; आशु āśu, swift; अश् aś, to move, attain, pervade, etc.
The word अश्विन् aśvin with its feminine form अश्विनी aśvinī means not just the possessor of horses but the possessor of the dynamic life-force. In the Veda the twin divine powers whose special function is to perfect the nervous or vital being in man in the sense of action and enjoyment are known as अश्विन्-s aśvin-s. “They are especially riders or drivers of the Horse, Ashwins, as their name indicates. In a deeper sense they use the vitality of the human being as the motive-force of the journey; but also they work in the thought and lead it to the Truth. They give health, beauty, wholeness to the body; they are the divine physicians. Of all the gods they are the most ready to come to man and to create for him ease and joy. For this is their peculiar and perfect function.”
Power and Light, Knowledge and Will, Consciousness and Energy, Go and Ashva are the Vedic power of dualism which is brought out by the Ashwins. These powers are inseparably united; ‘where the form is that of the Light or Consciousness, there Power and Energy are contained; where the form is that of the Power or Energy, there Light and Consciousness are contained’. This is the significance of Ashwins as per the Vedic psychology.
The word aśva symbolically has always been used to mean power, energy, force for progress, life-power, also mind-power in tapas when it is mobile and dynamic. While reading or interpreting the Veda one needs to carry this symbolic meaning of horse in mind than the physical horse.
