Home›Open Questions›What is Aja Ekapada, and what does the name mean?Open QuestionsWhat is Aja Ekapada, and what does the name mean?Citation FormatsGeneral ReferenceGeneral Reference Citation TextDivinity Atlas. "What is Aja Ekapada, and what does the name mean?." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://divinity.interactivelion.com/open-questions-index/what-is-aja-ekapada-and-what-does-the-name-mean.Copy General ReferenceAPA StyleAPA Style Citation TextDivinity Atlas. (n.d.). What is Aja Ekapada, and what does the name mean?. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://divinity.interactivelion.com/open-questions-index/what-is-aja-ekapada-and-what-does-the-name-meanCopy APA StyleBibTeXBibTeX Citation Text@misc{divinityatlas-what-is-aja-ekapada-and-what-does-the-na, author = {Divinity Atlas}, title = {What is Aja Ekapada, and what does the name mean?}, year = {2026}, url = {https://divinity.interactivelion.com/open-questions-index/what-is-aja-ekapada-and-what-does-the-name-mean}, note = {Accessed August 30, 2026} }Copy BibTeXOpen QuestionCross-Tradition ConnectionsSourcesComments (0)Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)Open QuestionHe has no hymn, no described act, no attribute and no epithet, and appears almost only inside enumerations of gods. Aja is either a goat or, read as a-ja, the unborn, and ekapada is one-footed or having one support. Readings were proposed in the nineteenth century and nobody has defended any of them at length since, because there is no passage anywhere against which one could be tested. This is a gap rather than a disagreement. He appears only in enumerations, almost always beside Ahi Budhnya, so no domain can be read off the surviving text either.What would resolve this A passage from outside the Rigveda that describes rather than merely names him, whether in the Brahmana literature, the Atharvaveda or a comparative Indo-Iranian source; or a demonstration that the formulaic pairing with Ahi Budhnya is itself the whole content of the name, which would close the question by showing there is nothing behind it. A comparative Indo-European study connecting the name to a documented mythic role would serve equally.OpenVedic philology and comparative Indo-Iranian religionArthur Anthony Macdonell, Vedic MythologyCross-Tradition ConnectionsQuestion OnAja Ekapada, Deities Well-attested Source Vedic MythologyArthur Anthony Macdonelltier 1SourcesVedic Mythologytier 1Arthur Anthony Macdonell, Karl J. Trubner, Strassburg, 1897View the SourceComments (0)No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.Sign in to join the discussion.Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.View At A Past YearThe atlas records no dated fact of its own for this entry, so there is no other year to choose.Show This Year