Editing Varaha (section)

== Etymology and other names==
The deity Varaha derives its name from the [[Sanskrit]] word ''varaha'' ([[Devanagari]]: वराह, {{IAST|varāha}}) meaning "boar" or "wild boar".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://spokensanskrit.org/index.php?mode=3&script=hk&tran_input=varaha&direct=au&anz=100|title=Sanskrit Dictionary for Spoken Sanskrit|website=spokensanskrit.org|access-date=2019-11-25}}</ref>

The word ''varāha'' is from [[Proto-Indo-Iranian language|Proto-Indo-Iranian]] term ''warāȷ́ʰá'', meaning boar. It is thus related to [[Avestan]] ''varāza'', [[Kurdish language|Kurdish]] ''beraz'', Middle Persian ''warāz'', and New [[Persian language|Persian]] ''gorāz'' (گراز), all meaning "wild boar".<ref name=lubotsky556>Alexander Lubotsky, The Indo-Aryan inherited lexicon, pp. 556–557</ref>

The Sanskrit grammarian and etymologist [[Yāska|Yaska]] (circa 300 BCE) states that the word ''varaha'' originates from the root √hr.<ref name="yaska">{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/nighantuniruktao00yaskuoft|title=The Nighantu and the Nirukta|last1=Yaska|last2=Sarup|first2=Lakshman|date=1967|publisher=Delhi Motilal Banarsidass|others=Robarts - University of Toronto|pages=[https://archive.org/details/nighantuniruktao00yaskuoft/page/74 74]-75}}</ref> The Monier-Williams dictionary states that the root √hr means "'to offer', 'to outdo, eclipse, surpass', 'to enrapture, charm, fascinate', and 'to take away or remove evil or sin'" and also "to take away, carry off, seize, deprive of, steal, rob".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://faculty.washington.edu/prem/mw/h.html|title=Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary: '√hr'|website=faculty.washington.edu|access-date=2020-02-16}}</ref>

As per Yaska, the boar is an animal that "tears up the roots, or it tears up all the good roots" is thus called ''varaha''.<ref name="yaska"/> The word ''varaha'' is found in the ''Rigveda'', for example, in its verses such as 1.88.5, 8.77.10 and 10.28.4 where it means "wild boar".<ref name=lubotsky556/><ref>[https://sa.wikisource.org/s/13cs ऋग्वेदः – मण्डल १, सूक्तं १.८८], Wikisource;<br />[https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Rig_Veda/Mandala_1/Hymn_88 Mandala 1, Hymn 88], Ralph T.H. Griffith (translator), Wikisource</ref>

The word also means "rain cloud" and is symbolic in some Rigvedic hymns, such as Vedic deity [[Vritra]] being called a ''varaha'' in Rigvedic verses 1.61.7 and 10.99.6, and [[Chandra|Soma]]'s epithet being a ''varaha'' in 10.97.7.<ref>{{cite book|author=Friedrich Max Müller|title=Rig-Veda-sanhita: The Sacred Hymns of the Brahmans|year=1869|url=https://archive.org/details/rigvedasanhitas00mlgoog |publisher=Trübner|pages=[https://archive.org/details/rigvedasanhitas00mlgoog/page/n319 160]–}}</ref><ref name=narayan1987p187>{{cite book|author=Aiyangar Narayan|title=Essays On Indo-Aryan Mythology |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Oym17qIeB-0C&pg=PA187 |publisher=Asian Educational Services| year=1987| isbn=978-81-206-0140-6|pages=187–194}}</ref> Later the rain-relationship led the connotation of the term evolve into ''vara-aharta'', which means "bringer of good things" (rain), which also mentioned by Yaska.<ref name="yaska"/><ref name=narayan1987p187/>

Yaska mentions a third meaning of the word ''varaha''. The Vedic group of Angirases are called ''varaha''s or collectively a ''varahavah''.<ref name="yaska"/>

The god Varaha is also called referred by the epithet ''sukara'' ([[Sanskrit]] सूकर, {{IAST|sūkara}}), meaning 'wild boar', which also used in the ''Rigveda'' (e.g. 7.55.4) and the ''[[Atharvaveda]]'' (e.g. 2.27.2).<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.283974|title=Vedic Index Of Names And Subjects Vol.ii|last=Arthur Anthony Macdonell|date=1912|pages=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.283974/page/n464 461]}}</ref> The word literally means "the animal that makes a peculiar nasal sound in respiration"; in the ''[[Bhagavata Purana]]'', Varaha is referred to Sukara, when he is born from the god [[Brahma]]'s nostrils.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.217324|title=Essays On Indo Aryan Mythology|last=Narayan Aiyangar|date=1901|pages=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.217324/page/n209 209]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://vedabase.io/en/search/synonyms/?original=s%C5%ABkara|title=Bhagavata Purana Word for Word Index: 'sūkara'|website=vedabase.io|language=en|access-date=2019-12-01}}</ref>