Dating the Veda: Using the Horse and Planets

[Vidhyanath Rao]

On Wed, 19 Jan 2000 10:47:55 -0500, Michael Witzel <witzel at FAS.HARVARD.EDU>
wrote:

>(Even the Mesopotanians (c. 1750 BCE) made fun of a king who boasted that
>he had rode a horse over a long distance...)

It might be noted that the letter ciritizing the riding of the horse
suggested that the king ride a mule instead if a vehicle was not wanted.
Littauer suggested that this may have to do with the continued use of the
``donkey seat'' in the ANE, which discomfits both the rider and the horse.
Alternatively, this may be due to the fact that horses (native to 35 deg N
and above) will sweat a lot more than donkeys or mules. In any case at that
time riding itself was apparently not so declasse.