Ashva is the Sanskritword for a horse, one of the significant animals finding references in the Vedas as well as later Hindu scriptures. The word is cognate to Avestanaspa, Latin equus, Greek ἵππος, Germanic *ehwaz and Baltic *ašvā all from Proto-Indo-European*h₁éḱwos.
Vedic period
There are repeated references to the horse the Vedas. In particular the Rigveda has many equestrian scenes, often associated with chariots. The Ashvins are divine twins named for their horsemanship. The earliest undisputed finds of horse remains in South Asia are from the Swat culture.
Puranic legend
The legend states that the first horse emerged from the depth of the ocean during the churning of the oceans. It was a horse with white color and had two wings. It was known by the name of Uchchaihshravas. The legend continues that Indra, king of the devas, took away the mythical horse to his celestial abode, the svarga. Subsequently, Indra severed the wings of the horse and presented the same to the mankind. The wings were severed to ensure that the horse would remain on the earth and not fly back to Indra's svarga.
Archaeology
Paleolithic
Remains of the Equus namadicus have been found from Pleistocene levels in India. The Equus namadicus is closely related to the Equus sivalensis. The Equus sivalensis lived in the Himalayan foothills in prehistoric times and it is assumed it was extinct during the last Ice Age.
Bronze Age
Remains of horses have been claimed to have been found in deposits at Mahagara near Allahabad, Hallur in Karnataka, Mohenjo-Daro, Harappa, Lothal, Kalibangan, and Kuntasi. Horse remains from the Harappan site Surkotada have been identified by A.K. Sharma as Equus ferus caballus. The horse specialist Sandor Bökönyi later confirmed these conclusions and stated the excavated tooth specimens could "in all probability be considered remnants of true horses ". Bökönyi stated that "The occurrence of true horse was evidenced by the enamel pattern of the upper and lower cheek and teeth and by the size and form of incisors and phalanges.". However, archaeologists like Meadow disagree, on the grounds that the remains of the Equus ferus caballus horse are difficult to distinguish from other equid species such as Equus asinus or Equus hemionus. An alleged clay model of a horse has been found in Mohenjo-Daro and an alleged horse figurine in Periano Ghundai in the Indus Valley. Trautmann thus remarked the supply and import of horses has "always" been a preoccupation of the Indians and "it is a structure of its history, then, that India has always been dependent upon western and central Asia for horses." The paucity of horse remains could also be explained by India's climatic factors which lead to decay of horse bones. Horse bones may also be rare because horses were probably not eaten or used in burials by the Harappans. Other sites, such as the BMAC complex, are at least as poor in horse remains as the Harappan sites. The horse only appears in Mesopotamia from around 1800 BC as a ridden animal and acquires military significance with the invention of the chariot. Domestication of the horse before the second millennium appears to be confined to its native habitat. Colin Renfrew also remarked, "the significance of the horse... has been much exaggerated", and Bryant holds, "using such negative evidence, by the same logic used to eliminate India as a candidate, ultimately any potential homeland can be disqualified due to lacking some fundamental Proto-Indo-European item or another". Renfrew's statement refers to his own Anatolian hypothesis, which is criticized by mainstream scholarship on similar grounds. In RV 1.162.18, the sacrificial horse is described as having 34 ribs: Frawley speculates that the Rigvedic horse could therefore be the Indian Equus sivalensis.
The word Ašva is recorded as a noun meaning female horse in Prussian Lithuanians language. References however are few, as the word had almost fallen out of use at the time, and include: Lexicon Germano-Lithvanicvm et Litvanico-Germanicvm, darinnen... von Iacobo Brodowskij, Praecentore Trempensi ; Littauisch-Deutsches und Deutsch-Littauisches Lexicon. Königsberg. 1744; Littauisch-deutsches und Deutsch-littauisches Wörter-Buch. Königsberg. 1800; Littauisch-deutsches Wörterbuch von Friedrich Kurschat. Halle a. S.1883.; Wörterbuch der Littauischen Sprache von G. H. F. Nesselmann. Königsberg 1851.;
