Ṛgveda & Vedāṅga Jyotiṣa · c. 1500–1200 BCE
सूर्याया वहतुः प्रागात्सविता यमवासृजत्।
अघासु हन्यन्ते गावोऽर्जुन्योः पर्युह्यते ॥१३॥
The bridal pomp of Surya, which Savitar started, moved along. In Magha days are oxen slain, in Arjuris they wed the bride. — R.T.H. Griffith (1896)
The archaic Ṛgvedic form of Maghā, occurring exactly once in the Ṛgveda. Griffith silently normalises it to 'Magha'. Macdonell & Keith, Vedic Index (1912) i.10: 'In the wedding hymn of the Rigveda it is said that cows are slain in the Aghas, and the wedding takes place at the Arjunis (dual). The Atharvaveda has the ordinary Maghas instead. It is impossible to resist the conclusion that the reading of the Rigveda was deliberately altered because of the connection of the slaughter of kine with sin (agha).' The parallel Atharvaveda recension of the same hymn (AV 14.1.13) reads Maghā.
Ṛgveda 10.85.13 · text · translation