India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c10.s1.27

c10.s1.27

The system of short term courses involving a study of special topics or parts of a subject was also in vogue, as implied in the expression *Tadasya brahmacharyam* (V.1.94). It regulates the names of students according to the period for which they had got themselves admitted *e.g.* *māsika Brahmachārī*, a student for a month; similarly *ardha-māsika*, a student for half a month, and *sāṁvatsarika*, a student for one year (*Kāśikā*). Kātyāyana mentions *mahānāmnika* students, those who restricted themselves to the study of *mahānāmnī* verses (*Mahānāmnyo nāma ṛcho vrataṁ tāsāṁ charyate*, *Bhāshya* II.360); similarly *ādityavratika*, a student of *Ādityavrata*. The Gobhila Gṛihyasūtra refers to these special vows of studentship (III.1.28; III.2.1-9). The *Mahānāmnī* vow was alternatively called *Śakvarī vrata*. According to the *Rauruki Brāhmaṇa*, the *Mahānāmnī* verse was regarded as the highest religious study aimed at by students in that ancient system. The mothers wished their new-born babes: 'O darlings, may ye complete the vow to master the *Śākvarī* verses!'¹