India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c10.s1.34

c10.s1.34

PĀRĀYAṆA (VEDIC RECITATION)—The method of study varied with the nature of its subject. Vedic texts had to be learnt by repetition; the master of such texts was called a *Śrotriya* (V.2.84). Recitation of Vedic texts without attending to meaning was called *pārāyaṇa*; one engaged in such study was called *pārāyaṇika* (*pārāyaṇaṁ vartayati*, V.1.72). Students gifted with strong memory so as to learn the text by heart without effort (*akṛichchhra*) were indicated by such expressions as *adhīyan pārāyaṇam*, 'facile in recitation', *dhārayan Upanishadam*, 'memorising the Upanishad' (*In-dhāryoḥ śatrakṛichchhriṇi*, III.2.130).