India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c10.s1.37

c10.s1.37

The student commenced the *pārāyaṇa* with a formal ceremony described in the *Gṛihya* texts of Bodhāyana and others. He slept on a platform (*sthaṇḍila*) as part of his vow, for which he was marked as *sthāṇḍila* (*Sthāṇḍilāch-chhayitari vrate*, IV.2.15). He also observed the vow of silence during *pārāyaṇa*, being then known as *vāchaṁyama* (*vāchi yamo vrate*, III.2.40). He was also to restrain himself in the matter of food, eating sparingly and taking only water, milk or fruits according to his physical endurance, *e.g.* if he took only milk he was spoken of as *payo vratayati* (III.¹.21), 'observes the vow by living only on milk'. Besides the above regulations Mahīdāsa hints at the fact that students often undertook repeated courses of *pārāyaṇa* recitation, and the *Kāśikā* mentions *dvaipārāyaṇikaḥ* as an illustration (IV.1.88). *Pārāyaṇa* could also be observed in later life.