India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c10.s2.7

c10.s2.7

Pāṇini mentions a type of literary activity called *prakathana* (I.3.32), or extempore composition, *e.g.* *gāthāḥ prakurute* (*Kāśikā*). It appears that the *gāthākāra* mentioned in *sūtra* III.2.23 was a person who was expected to compose at the spur of the moment *gāthā* verses, generally of a eulogistic character. In the Pāriplava *ākhyāna* of the *Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa* the *vīṇāgāthī*, also called *vīṇāgaṇagin* is said to sing *gāthā* verses of his own composition (*svayaṁ sambhṛitā gāthā gāyati*, Ś.B. XIII.4.3.5). The word *gāthaka* derived by Pāṇini from the root *gai*, to sing (III.1.146) seems to have been originally connected with a *gāthā* composer who sang the verses to the accompaniment of a lute.