India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c10.s3.t1.12

c10.s3.t1.12

(4) *Bahvṛicha*. Pāṇini mentions the *Āmnāya* and *Dharma* of the Bahvṛicha School as *Bāhvṛichya* (IV.3.129), and refers to Bahvṛicha as the name of a *Charaṇa* (*Antargaṇa-sūtra, anṛicho māṇave Bahvṛichaś-charaṇākhyāyām*, V.4.154). That this school once enjoyed wide distribution, is shown by Patañjali speaking in terms of the Bahvṛichas while referring to the Ṛigveda recensions (*ekaviṁśatidhā Bāhvṛichyam*, I.9). The Bahvṛichas are referred to in the *Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa* (XI.5.1. 10) and quoted a dozen times in the *Āpastamba Śrauta Sūtra*. None of these citations can be traced to the two Ṛigveda Brāhmaṇas known to us, *viz. Aitareya* and *Kaushītakī*, and Keith was led to observe that 'It is perfectly certain that he (Āpastamba) meant some definite work which he may have had before him and in all probability all his quotations come from it' (Keith, *Ṛgveda Brāhmaṇas*, p. 496). It is unfortunate that neither the Saṁhitā, nor the Brāhmaṇa of this school has survived. According to Kumārila the Bahvṛichas were governed by the *Gṛihya-sūtra* of Vasishṭha (*Tantravārttika*, I.3.11). Keith thought that the Bahvṛicha School was identical with Paiṅgya, but they are mentioned as two separate Schools in the *Kaushītaki Brāhmaṇa*.