India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c10.s3.t1.20

c10.s3.t1.20

(5) *Vaiśampāyana and Charaka*. Pāṇini mentions the followers of the Charaka School as Charakas (IV.3.107). The *Kāśikā* informs that Charaka was the name of Vaiśampāyana (*Charaka iti Vaiśampāyanasyākhyā*, IV.3.104). Charaka was originally used in the sense of a "Travelling Scholar", from the root *chara*, "to wander about for instruction" (Weber, *H.I.L.*, p. 87). In the *Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa* the adherents of the Charaka branch of the Black Yajus are designated Charakādhvaryus. Vaiśampāyana stands out as the pre-eminent Vedic teacher, whom Śabarasvāmī following an old tradition describes as the originator of all the Śākhās of the *Kṛishṇa Yajurveda* (*Smaryate cha, Vaiśampāyanaḥ sarva-śākhādhyāyī*, *Mīmāṁsā Bhāshya*, I.1.30). The *Kāśikā* mentions the names of nine pupils of Vaiśampāyana who were grouped territorially. Patañjali, referring to the three Prāchya (Eastern), three Udīchya (Northern) and three Madhyama (Meridional) *Charaṇas*, alludes to the Schools of Vaiśampāyana as established by his disciples (*Bhāshya*, II.301; IV.2.138, *madhya-madhyamaṁ chāṇ-charaṇe*).