India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c10.s3.t1.24

c10.s3.t1.24

Pāṇini mentions the compound names *Kaṭha-Kālāpāḥ* and *Kaṭha-Kauthumāḥ* in the *Gaṇa-pāṭha* of VI.2.37, which indicates that these Schools were closely connected by their texts. The Saṁhitā of the Kaṭha School is extant. In the *Charaṇa-vyūha* two more local branches of the Kaṭha School are mentioned, *viz.* Prāchya-Kaṭhas and Kapishṭhala-Kaṭhas. Pāṇini derives some material from the text of the Kāṭhaka School (*Devasumnayor-Yajushi Kāṭhake*, VII.4.38). He also mentions Kapishṭhala as a *gotra* name (VIII.3.91, *Kapishṭhalo gotre*), which seems to have been applied to an offshoot of the Kaṭha School. Most of the Vedic *Charaṇas* were founded by Ṛishis whose names were also used for *gotra* appellations. Megasthenes mentions the *Kambistholoi* (=Kapiṣhṭhala) as a people in the Panjab through whose territory the river Hydraotes flowed. This would place the Kapiṣhṭhalas in the country of the Kaṭhas (Kathioi) who resisted Alexander's march through their country. It does not seem to have any connection with the place-name Kapisthala or Kaithal in the Panjab (VIII.3.91, counter-example). The Saṁhitā of the Kapiṣhṭhalas is extant to this day.