India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c10.s3.t1.4

c10.s3.t1.4

*TERMS INDICATIVE OF TEXTS*—Pāṇini has used in his *sūtras* the following terms associated with certain texts: (1) *Chhandas*, (2) *Mantra*, (3) *Ṛich*, (4) *Yajus*, (5) *Brāhmaṇa*, and (6) *Nigama*. *Chhandas* denoted the sacred literature, as distinguished from *Bhāshā*, the spoken language. *Chhandas* included both the Saṁhitā and the Brāhmaṇa literature. The term *Mantra* had a more restricted scope, being applied to a sacred formula whether in verse (*ṛich*) or in prose (*yajush*), as opposed to the *Brāhmaṇa*. Thus the particular linguistic forms noted for *Mantras* do not occur in the *Brāhmaṇas*. The term *Ṛich* stands in Pāṇini for a Vedic stanza, as opposed to a formula in prose which was called *Yajush*. *Brāhmaṇa* stands for the *Brāhmaṇa* works, and *a-mantra* of *sūtra* III.1.35 also pointed to non-*mantra* literature or the *Brāhmaṇas*. The word *Nigama* denoted linguistic and exegetical tradition as embodied in the Vedic literature.