India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c11.s1.1

c11.s1.1

The religious conditions in Pāṇini mainly relate to *yajña* or sacrifice, and worship of various Vedic deities with oblations and performance of appropriate rituals by different classes of priests. Names of officiating priests and *dakshiṇā* or payments for their service are also mentioned (V.1.69; V.1.95). At the same time there are definite indications of popular phases of religious beliefs and practices as elaborated in devotion to gods and asterisms, worship of images and the growth of religious ascetic orders.