India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c11.s1.22

c11.s1.22

Images of Śiva and Vaiśravaṇa were also known to Kauṭilya (II.4) as being installed in temples. Some of these deities were worshipped in pairs, e.g. *Śiva-Vaiśravaṇau*, *Skanda-Viśākhau*, *Brahma-Prajāpatī* (*Gaṇa-pāṭha* to II.4.14, and also a *vārttika* on VI.3.26). As pointed out by Patañjali these joint names were post-Vedic (*na chaite Vede sahanirvāpa-nirdishṭāḥ*, VI.3.26; III.149). Śiva and Vaiśravaṇa were the two main deities associated in the development of the popular cult of the Yakshas, Nāgas and other godlings. We have seen that Pāṇini refers to the worship of Mahārāja, which was but another name of Vessavaṇa-Kubera, who headed the group of the Four Great Kings or Regents of the Four Quarters and was the king of the *Yakkhas* in the North. Pāṇini also mentions the descendants of Dhṛitarājan (VI.4.135) who may be identified as the Lokapāla Dhataraṭṭha ruling in the East at the head of the Gandhabbas.