India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c11.s1.8

c11.s1.8

*BHAKTI*. The new phase of religious belief found its expression in the cult of *Bhakti* or theistic devotion to particular gods and goddesses. Such names as Varuṇadatta and Aryamadatta, which were shortened as per *sūtra* V.3.84, point to the belief that gods like Varuṇa and Aryamā, if propitiated by the parents, would grant the boon of a son to be named after them. Pāṇini admits that the name-ending *datta* denoted a benediction from a god or a higher power of which the personal name became a symbolic expression (*Kārakād-datta-śrutayorevāśisbi*, VI.2.148). This religious approach is further exemplified in Pāṇini's reference to *bhakti* to Vāsudeva and Arjuna (IV.3.98). Patañjali clearly remarks that Vāsudeva was here not a mere Kshatriya name but the personal name of Kṛishṇa whose *bhakta* or worshipper was called *Vāsudevaka*. We should, however, admit that *bhakti* in this context (IV.3.95-100) has also a secular significance in some *sūtras*, e.g. *āpūpika*, one who loves eating cakes (example to IV.3.96). The reference to the *bhakti* of Mahārāja or Kubera proves on the other hand that Pāṇini surely had religious *bhakti* also in mind (*Mahārājat-ṭhañ*, IV.3.97).